From: | michael.goldberg3@***.net michael.goldberg3@***.net |
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Subject: | Timestamp modifications |
Date: | Tue, 07 Nov 2000 22:18:58 +0000 |
What is the shadowrun societal impact of a decker
modifying his/her/its timestamp? By this I mean, what
does it really indicate and is this ultimately a good
thing or bad thing for the decker's reputation?
On one hand, it seems to indicate a certain level of
talent and capability to circumvent the system that is in
place to safeguard against such "criminal activities".
This would seem to indicate that the decker is trying to
show that s/he is different than the other deckers that
are out there.
On the other hand, it is also a message to those that
hire decker talent that the individual likes to stand out
from his/her peers. What if the "Johnson" wants a quiet
approach? Is he really going to want a person who
advertises themselves by modifying their timestamp? Or
is he going to use a different measuring stick to
determine which decker is the one to use.
IMHO, I have always felt that while it is noteworthy to
be able to modify a timestamp consistently, it is more
impressive that the really elite decker crowd doesn't
bother. After all, they are not status concerned at that
point and they have made the realization that sometimes a
subtle tweak of the system is harder to trace than a
complete disruption of the system (or in this case, a
subsystem).
Since a lot of people have wanted to have their
characters do the timestamp modifications, I was curious
what other people on the list think about timestamp
modification and the career implications of doing it are
for the various "shadowrunners"?
Merely curious,
Mike