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JesseHeinig's profile
Jesse Heinig
Jesse Heinig
Jesse Heinig
@JesseHeinig

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Jesse Heinig

@JesseHeinig

Game designer. Writer. Original Fallout dev. Classic World of Darkness developer. Current Star Trek Online developer. He/Him. Account represents personal views.

Joined December 2013

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    Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

    What would a cyberpunk story look like when you start cleaning out problematic things like racism and transphobia? Let's investigate. (A thread) 1/pic.twitter.com/I85Z8fQAtb

    Screen capture of "Blade Runner" with flying car passing by a building-sized screen with a picture of a woman's face, in a nighttime city backdrop
    9:59 PM - 9 Dec 2020
    • 2,537 Retweets
    • 6,541 Likes
    • 🗿🌊 Auturgist CosmicKirbster🆖 (BLM) narancia gaming BriPM Bullfrog Alexandre Fruchaud dmc Marco Zocca 🌱
    65 replies 2,537 retweets 6,541 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Cyberpunk's root words are: "cyber," which really refers to communication, but was taken from communication between human (bodies) and machines and popularized as talking about synthetic body parts and neural interfaces. 2/pic.twitter.com/GTAvYwhbyV

        Cover picture of novel "Cyborg," which inspired the TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man," picturing protagonist in ragged army uniform with damaged skin showing mechanical parts in his arm
        3 replies 17 retweets 900 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        "Punk," referring to the rebellious movement that came out of Britain in the '70s and spread rapidly as people showed their dissatisfaction with authoritarianism and consumerism. 3/pic.twitter.com/YcJRDc0ibF

        Two punks, L and R, in front of a sign reading "Street trash," with spiked hair and leather jackets
        4 replies 15 retweets 949 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        So "cyberpunk" is a merging of these two elements: The combination of interfacing humanity with machines, and the rebellious, anti-authoritarian ethos of groups fighting against oppression and marginalization. It's about games, stories, and aesthetics around these themes. 4/pic.twitter.com/vbUWzSd7xY

        Cover of original "Cyberpunk" roleplaying game, flat black with "Cyberpunk" in red letters and a black-and-white picture of a punk with a gun that is connected to his head by a neural interface cable
        4 replies 47 retweets 1,035 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Now, cyberpunk as a genre mostly originated as an '80s phenomenon. It carries some baggage from that time: The fear of an economically-powerful Japan moving in on the West Coast and buying up all the property and corporations, for example. 5/pic.twitter.com/D0mcSSOIyU

        Movie poster of "Rising Sun," a '90s film with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes as police investigating a case with a Japanese corporation.
        2 replies 25 retweets 928 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        There's also the fear of how technology dehumanizes, often expressed as a fear of body modification or of artificial intelligence technology, synthetics, and genetic engineering. 6/pic.twitter.com/LDtEHdaSTm

        Peter Weller as a cyborg from the movie "Robocop" (1987), with a humanoid face and robotic body.
        1 reply 22 retweets 919 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        The trick to telling a cyberpunk story that moves past old problems is to look at the roots. It's a story about how humans interface with machines. That part's easy. You have neural interfaces, bionic limbs, replacement eyes. 7/pic.twitter.com/lR1Q0jDY9t

        Person holding up a bionic eye.
        2 replies 22 retweets 944 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        But it's also a story about the dangers of authoritarianism, consumerism, and corporatism. It's a story about people who are threatened by these things, and who rebel against them. Thus, it's a story that is inherently about people living on the fringes, about the oppressed. 8/pic.twitter.com/s1kkCAd7Fh

        Picture reads "marginalized people don't need politeness, they need power"
        4 replies 70 retweets 1,330 likes
        Show this thread
      9. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        This means that marginalized people are the protagonists of cyberpunk stories. Cyberpunk's heroes are the ones who are oppressed but fighting back against brutal authority, against consumer culture, against market demographics and social norms. 9/pic.twitter.com/FaLrLYRATD

        Punk on bus from "Star Trek IV," middle finger raised, playing "I hate you" on boom box, wearing black leather jacket, studded black wristband, with styled orange mohawk.
        2 replies 84 retweets 1,282 likes
        Show this thread
      10. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        So cyberpunk that is racist or transphobic is making mistakes right out the gate. These stories should be about how marginalized people in a technologically-advanced dystopia find ways to beat the system, when it's the system that enforces these kinds of evils. 10/

