Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Rules and such => Topic started by: Poindexter on <02-14-15/0942:40>
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OK, y'know how your comm can constantly broadcast your SIN and licenses, right?
Can it be set to broadcast other things to just anyone who feels like looking? Song downloads, announcements, things like that?
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Yes actually. SR4 described that people would broadcast their own music, so if you were tired of what you were currently listening to you could tune in to someone else's PAN and hear to what they had.
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I'd say sure why not? Kind of like picking up someone's Spotify list.
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Unless one is running silent or have protected ones files, file icons are by definition always broadcasting, and freely available for most people to investigate.
Now, it does require a mark to copy a file (Edit File), so regular commlink users can't steal your files unless you give them access, but the book seems to indicate that pretty much everyone runs around with their files fully public. That's the gist I'm getting, at least.
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Unless one is running silent or have protected ones files, file icons are by definition always broadcasting, and freely available for most people to investigate.
Now, it does require a mark to copy a file (Edit File), so regular commlink users can't steal your files unless you give them access, but the book seems to indicate that pretty much everyone runs around with their files fully public. That's the gist I'm getting, at least.
I get that felling too, but imagine it's a little more complicated then that. I Imagine you have both public (and openly broadcast) files/folders, and then hidden (private) files and folders. A Commlink is an essential part of life in the 6th world. It's an address book, phone, vid player, wallet, and key card in one. Some of that info you just don't want to be broadcasting at any time.
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Seems to me that's what file protection is for, Reaver. It doesn't seem like the rules allow you to run a single file icon silently, and I can't imagine you'd want to even to begin with given the lack of a sleaze attribute. File protection therefore is what I'd guess most people would use for the stuff they don't want others to access.
Keep in min that deckers are the only people capable of illegally getting marks on files, so for all intents and purposes most people's files are likely relatively safe from malicious attackers.
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Say there's a file I want to just sorta "send" to as many random people as possible.
Can I do that without just punching random commcodes into my link?
Would punching random commcodes even work?
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Depends.
What kind of file would you be trying to pass along?
I imagine people would have their filters set to receive some things easily while screening other items so as to not be overran by spam or immediately hit by a virus download.
So I guess it might depend on what they see when it comes across to them...
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Say there's a file I want to just sorta "send" to as many random people as possible.
Can I do that without just punching random commcodes into my link?
Would punching random commcodes even work?
You know those annoying guys who are always trying to hand you fliers on the street? This is how they do it in 2075. Filters probably weed out the worst of it, but just like in 2015, it's an ongoing battle between spam and filters.
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I agree with Kincaid with this. Filters might be able to beat most of it, but some will always get through. If I was to try to do this with mechanics, I'd probably roll the rating of the file (or the device sending the file if the file doesn't have a rating) against the Firewall of the device.
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Ah but that is what some of the Noise in a high traffic areas is someone spamming ads and notices to random people.
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Its just a text file is all. Just something My character wants read by as many random people as possible.
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Text file.....
It wouldn't spell out H-A-S-T-U- , well you get the idea. ;)
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If it's important to the story, I'd let it through no matter what. If it's just a file that you're spamming and you need some sort of number to represent saturation, I'd just say that you take a random number of people and 20% of those people get the file. Or some other percentage. If the saturation level isn't critical to the story, I'd just roll a percentile die and go with that as the saturation rate.
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SR5 File Icons that are not protected can be read by anyone (constantly being broadcasted if you like). In order to be edited, deleted or even copied you need to get permission from the owner.
SR5 File Icons that are protected are private and cannot even be read by anyone else.
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Found a couple references that might be interesting for the original poster in terms of what the setting describes as the norm.
First off, on viewing the Matrix, from page 217:
There are uncounted billions of icons in the Matrix. Devices have icons in the Matrix in sort of the same way that living things have auras in astral space. This could get overwhelming, but some background tech keeps things from getting out of control.
The fist piece of assistance comes from your commlink, which automatically filters out the least interesting icons. Do you want to know the virtual location of every music player in the world? Right, neither do I. So the Matrix will usually show you an icon for an individual’s personal area network (PAN), not every device in that network (although it makes exceptions for interesting or dangerous devices in that network, such as a gun). Additionally, the farther away devices are from you in the real world, the dimmer their icons are in the Matrix; this is partly because your commlink figures the farther ones aren’t as interesting to you, but mostly because the connection is a bit slower due to the distance. Matrix gear renders the far-off devices and personas as dim, muted, or flickering icons.
Second, on how files are normally handled by people, from page 222:
Most of what you keep on your commlink are files, this includes music, your SIN (fake or otherwise), licenses (also fake or otherwise), maps, email messages, your contact book, AROs, and so on. These files are visible to people who can see your commlink in the Matrix, so most people keep all of their files in a protected folder.
Finally, a method mentioned by the book to get your message across, also from page 222:
You don’t have to be an expert to make an ARO. If you want to send directions to your place from the party, you can draw a line on an AR map and share it with your friends. If you want to point out a person in a crowd for a buddy, you can make an ARO highlighting that person and send it. You can choose which of your AROs are seen by which people, so you can keep it private or, if you’re feeling impish, put vulgar AROs on RFID tags and scatter them around town for all to see. Of course, other people can filter out the AROs they don’t want to see, and so can you.