The Hot-Sim Disadvantage, How much is too much? Options

[Aaron]

Often, when I ask someone knowledgeable in the game what the disadvantage of hot-sim VR is, they answer that the user takes physical damage from dumpshock (the punchline to that is left as an exercise to the reader) and from black IC. However, they often forget the other issue with VR and any ungoverned direct neural sensory interface like BTLs: addiction.

So hot-sim VR is addictive. If used too much, it can lead to addiction, withdrawl symptoms in dead zones, psychological problems, Essence loss, and ultimately death. I'm wondering what people's opinions are on the severity of the addictive properties of hot-sim, specifically how much is too much, and how severe is the addiction?

First, how much is too much? The rules suggest tests "after repeated/habitual use, a particularly brutal bender, or exposure to strong concentrations of the drug in a short period of time." (Boyle et al. 247) But what is repeated use? How much is too much? One hour? Several hours? A single combat with black IC?

Next, what should the Addiction Test threshold be? Unfortunately, the book has not one, not two, but three different entries are listed for BTL threshholds.

So I had some ideas, and offer them up to be ripped to shreds by the DS community. They are not necessarily meant to be used together.

• Call each hot-sim session one use and call for an Addiction Test after every (Logic) uses.
• Call for an Addiction Test if a single session exceeds (Logic) hours.
• Call for an Addiction Test if the hacker goes (Logic) days without breaking from hot-sim.
• Hot-sim is a computer-generated experience, and so couldn't be as intense as a Moodchip, therefore the threshold is 1.
• Hot-sim is a computer-generated experience that uses intuitive emotional impulses to give the user additional information, and so is the equivalent of a Moodchip, therefore the threshold is 2.
• Hot-sim is a computer-generated experience that uses stimuli that cannot be experienced in real life, and so is the equivalent of a Tripchip, therefore the threshold is 3.

Of course, there's the question of addiction in technomancers. These guys are using hot-sim all the time, aren't they? I don't think it's a problem, though, since "the neural pathways and brain chemistry of technomancers are altered to such an extent that they can reach out and tap in." (Boyle et al. 232) Their brains are already used to it, and so they don't suffer the same effects.