        3 replies 243 retweets 2,232 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Cyberpunk isn't just cool because of the neon and chrome, the cybernetic parts, or the ultra-violence; those are set pieces. It's cool because the protagonists are fighting against tyrants, bigots, and corporate tools in a dystopia in which most people can't bother to care. 11/

        4 replies 399 retweets 2,594 likes
        Show this thread
      12. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        So cyberpunk should embrace body modification. It should embrace acceptance of people from many heritages and origins. It should embrace the idea of reinventing yourself to be true to yourself, even if that truth means changing every day. 12/

        7 replies 121 retweets 1,773 likes
        Show this thread
      13. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Consumerism says "You're what we market to you." It says that people fit into neat boxes so that companies can sell consumer products to them. Rebelling against that means refusing to fit into those "socially acceptable" boxes; it means radical self-actualization. 13/pic.twitter.com/BL6PeiVtrK

        Black-and-white street scene from movie "They Live" (1988), showing all street signs secretly saying slogans such as "Consume," "Conform," "Buy," "Obey," and "Watch Television."
        1 reply 70 retweets 1,382 likes
        Show this thread
      14. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Authoritarianism says "You do what we tell you." It says that people should not question, they should just fall in line. It says you should be afraid of power. Rebelling against that means seizing power, and flipping a big middle finger to those who would control you. 14/pic.twitter.com/ruxp7QR3ie

        Joan Jett flipping middle finger, dressed as punk.
        1 reply 52 retweets 1,144 likes
        Show this thread
      15. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Corporatism says "You're just a cog in the system." It says that your only value is the value to the company. Rebelling against that means forming your own communities and rejecting the notion that chasing wealth and exploiting people for profit is an acceptable way to live. 15/pic.twitter.com/nzoHsKe22m

        Ronny Cox as Dick Jones from movie "Robocop" (1987), wearing corporate suit, standing in front of war machine ED-209, which he means to sell as a military contract for his company, OCP.
        3 replies 64 retweets 1,200 likes
        Show this thread
      16. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Put those together and your cyberpunk stories should embrace characters who stand outside of the "mythical norm." They should talk about fighting these systems that are architected by the rich and powerful to maintain a status quo. 16/

        1 reply 34 retweets 1,126 likes
        Show this thread
      17. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Cyberpunks embrace technology and embrace changes that other people fear because they reject the messages of conformity and uncertainty that come out of corporate messaging. They reject messages that rely on ugly stereotypes. They reject commodification. 17/

        2 replies 33 retweets 1,062 likes
        Show this thread
      18. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        So if you wanna be a cyberpunk... embrace games and stories that tell THAT kind of tale. Stories that don't perpetrate the same tired tropes that have been used to make fun of or villainize or exotify people who aren't "mainstream." 18/

        1 reply 49 retweets 1,190 likes
        Show this thread
      19. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        You're a punk, reject mainstream! Reject conformity! Reject the tired old lies about stereotypes and behaviors. We're making a new tomorrow, using our technology to rebuild ourselves to be what we want, to do what we want. 19/

        1 reply 58 retweets 1,167 likes
        Show this thread
      20. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        Or don't. But if you dismiss people who live under oppression from authoritarianism, if you toe corporate marketing speak, if you spend your dollars to consume the latest fads, you're not a punk, you're a poseur. 20/

        1 reply 42 retweets 1,152 likes
        Show this thread
      21. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but the struggle of marginalized people against wealthy corporate marketing is, after all, kind of a core conflict in cyberpunk. ~Fin~

        7 replies 43 retweets 1,141 likes
        Show this thread
      22. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        P.S. Some folks might take issue with these words coming from a developer who works for a video game company. Aren't I just as bad? I make my money by selling a game product to people. Well, friends, sometimes folks live in troubled systems without alternatives.

        3 replies 17 retweets 1,172 likes
        Show this thread
      23. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 9 Dec 2020

        More qualified people than I have written about many of the issues in recent cyberpunk material. I'm just giving you an idea that it could be better and still be cyberpunk—that it SHOULD be better. ~Real Fin~

        15 replies 18 retweets 1,127 likes
        Show this thread
      24. Jesse Heinig‏ @JesseHeinig 10 Dec 2020

        THREAD EXPLOSION! I don't have a Soundcloud or anything. Go follow @invocationarray and listen to some cyberpunk music from LGBTQIA+ artists. Follow a game streamer who's Black or trans or indigenous or SOMETHING outside of my whitebread world. Rock the norms. You can do it.

        7 replies 9 retweets 294 likes
        Show this thread
      25. End of conversation

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