Selling Code For Nuyen Options

[Elfie]

Hey all,

I'm playing a Decker who has been able (through some lucky rolls) to program an Attack Deadly (5) - Stealth (5) Program. Now I own both the source and the object code, correct? What would be a good way to make some money off of my work? I mean, could I go to Shadowland and sell my wares, or maybe hold an auction for the source code? Would I be able to make copies of the object code and sell off multiple Attack programs (granted I dont want to saturate the market, but more than 1 sale would be nice)?

Basically my character worked hard for this program and now wants to reap some sort of monetary benefit.

[Lilt]

I don't know the rules for this but I suspect if you sold the code someone could make a killer for the program fairly easily.

If I were your GM then I'd suggest you got a trusted middle man (fixer) to do the trades. You would get effectively 30% of the cost of that program per sale and your GM would roll once every few days to see if someone has the cash and the desire to buy the program. I'm no expert though. Also suggest to some of your closer contacts that you know of a place that's selling the programs?

[DV8]

Well, if the programs are illegal, you'll have to go through a fixer, who will give you about 30 cents on the nuyen. If it's not, then you'll get 50 to 80 cents or so. Just use the cost for skillsofts to calculate the amount it'll be worth. Take your multiplier and the rating, etc.

[mrgoat]

Yup. You have the source and object code. Just sell the object code, and make the appropriate profit given the avenues you sell it through. If you can maintain it properly, it's rating ought not to degrade with SOTA increases, but otherwise it will, just like any other program, making it eventually worth nothing, if you just let it sit.

I think there should be a limit on how many SOTA increases you can keep a program maintained through as well, before the techniques that make it feasable are no longer valid, and you have to start a new one with a different code base. (In game terms, write the same program again.)

If you GM doesn't use SOTA increases on software, he/she should. Keeping up to date is the single most important aspect of [strike]hacking[/strike] decking.

[TinkerGnome]

If you keep selling OCCs of your drek-hot decker programs, eventually someone is going to figure out who you are and attempt to "recruit" you. The safest thing to do, by far, is to sell it to a software pirate or go through Hacker House. You can probably get a fair amount for the software (I'd say base price x SI as the base negotiation price, considering the fact that you're selling the source code and the pirate can make that back in one sale).

Doing it yourself is likely to be dangerous and time consuming.

[Game2BHappy]

Be sure to purchase Rating an Optical Chip Encoder so you can make those precious OCCs. :) Its in Matrix somewhere.

We ran the base 30% for selling code and then included the actual negotiation test with it. As the money amounts became greater, the negotiator being sent became better and better. Secondly, if your fixer is setting you up with someone, he'll want a percentage as well. If you use FOF rules from SRC that can be up to 2/3 of the take (IIRC).

Still, its incredibly profitable selling code. :)