AR hiding illegal

I was just looking at SR4 (working my way threw it) and noticed the AR example 3 says there are places where it is illegal to operate your commlink in hidden mode, the comlink description says some information must be made available in certain arias. What would this mean for somebody who did not have a commlink (ether threw choice, poverty, loss or inconvenience (today I take no id to the beech with me)

Edward

They might accept another form of ID (like a Credstick) but begrudgingly, and most likely with further questions. (Why aren't you carrying a Commlink, don't want anyone to know who you are?)

Honestly, those zones would be fore sure corporate core sectors or governement establishments. And there's no valid reason for anyone not to have a commlink in those areas. People are there for a specific reason - business. If you forget your commlink at home, you can probably get a temp RFID sort of ID at your office.

Now that is a cool idea, trick is convincing the guard your on the system...

The fluff example was on the street in a AAA suburb,

If you live near the beech you have to take your comlink when you walk to the beech for a swim.

Sounds a bit over the top to me.

And to an office cleaner a cheep comlink is a fortnights salary, having a job cleaning offices means this person dose have a sin.

Edward

The rules state, commlinks typically carry your personal date, like ID and SIN. This would mean, there are alternatives.
One alternative might be a security RFID, implated under your skin, which contains the necessary data. Technically, this would be like broadcasting your ID.

The economy of the cyberpunk future is a bitch. If you don't have the money to afford a commlink, society doesn't want you. If you're a dude who cleans offices, you had to have a SIN to get that job, and Mr. Ares Hiring Manager could go through the hassle of reading hardcopy SIN documentation, digging up your records online, and being sympathetic with your plight of "I need this job because I can't even afford a commlink," but the next guy in line for your job, whose SIN is in his commlink alongside of his resume and his direct-deposit payroll account obviously has his shit together a lot more than you do... why hire the screwball? If you want to interact with the world at large, you need a commlink, period.

Sure, small businesses in crappy neighborhoods (and various shadow-contacts) will take your certified credstick over the counter, but they're not even going to let you into a restaurant in a good neighborhood (read, anywhere your typical wage-slave aspires to live) without your commlink showing some ID. If you're too poor to afford a second-hand bottom-of-the-barrel commlink, that's too bad... we don't want you in our neighborhood, and Mr. Lone Star just down the block is going to come by and hassle you until you go somewhere else.

The corporations have a vested interest in this kind of thing. Sure, there's a bunch of SINless people out there without commlinks, and that keeps their dollars out of the economy... but they don't have much money to spend in the first place. Meanwhile, keeping the vast majority of the wageslaves equipped with the means to spend money as quick as a thought (and making hundred- or thousand-nuyen pieces of hardware into combination wallets/status symbols) is even better for business.

Nobody swims anymore, either. The oceans will burn your skin off if you stay in them for more than a few minutes. And the rain will bleach your clothes if you don't wear your poncho. And there are no more kittens or puppies, either, just robotic equivalents.

as well, having a thriving underground economy provides a sort of neutral ground for corps to work with--a buffer zone, a source of shadow talent, etcetera. the lower class can be really handy!

Not to mention a great testbed for new products, be they ecological, pharmaceutical, or ballistic.

<quote>
Nobody swims anymore, either. The oceans will burn your skin off if you stay in them for more than a few minutes. And the rain will bleach your clothes if you don't wear your poncho. And there are no more kittens or puppies, either, just robotic equivalents.</quote>

it isn't quite that bad in SR, hell they even prove s much in the old cyberpirates book

That's why there's a big old on the end of that paragraph.

Nobody in their right mind goes swimming at the beach in Seattle anyway, though. Even if you ignore the whole pollution thing, the water averages about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Hypothermia will take you out of the picture in about 30 minutes.

It varies from time of year, etc. I just remember that as being the temperature all the guides at the aquarium warn you about.

Awakened dogfish? Heh...

Or even worse, awakened Dopefish.

