Queering the cyborg in cyberpunk role-playing games

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.