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Message no. 1
From: runnerpaul@*****.com runnerpaul@*****.com
Subject: High Essence cost 'neural ware' [was: More Things]
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 13:36:52 -0400 (EDT)
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At 10:27 PM 7/30/99 -0400, Schizi@***.com wrote:
::How much of a VCR rig is headware and how much is bodyware, in
::terms of essence?

:This argument came up on AOL recently. My view, VCRs are too high in
: essence cost for being so much neural ware.

Too high compared to what? Take Move-By-Wire, for example. That
should count as entirely "neural ware", because all it interacts with
is the nervous system, putting it in a state of controlled seizure.

Then there's the artwork (I'll admit that in most of SR's 'toy
catalogs' you can't always go by the artwork, but they've been much
better about it with recent products) that shows the move-by-wire
implant entirely above the level of the shoulders.

Finally, going by the narrative description of how move-by-wire
works, I'd say that it'd have to be headware. To induce a motor
seizure, it'd have to be stimulating the motor cortex of the brain
itself. What I'm getting at, is that while move-by-wire is listed as
bodyware, I think it would be more accurate to call it headware.
(Vehicle Rig 'ware is similar in this respect IMO.)

Have you ever looked at the essence costs for the different levels of
move-by-wire "headware" (especially at the higher levels)? MBW-4
can't even be implanted into someone without killing them (unless you
use a high-quality cyberware grade or cybermancy), its essence cost
is so high...


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Message no. 2
From: Arcady arcady@***.net
Subject: High Essence cost 'neural ware' [was: More Things]
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 1999 12:27:15 -0700
> At 10:27 PM 7/30/99 -0400, Schizi@***.com wrote:
> ::How much of a VCR rig is headware and how much is bodyware, in
> ::terms of essence?
>
> :This argument came up on AOL recently. My view, VCRs are too high in
> : essence cost for being so much neural ware.
>
> Too high compared to what? Take Move-By-Wire, for example. That
> should count as entirely "neural ware", because all it interacts with

If you think about it; neural ware is invading the brain.

Which do you think would have a greater effect on your way of living and
thinking:
losing a leg or losing a lobe of the brain?
Unless you believe as the ancient Egyptians did that the nature of a being
is in their heart and the brain is just a space filling organ that does
nothing... you'd have to see that removal of said organ would have extreme
effects on the person.

So if I were to design SR without considering game balance but just
considering 'what should' cost more essence I'd triple the essence cost of
everything neural and half or quarter the cost of everything non neural
(depending on just how non neural it really is).
Of course; that would result in a game with a very odd game balance... so I
wouldn't actually do it.

Arcady http://www.jps.net/arcady/ <0){{{{><
The Revolution will not be televised; it'll be emailed.
/.)\ Stop making sense. Be an Anti Intellectual
\(@/ Be Tao. Live Tao. Feel Tao. But don't do Tao.
Message no. 3
From: Schizi@***.com Schizi@***.com
Subject: High Essence cost 'neural ware' [was: More Things]
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 00:26:33 EDT
In a message dated 7/31/99 1:37:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
runnerpaul@*****.com writes:

> Too high compared to what? Take Move-By-Wire, for example. That
> should count as entirely "neural ware", because all it interacts with
> is the nervous system, putting it in a state of controlled seizure.
>
A VCR is much different than a system which throughs your body into a
seisure, and look at the other effects of Move-by-wire. M-b-W is more extreme
than even Wired Reflexes, which consists of a very intensive treatment.
A datajack translates vehcile effects into things a human can understand,
and vice versa. Seems to me, that has more to do with a standard datajack and
cyberdeck than a m-b-w.
While I think nerual ware should cost more essence than the same amount of
steel in a little toe, look at a datajack itself. Its essence equals the
essence loss of retractable hand razers. Yet, it is more neural intensive
than most other things, allowing a dni with any outside objects.
An encephalon is only 1.75, it is a lot more neural also, but even a
level-1 VCR is higher.

IMO, this is a game-balance measure, but to me, it also makes more sense to
just raise the cost of the implants, and lower the essence. (that level-1 is
only 12K for instance)
So, instead of the ganger being able to afford one with his new cycle, and
the hard-core rigger trying to track down a deltaclinic to survive. You could
reverse them.
Message no. 4
From: Starrngr@***.com Starrngr@***.com
Subject: High Essence cost 'neural ware' [was: More Things]
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1999 15:13:32 EDT
In a message dated 7/31/99 12:31:08 PM Pacific Daylight Time, arcady@***.net
writes:

> Which do you think would have a greater effect on your way of living and
> thinking:
> losing a leg or losing a lobe of the brain?
> Unless you believe as the ancient Egyptians did that the nature of a being
> is in their heart and the brain is just a space filling organ that does
> nothing... you'd have to see that removal of said organ would have extreme
> effects on the person.

Thats one of the places where I will disagree with you, Arcady. The human
brain is a remarkable, redundant system in which there have been many
documented cases of people recoviering almost totaly from such incidents as
loosing a large portion of their brain. Not so with loosing a leg.

Which is why I dont have much of a problem with the essace ssystem as it
stands now, and personally, I agree with those few who were talking about it
a fw months ago who came to the decision that its not so much loosing part of
the body that causes essance loss but the "control" systems that have to be
connected later to install the cyberware. It is possible to create items
which are inert as far as the body is concerned, such as glass and certain
metals, so I see no reason why implanting something per say would cause
essance loss, while wiring it into the body's control systems would... (and
would be yet another reason why things like cranial bombs and false teeth
wouldnt cost essance)

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