Swim. Swim. Hungry.

Awakened Devil fish, the honking huge Octopi you get in that area of the world according to my nature programs.

editted for to much Y not enoufh T.

Hell, things are a bitch now. I currently don't have a valid credit card and it feels like I lost my damn citizenship or something. The whole AR commlink thing would compound the misery.
Btw, how do I get my free digital converter

So the prices for Commlinks in the book are pretty much canon, but what about a real world corrollary: Cell Phones.

You don't need $300 cash to buy a nice cellphone...many of them now are free, or pretty darned cheap if you sign a contract. Perhaps that, or at least some sort of financing is available for commlinks. I mean, just because a Eurocar Westwind 3K lists at $85k doesn't mean a person HAS to have $85k in cash on hand to get one.

I mean, I'm on my 4th automobile since getting my license and never once have I had the kind of money to pay cash for one.

For an average joe, getting a cheap to halfway decent commlink every few years and making the payments on it are part of lifestyle. Anyone with Low or better should have a crappy commlink included, I think. Not a commlink that a runner would ever want to use, of course.
For squatters and lower, well, all those rich people throw out old commlinks, maybe if they're lucky they can find a working one in the trash.

Hey! I'm the one taking up a ressurecting old threads hobby around here!

But this is as good as any.

I would hesitate to let players buy things on credit, for a couple of reasons. The primary being balance and the secondary being ease of use.

Balancewise you can end up in a situation where characters are getting high priced merchandise for a fraction of the cost. For example, if the campaign is only going to last 1-3 years in game time, entering into a 5 year contract to buy a Westwind will save them lots of money.

Second, it's incredibly easier to just say "buy the car from the book." If they want it cheaper they can get a stolen one. The game flows much faster when I don't have to try and decide what a decent down payment and monthly fee would be for a luxury sedan in 2070.

All that said though, if a player was intent on the idea I'd work something out with him. And it could be fun to have the repo man show up at his house after a dry spell of jobs.

Just for the record, I don't think anyone was talking about runners buying anything on credit. We were discussing average joes.

first of, shadowrunners are not avarage joes. avarage joes have more or less signed their life away to some corp (mega or not). this means that they have a legal SIN, a "fixed" income, and all that stuff.

their comlink could be a corp comlink, their car could be a corp car (if they are that high up). most likely however if they are a office "rat" they either work from home using VR, or commute using corp coverd public transport (or maybe a corp carpool or similar).

corp is mother, corp is father.

shadowrunners are independents. if they are listed as anything its security consultants

There are tons of people today that can't afford cell phones but still have them. I've known jobless people for whom their cell phone was last on their list of thigns to get rid of when money got too tight. In a world where your cell phone let's you play Duke Nuke'm in full 3-D during your bathroom breaks at work that would probably be even more true.

The first one can possibly turn the SINner defect into a benefit. If you're going to let characters get bonuses from their flaws you may want to lower their BP value. Then again you may not.

The second would also work in my game, but none of my current crop of players would probably think about doing it. Long term it's going to be more costly than buying the actual item. Short term you run the risk of the job you're buying the item for going south and suddenly finding yourself forever in debt to Guido and Nunzio.

about homeless and mobile phones. was there not a story about a homeless guy in new york that had got a old desktop computer going and used to haul it into places with wifi access to go online?

Obviously you don't use that method to purchase the getaway vehicle.

There's always the pre-paid option. For cheap, you get last year's commlink, and your AR/VR is limited to your pre-paind account, probably by the month. The ID broadcasting/banking aspects are free.

My group frequently foregoes the "buying" portion of getting a getaway vehicle altogether, preferring to swipe one and keep their own rides clean.

Yes, while it's quite possible for bix to interfere with life, it's easily possible to choose not to take your purchased car on a run. The other things you can't really avoid, because your GM will throw them at you wherever he deems logical and/or fitting. That's what I meant by "getaway vehicle"... The vehicle you use to get away from your crime.