 Emergence Review, (Some spoilers. Kept to a few, but...) |
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 Jul 6 2007, 03:47 PM
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#126
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The Dragon Never Sleeps  Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667  |
Can a Hacker Spoof a Sprite?
How does Analyze software work on a complex form? |
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Jul 6 2007, 03:59 PM
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#127
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 |
Joe Average doesn't distinguish and that too is a source of general paranoia that prevades 2070. But that's not really a problem since from the outset Joe Average couldn't really care if he's been contacted via webphone by a technomancer or a business man. He won't worry unless he detects he is being hacked or he's worried about the possibility of being hacked. The threat of technomancy is largely spun by the media on the "illegal" use of TM abilities (including their attacks on people and property, their ability to fake an account every time they log onto the Matrix, etc) and the potential danger those abilities pose in the hands of inherently unbalanced individuals (ironically rendered unstable by virtue of those same powers). This is increased by the fact that nobody knows exactly what the limits of those powers are. If a TM can spontaneously generate code constructs (sprites) and programs (complex forms) what's to stop him generating a virus at will? Or a mega virus at that? Thatis the fundamental difference between hackers and technomancers. A hacker has specific and pratical limits on what he can do. Technomancers may very well have the limits of their own, but people just don't know- and more importantly aren't willing to wait until it is too late to find out and put it into check. Blog is right that hackers, in the strict sense of the term, are going to be caught in the splash over - this actually happens several times in Emergence - and even those that aren't suffer from the increased paranoia and security measures. Many quite rightly put the blame for their troubles on technomancers (though in fact this goes both ways technomancers could get blamed for stuff a hacker with an implanted commlink did - as showcased in one of the newsitems in Emergence. This sets up a natural rivalry and even antagonism between hackers and the upstart technomancers which is one of the less glaring consequences of Emergence. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:00 PM
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#128
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
No and yes - when issueing an MPT on a TM persona and asking what programs it runs. Now please iterate how this helps Joe Average to determine whether the person in front of him is a TM, at all. Wait - it doesn't, for reasons I alreaded pointed out a post ago. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:01 PM
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#129
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,598 Joined: 24-May 03 Member No.: 4,629 |
Well, implanted commlinks aren't usually that hard to notice ... got a dand antennae sticking out of your head and a big chrome half-dome back there. The Alpha-grade stuff is more inside, mind you, which is why it gets so hard for a scanner to detect 'em, but teh standard issue isn't exactly buried under your cranium ... how would you ever get upgrades and troubleshoot?!
Besides, those types are few and far between. The vast, and by this I mean VAST, majority carry normal commlinks to do stuff. Watching somebody start interacting with no commlink in hand, no wires in his head ... yeah, kinda freaky. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:06 PM
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#130
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
YMMD. ;) Seriously, it's all nano-tech implants in the 70s - so no, without a cyber scanner or mage, you won't know the difference. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:09 PM
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#131
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Indeed. And for paranoia turning into a witchhunt, you need an image to hate. Say... wearing glasses thick enough to repel bullets? Other classic geek stereoptypes? ;) |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:23 PM
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#132
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Target Group: Members Posts: 79 Joined: 18-September 05 Member No.: 7,758 |
que Ogre -- "NERRRDDS!!!!"
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Jul 6 2007, 04:26 PM
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#133
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 |
You are erroneously assuming the witchhunts target the right people and not "innocent" victims doing things that are associated with technomancers (ie. hacking without an apparent commlink, performing "impossible" Matrix feats in the eyes of the uninformed, etc). Technomancers who lie low and hide their abilities by using commlinks can potentially ride out the witchhunts untouched. The ones who don't know how to control their abilities yet, the ones who are unbalanced by AIPS, the ones who don't take precautions, the ones who are surprised in the act, the ones who told a blabber-mouth friend, the ones who told an untrustworthy fellow runner - those are the ones that get lynched or picked up by the corps. The witchhunts don't number thousands of victims, there aren't that many technomancers to begin with. They number a few dozen maybe a few hundred worldwide but every time something of the sort happens it gets huge airtime because of the general craze (further feeding the flames). You're also assuming that unreliable methods aren't used (there are actually 3 new methods of detecting technomancers introduced in Emergence, more if you believe the spammers). |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:29 PM
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#134
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The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667 |
Oh, I'm sure the Corps and Governments will come up with an easily used color code system to help the public know exactly who a TM is. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:29 PM
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#135
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
Does one involve a feather and water? I was watching for some specific reference in Emergence to the portable CAT scan device introduced in Brainscan. Did I miss it , or was it just not there? |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:38 PM
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#136
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Actually, you got that backwards - I'm well aware (and advocating) that people ending up burned on the stake are not witches. ;)
Nope. Neither am I assuming this, nor are those methods new - they are already refered in the main book. |
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Jul 6 2007, 04:58 PM
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#137
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 |
That would be at odds with...
