Looking in the matrix with my eyes, Technomancer and ordinary users Options

[Paymaster]

From what i have read is that a TM and the ordinary user perspectiv on the matrix are like day and night. But they are both players on the matrix. But with diffrent viewpoints.

So my main question is that how diffrent sprites and complexsforms are viewed from the other side.

Does a complex form appear in the AR and matrix?

Does a sprite appear in the AR and matrix?

Is it somthing that belongs in that enviroment or is it something that is unatural and is easy spotted by other users?

[evilgoattea]

The way I see it is that the Hacker and the Technomancer do see the matrix in the same way, but their interactions with the matrix can vary greatly. A Technomancer doesn't need any gear or a commlink at all to access the matrix, where as a hacker is very gear dependant. A Technomancer has some edges over the Hacker in that they can thread their complex forms (which I find very powerful) and the creation of sprites which work in a similar way to mages spirits.

As far as AR and VR go I think its just a matter of perception. I think if you could see a Sprite in VR you'd be able to see them in AR as well. When in AR you can do all of the things you would be able to do in VR as far as hacking, cybercombat etc. The advantage of doing these things in AR is that you can also pay attention in your in the middle of a firefight...the disadvantage is that your moving at your meat body speeds and relying on your meat attributes. While in VR you move much faster (have three passes with hot sim) but can't percieve the world around you.

As far as a sprite being easily detected I suppose it would depend if they are running a good stealth program...though im not to sure on that one.

EDIT: Had another thought, think of AR as playing a video game, you press buttons and use a controller. VR is VR, your still "pressing the control" but it seems to you like you are actually doing the things you are doing.

[GreyBrother]

Does a complex form appear in the AR and matrix?

Yes. How it appears is yours to choose. A distortion in the air, a cloak made of the nightsky, camouflage-trousers are good icons for a stealth program, whilst attack can be anything too. Heck, it doesn't even have to be something linked with the use of the program, just to confuse the enemy (What, you wan't to fight me with a ring on your finger?). What it does and what it looks like are seperate things.

Does a sprite appear in the AR and matrix?

Yes.

Is it somthing that belongs in that enviroment or is it something that is unatural and is easy spotted by other users?

Depends - as said - on the rating of stealth involved and how the actual appearance is (but even than: Unwired talked about that nothing is able to hide in the matrix without a stealth-program).
It also depends on how you view sprites. An Infosavants Datasprite could be just a swirling tornado made out of profiles, whilst an Dronomancers Machinesprite is compiled out of the software of his favourite drone and looks kinda like a drone but more "alive". It could be just a flir in the graphics, but even then the Analyse Program would say "Well, here it is." as long as there is no stealth involved.

[Kanada Ten]

I think there is a perception difference, but it's more internal. For a hacker, the Matrix is like a playground. A place separate from our reality, though meshed with it (more and more). It's a place where they can build things, make things, destroy things, but for them it will always be "virtual", unreal. To a technomancer, the Matrix and the meat are one. The "virtual" world is their home, not an add-on or even an extension to the real world, but an appendage. Not a place or a thing, but a living essence.

This leads to a fundamental difference in world views. A technomancer will never expect something's appearance to predicate its function. They'll never be surprised by a fountain that's actually an IC or a gun emplacement. They have no expectations of a static reality, everything is always flowing and changing and wrapped up in underlying currents.

[Angier]

As there are no born technomancers yet this reasoning is wrong.

[Kanada Ten]

If you consider the symptom of being a technomancer is the inability to distinguish the virtual from reality (AIPS), then perhaps you could reconsider my reasoning.

[Angier]

not all technomancers suffer from AIPS. And not all victims of AIPS are technomancers. admit it, you are wrong (there is no fault in this cause there ARE technomancers who suffer from AIPS which do experience what you describe).

[GreyBrother]

Well... it IS possible that a technomancer can actually view the matrix as such as Kanada Ten described it. The crash happened 7 years ago, there's a chance young ones view the matrix this way (E-Scapists anyone?) but not everyone.
Probably some of the former otaku too, but i agree with Angier: Not enough to generalize it.

[Kanada Ten]

OK, I can accept that not all technomancers would think of the Matrix in the same way as the real world, just as I can accept that some hackers would have the intimate connection with the virtual that leads them to the same world view.

How do you describe a technomancer's agitation at being in dead zones?

[Angier]

Like mages in mana dead zones. feeling isolated and abbandoned. cold. limp.

[Paymaster]

The thing i try to find out is why technomancers are so feerd by the the common user.

Because if the TM tricks like complexforms and sprites are hard to se and figure out that they are not common programs. Then the only thing is the abscence of pan that is a big give away.

I have a TM in my group and i play in the 2068 so the emergence havent kicked in just yet. I have started to ask me this question n a storytelling perspective. The group dosent know that he is a TM...he is ofcourse the hacker...a fuck up but still a hacker.
So what im looking for is when or what actions that could give him away from not being the ordinary hacker.

[Angier]

Simply because technomancers are an reminder about the unknown dangers that lure in the matrix on the common user. They are no real threat as they are just people with a knack for the matrix. but they stand for the unknown. the one thing, (meta)humanity fears the most.

[hobgoblin]

fear is the mind killer...

[GreyBrother]

He has a PAN (remember, a PAN is just the mesh network of all your devices, and his brain counts as a device in that logic), he could carry around a fake commlink or a disposable 'link. My TM told the group just "Well yeah, this is my civilian 'link and in my head i got some SOTA tech!" That was before he knew of the group mage (who didn't asensed him, thank you resonance).

One thing that COULD make suspicious would be, if anothere tech-savvy character is present who points out "dude, those agents are fraggin sophisticated. How did you program them? Dare to share the sourcecode?"