Queering the cyborg in cyberpunk role-playing games
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Meg Oslund (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Faye Stewart
Abstract: This thesis seeks to understand how interactive representations of the science fiction staple, the cyborg, create possibilities for embodiment and queering. The cyborg is positioned as a theory by Donna J. Haraway to explore the expansive opportunities to surpass gender binaries by embracing technological adaptation to human forms. I push this concept further to determine how gender is perceived and performed in imagined sci-fi futures. My research focuses on the practice of embracing cyborgian technology through interactive play in role-playing games within the science fiction subgenre, cyberpunk. In examining the works, Cyberpunk Red (a table-top role-playing game) and Cyberpunk 2077 (a role-playing video game), I interrogate the potential for the cyborg to be queered through collaborative and interactive play. By delving into the history and structure of role-playing games along with the themes of the cyberpunk genre, I reflect on the queer potential that this media provides to players and audiences.
Queering the cyborg in cyberpunk role-playing games
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Created on 8/1/2023
Views: 178
Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 2023
- Keywords
- Cyberpunk, Games, Queer, Role-playing, Video games
- Subjects
- Cyborgs in popular culture
- Cyberpunk (Game)
- Fantasy games
- Queer theory