... since I'm pretty sure witches didn't have an "image" to qualify for the stake.
No. When I said 3 new methods, I meant 3 new methods (ie. not Assensing et al. in the main book). |
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Jul 6 2007, 05:14 PM
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#138
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
The whole 'witches' thing is the archetype of stereotype generation, so I'll disagree.
If I meant those obvious ones, I wouldn't used 'refered'. ;) |
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Jul 6 2007, 05:22 PM
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#139
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
This isn't me continuing on with the good/bad threads. I wont respond on those from here on. But I can offer a strong reason why Technomancers would be subject to such tremendous fear and prejudice and that is if the GM emphasizes an AI connection. This is mucking with the order of events and revelations in Emergence (ish), but if you really play up the angle that these are people that have been hacked by the Matrix, or non-human entities therein, then you get the hang-em-high fear. Note that I am aware that there are hints of this in Emergence - what I'm saying is that it requires greater emphasis. But other than a preconception that there has to be some big "AI's Exist" revelation, there's no reason you can't do this and stop worrying about whether TMs would actually provoke hysteria or not. If a program has taken control of someone to create agents amongst you, then TM's will produce such a reaction. |
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Jul 6 2007, 07:39 PM
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#140
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,078 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 67 |
To take the historical witch trials, identifiers for who was to be branded a witch were nearly always made up. They were superstitious leaps of false rationalization that a mob mind picked up on and ran with. Sometimes it was little more than someone not being approved of by the Powers-That-Be in a given town.
Similarly, it wouldn't necessarily take much to be branded a technomancer, even if you were not one. After all, most technomancer abilities are hard to detect and seem indistinguishable from "innocent" things that people do all day. People can come up with all manner of ways to point out a technomancer, or perhaps they simply believe the word of someone important (say, the media). Hell, the guy the got on a plane and flew around with drug-resistant tuberculosis recently received tons of death threats soon after the media aired the story. By people who had nothing at all to worry about from the guy. |
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Jul 12 2007, 05:06 PM
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#141
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,245 Joined: 27-April 07 From: Running the streets of Southeast Virginia Member No.: 11,548 |
As with anything else... Are we so certain they kicked the virtual bucket? IIRC, one of Big D's bequests in his will saved Captain Chaos / Fastjack (can't remember which and not at home to look) by doing some really strange stuff in the Matrix. So with such obvious rule bending / ignoring, can we really be certain the big AIs are in fact dead? Who isn't to say they aren't simply doing what others have implied the good Doctor who screwed over Renny are possibly doing... looking really & convincingly dead while off performing other nefarious deeds. Just food for thought... |
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Jul 12 2007, 05:27 PM
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#142
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Yes. Because... it's stated as GM information. |
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Jul 12 2007, 06:10 PM
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#143
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panda! Group: Members Posts: 10,331 Joined: 8-March 02 From: north of central europe Member No.: 2,242 |
thats not to say new ones can gain that level of power, now is there?
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Jul 12 2007, 06:12 PM
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#144
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Emergence makes certain to explain that the new AIs are way more 'normal' and comparable to other characters.
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Jul 12 2007, 06:56 PM
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#145
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
[ Spoiler ]
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Jul 12 2007, 06:58 PM
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#146
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,314 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Lisbon, Cidade do Pecado Member No.: 185 |
Emergence says that the three god-like AIs died with the old Matrix... though if there's one thing we know about death in the Sixth World can be something of a transitional state. After all, Dunklezahn and Captain Chaos died too (and in the Game Information too). |
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Jul 12 2007, 07:11 PM
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#147
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
No, 'we' don't know. The only thing known is that another form of existance might be possible, though Street Magic goes great lenghts to avoid that issue. Unfortunatly, in the case of the AIs, it's not only declared that they 'died', but that it was 'the end' also. Which rules out any such possibility. If that wasn't the intention, then the intention is badly implemented.
While a certain disconnect exists for Dunkelzahn between Game Inforation canon and Fiction canon, Captain Chaos was always declared a cliffhanger by the author. |
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Jul 12 2007, 07:11 PM
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#148
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Genuine Artificial Intelligence Group: Members Posts: 4,019 Joined: 12-June 03 Member No.: 4,715 |
Good point. But we sort of have to take the Game Information as fact. What is our alternative? Assume that rumors are just rumors and facts are just rumors, so we know nothing? Gosh, that makes me feel a lot better. I feel so liberated. I think I'll strip naked and run around. WHEEEEEE! :S |
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Jul 12 2007, 07:18 PM
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#149
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Shadow Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 3,737 Joined: 2-June 06 From: Secret Tunnels under the UK (South West) Member No.: 8,636 |
Don't forget to paint yourself orange. ;) |
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Jul 12 2007, 07:20 PM
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#150
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Genuine Artificial Intelligence Group: Members Posts: 4,019 Joined: 12-June 03 Member No.: 4,715 |
It's okay, I have a lot of Edge. You'll never see me. |
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