Android: Netrunner (2012) is the update of Richard Garfield and Wizards of the Coast’s (WotC) cult classic Netrunner(Garfield, 1996). Android: Netrunner is an asymmetrical, dystopian cyberpunk card game in which one player acts as a “Runner,” attempting to hack another player’s (the “Corporation’s”) servers, to steal agendas before the corporation can advance them. Ironically, as stated by the original Netrunner’s creator, Richard Garfield, some believe that “games are not the best format in which to get people to like a new IP — something else had to get you to like Battlestar Galactica before you bought the boardgame. Books, movies, and television are all much better, probably because they are better at telling stories, and stories are what make people love IPs.” This piece offers a useful counterpoint: I argue the development of this IP and its paratexts reveals ways that narrative worlds have been effectively developed in conjunction with an evolving set of game mechanics.
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