FrankTrollman wrote:
In a word: yes.
The big problem with IC in 4th edition is that it's just a program you can buy. If IC is as scary as a hacker, then non-hackers will be as scary as hackers.
There's room for some kind of super IC for Nexuses, but regular computers running IC pretty much have to be much weaker than Hackers, because those are items that non-hacker PCs own several copies of.
-Username17
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. If I encounter any concrete issues or examples from a real game, I'll bubble them up here.
On a mostly-unrelated note, I amused myself to no end last night kicking around ideas for how signal-related etiquette would work in the sixth world. Forget all the "hobo army" brainhacking nonsense that Dumpshock got so needlessly worked up over...What do you do when the Sixth World version of Walmart and Best Buy set up shop next to each other?
I mean, it's a given that some sort of program is being run to put you in a less-frugal mood. That's the natural progression of the basic-by-comparison shenanigans that we already do in retail establishments today. And it makes sense that you also insulate the snot out of your establishment in order to prevent your competitor from benefiting, and to prevent clever people from using your over-exuberance to show you what nastiness can be done at Handshake range. So as a customer, there is an expectation of what the retail establishment can and cannot do. And that it won't rise past a certain threshold, and that it essentially ends at the door (for the most part).
Things like Jingle make all the sense in the world while you're in the store. In fact, it seems to me that consumers would essentially expect it. And there's a moment in one of the SR4A fluff stories where the equivalent of the Google Cam Car rolls down the street pumping out simsense advertisements at what must be signal 0...because people see it coming, and if they don't want to be disturbed, they step away. It's seen as a potential annoyance, but like all minor annoyances, failure to prevent it is considered to be the responsibility of the one affected, not the one perpetuating it. For a citizen to chase said car down the street with rage in his heart and murder in his eye because he's so offended that it violated the sanctity of his personal space with it's electrons would be seen as a violation of the doctrine of proportional response. And we would all go on our way and tolerate the car, and avoid
that crazy guy.
On the other hand, if you equip the Google Car with signal 4 gear and pump the same ads, you take it to a whole new level. You are now offending everyone in a 1km radius...at the same time. And a lot of those people will have the means to do something nasty in a retaliatory fashion that is going to require you to buy a new Google Car. Because you were dumb enough to make yourself an obvious target on both the social and technical levels.
And one of the hallmarks of SR4 is a renewed focus on blending in, or getting punished for refusing to.
I just really like the elegance of it all. These rules describe a Shadowrun world that makes sense. It's dysfunctional, intrusive, offensive, and occasionally scary as hell...but that's Shadowrun.