Message no. 1

From:	Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Matrix Metaphors
Date:	Wed, 26 Jul 1995 12:06:22 -0400

On Tue, 25 Jul 1995, Samuel Jones wrote:

> I agree. When you do Astral attacks, your actually attacking someone's
> psyche, or aura, or spirit, or whatever, but the combat system is the same.
> When you go into the Matrix, the system itself is trying to simulate
> reality(that's why it's called Virtual Reality!) That is why ideally the
> player will tell you what his programs look like. ex: an attack program
> isn't just an attack program, it's a huge cannon, or a dart, or a missile,
> or an Ares Predator. Looking at the icons for attack programs, it makes
> sense that an Ares Predator attack program can fire at a different range
> than a Katana attack program of the same rating! Try not to dwell on what
> is actually happening and concentrate on what the Matrix is trying to make
> you THINK is happening.

This kind of "losing yourself in the metaphor of the Matrix" is
precisely what gets you dead. Read Virtual Realities again, especially
the parts where it talks about relative perceptions. Even in the story
(which is more rules-conforming than most SR fiction) Lucifer warns his
student to not get caught up in the metaphor.
In my campaign, it becomes even more important because I have
dropped the guideline of "program looks as menacing as its rating." So
when Duke the Corporate Decker whips out his flaming orange rotary
assault-cannon attack program, you have no way of knowing whether it's a
rating 12, deadly staged abomination or a rating 2 weenie attack program
that has put all its memory and coding into visuals and booming sounds.
The same is true for IC, and my players have run across a few systems
where dangerous grey or black IC has been disguised as a UMS default icon
for white IC. It keeps them on their toes and makes the virtual
environment a much more interesting and deadly place.

Marc