Battle in Seattle
Author: dozens of multinationals and hundreds of anarchists
Category: world event
Company/Publisher: Greed and Outrage Cost: immeasurable
Page count: n/a
Genre tags: Modern-day, Conspiracy, Diceless, Live-action

Cyberpunk isn't the hot genre that it was in the '80s. What seemed futuristic now seems dated. We all have access to the Internet, or at least those of us who can afford computers (who in the eyes of the media are the only ones who really matter) do. Dark and gritty seem played out. The cold war backdrop is no more. Gibson and the others who predicted that massive corporations would come to dominate our existence didn't bother to predict that they would be friendly with smiles.

The World Trade Organization Third Ministerial Conference proved that there is still outrage. It isn't exactly like the "movement" writers envisioned, but then again, the mass media of today doesn't seem to get it either. This isn't a retread of the sixties hippyism. Perhaps a retread of 1968 French protest, but of a different stripe than the culture of love-ins and MLK. There is not a charismatic leader to pin blame on or defame this time. Much as the Santa Clara decision of 1886 gave corporations the full rights of "natural persons" despite the fact that they are legal fictions created to eliminate accountability, today's protesters have networks instead of leaders with no one person being, accountable for the actions taken. There is no way to hack at the roots because the dissident organization cannot be likened to a tree growing up from a solid base. It is a fungus with each part of it desperately trying to spread its spores.

Faced with something like this the police have to respond on all fronts. Vandals and street performers trying to get media exposure for the cause cannot be easily differentiated by outsider police. APVs affectionately called "peacekeepers" bring armored peace officers to try to instill some semblance of order. They are caught up in a battle where the stakes are measured in public relations. As such they are outsiders forced into a war that is not their own. Their job was to protect the interests of the state meaning to make sure that the conference could take place in a nice fashion. They could not actively stop the protest while keeping the image of WTO conference being Good for everyone intact.

In the end spin doctors such as Time's John Leo provided op-ed articles dismissing the protesters as fools who didn't realize that the '60s were over and Newsweek released an opinion piece, as it often does, as one of its news articles relating to the story. Jay Leno and other television comedians appearing on corporate-owned networks make jokes about police attacks on "human rights protesters" without making mention of the content of the protest beyond the fact that there were "vegetarians" and "union leaders" (getting beaten together).

Condemnation of corporate practices in modem media can best be seen in the movie "The Insider" which is being distributed by a media cartel which is in direct competition with the cigarette companies portrayed. Throw that into your Shadowrun games, chummer. After all, Seattle is the default setting.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent)

(This appeared on the RPGNet website, written up as a LARP (Live Action Role-Playing) game review)