creators of the original role-playing game are, in fact, American), but still.. Cloud has been lead to wonder.
Cloud, knowingly or unknowingly, raises two interesting questions..
LOL no.
“Winter mute,” Yonderboy repeated, nodding, bobbing his crest of pink hair. His suit went matte black, a carbon shadow against old concrete. Neuromancer — William Gibson
Except for the long pink hair, she looked more like a folkie than a thrasher, but Sam wasn’t feeling choosy. Synners — Pat Cadigan
He was an aging child with green hair and claimed his name was Earl O’Jelly. ‘Nobody knows more. Nobody and no body. If you get what I say here.’ Tea From An Empty Cup — Pat Cadigan
“What about the blue hair?” \ “We might have to finesse that a little, but the gist of it is that the people who signed up for this rebellion were told to wear gaudy clothes and adornments as a badge, so that they would know who was in on the conspiracy.” Reamde — Neal Stephenson
I mean have you ever seen a punk before? No matter how alive their mohawks are I promise you they’re still dead on the inside.
Also no.
Ultimately candy-colored hair is not the damning evidence Cloudd from Final Fantasy vii wants us to believe that it is. Will Cyberpunk 2077 be filled with politics? Yes. I cannot imagine any role-playing game, with its story rooted in any kind of competent world building, and with multiple factions and all their competing interests requiring players to choose sides, that was not political. The Witcher 3 was political. Even if I could imagine a theoretical apolitical role-playing game I wouldn’t want to, because that game would be fucking boring.
But the truth is that Cyberpunk 2077 is more likely to be an anarchocapitalist’s wet dream. Night City is a place where heavily armed cyborgs are allowed to defend their property by lethal force. CDPR developers have already stated in interviews that they do not intend their game as a political statement. It is therefore our responsibility to decide if a polluted, pay-to-win world governed almost exclusively by large corporations is a good one or not.
And because gamers have a well documented history of missing the point, I believe many of them will decide that yes, it is.