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From:	tjlanza@************.com (Timothy J. Lanza)
Subject:	Simsense Devices [Was "RE: Magic Fingers, firearms, and you"]
Date:	Wed, 04 Feb 2004 14:10:14 -0500

Message no. 1 At 11:08 AM 2/4/2004, Jonathan Hurley wrote:
>When did skillwires come into play? For that matter, when did the subject of
>RAS overrides come into play? A simrig is primarily a *recording* device.

It all ties back to simsense devices and how they function.

As I said before, it's the RAS override that prevents the body from moving.
If a simsense device in playback mode sends a recording of somebody
smacking himself in the head, the person /will/ smack himself in the head
/if/ they don't have a RAS override engaged.

>While it can be used as a simdeck, simdecks *do* have RAS override. And
>that's a full 2 essence simrig. The limited (.1 essence) simrig that a
>normal smartlink has is "for body posture/gun position sensing" (p32
M&M). I
>don't think it is likely that the limited purpose simrig has the playback
>features of the full-on one. I also don't think a skillwire system moves the

Well no, of course not. You couldn't slot a chip into and play it back.
It's only capable of the signals needed to fire a gun. "Limited" means it
has bandwidth and protocol limitations. It probably ignores lots of parts
of the body, too: individual toes, skin sensations, internal organs
(heartbeat & breathing), etc.

>body either; it just tells the user what to do. The lack of muscle memory
>(important for physical activity) is one of the reasons skillwires don't
>allow access to pool dice.

If skillwires "told the user what to do," you could eventually learn from
the skillsoft and be able to perform the skill without it. The game
explicitly states this is not possible. In fact, it overrides your own
knowledge. The point is, skillwires are a simsense-based device that
/drives/ the body... why can't/wouldn't the smartlink function in the same way?

As for pool dice... Advanced skillsofts actually /can/ allow pool dice, via
the DIMAP option.

>At any rate, given the choice between requiring Smartlink-II users to diable
>a RAS override, and just dropping that bit of the fluff *I* came up with

The Smartlink doesn't /have/ a RAS override... It doesn't need one because
overriding the body is the entire /point/ of the device. Remove the weapon
from the loop, and the system shuts off.

>(canon doesn't tell us *how* the extra bonus is achieved), I'll just drop
>that part of the fluff. I still have the user being able to designate a
>target in 3-space and the gun firing when the ballistic path crosses it.
>(Which, on deeper reflection, I still don't like. I'm going to have to
>ponder this a bit).

<Snip!>

--
Timothy J. Lanza
"When we can't dream any longer, we die." - Emma Goldman

From:	maxnoel_fr@*****.fr (Max Noel)
Subject:	Simsense Devices [Was "RE: Magic Fingers, firearms, and you"]
Date:	Wed, 4 Feb 2004 21:06:45 +0100

Message no. 2 Le 04 févr. 2004, à 20:10, Timothy J. Lanza a écrit :

> It all ties back to simsense devices and how they function.
>
> As I said before, it's the RAS override that prevents the body from
> moving. If a simsense device in playback mode sends a recording of
> somebody smacking himself in the head, the person /will/ smack himself
> in the head /if/ they don't have a RAS override engaged.

Not exactly. The way I understand it, the RAS override effectively
disconnects your body from your brain to prevent you from reflexively
reacting to the simsense stimuli.
A simrig records the input from the actor's senses, and only that
input. It doesn't record the commands he issues to his body -- it isn't
necessary, as the sensory input alone is enough to know what the body
is doing.
But when you sit down and slot your chip in your simsense player, your
senses begin to receive data that doesn't reflect what's actually
happening. You may know it isn't real, but your body -- and thus your
reflexes -- don't.
If your player sends you the sensory data of someone feeling intense
pain, chances are you're gonna scream. If the sim-flick's main
character jumps from the top of a building, you'll probably try not to
fall. If it's a horror sim, you're gonna jump, scream, close your eyes,
shit your pants, run away in terror... In short, do whatever you deem
necessary to escape. The human subconscious can be quite powerful,
sometimes.
Now if you /really/ were there, it would be a good thing that you do
all of that. However, you're not. You're in your couch (well, that's
where you're supposed to start from), in your living room, and there's
a wire going from your head to an expensive simsense player. Your
screams will wake your neighbors up at 3 AM. Running away in terror in
reference to an environment that doesn't match the physical reality is
a Bad Thing. Especially when said environment doesn't sync with what
you're actually doing: whatever you may be trying to do won't have an
effect on the outcome of events -- on the sensory input you keep
receiving. Talk about severe disorientation...
Starting to sound dangerous, isn't it? Chances are you'll end up
crashing into a wall if you're lucky, or through a window if you're
not. I won't even talk about what could happen were you running hot
ASIST in the Matrix.
That's what RAS override is for: preventing you from reflexively doing
all those potentially harmful things.

As for the simsense rig in the smartlink, my guess is that it does two
things:
1) It tells the system where your arm is relative to your field of
vision, and how you're holding the gun -- so it knows what to display
and where to display it.
2) It makes you "feel" whether or not you're holding the gun properly
and on target.

-- Wild_Cat
maxnoel_fr@*****.fr -- ICQ #85274019
"Look at you hacker... A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting
and sweating as you run through my corridors... How can you challenge a
perfect, immortal machine?"

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