[Shadowrun]Professional Criminals

[Serious Paul]

Originally posted Here

First let me give some back ground. I've played Shadowrun for about 20 years now, and I love it. It's been one of my favorite games consistently for a variety of reasons: quality of ideas; quality of writing; quality of inspiration. (Notice Crunch doesn't make my top three list. That's important.)

However my vision of the game, I think, vastly differs from what I see as the average "Cyberpunk" game out there. I draw my inspiration from a variety of sources-my career in Law Enforcement, my time in the Military (Hey does Derek still post around here these days?); popular culture (Movies like Heat, Ronin, The Way of the Gun, and more. Comic Books like Fables, The Walking Dead, and many more. Music like Aphex Twin, NIN, Machines of Loving Grace, etc...) My game is more Noir in some respects, definitely grittier, and far less "Punk" than how the game is presented.

Now I get we all get to bring our own vision's to the table, and that's fun. So please don't think I'm missing that point. Iget the Gamer Police won't show up on my door step if I don't use YoTC, or stuff I don't like. I also get the people selling the game aren't doing it for free, and that one of the many ways they keep the game alive is attracting a new market.

Now all of that said this thread is inspired by a post I've quoted below, and is intended to be a discussion of what it means to be a Professional Criminal, which I believe is different from Criminal, and certainly much removed from "Violent" and "Unstable". So feel free to contribute, try not take it too personal, and most of all have fun!

A Note

I've removed the specific poster's name from this post, although I am sure any one can easily figure out who posted it. My intent is not to single this poster out, and harass them. Rather their post inspired me to make this post, and it's been one of the more fun posts I've written for any forum in a long while. Please respect this user's privacy, and please refrain from getting to harsh. I've tried to keep my comments lighthearted, and tried to refrain from making it a personal attack. (I'm not sure if I succeeded, and if I failed my apologies.)

Ok, let's go over this again: we're talking about professional criminals.

Well see here's the rub my friend. There's professional criminals and there's Professional Criminals. I work in a prison, and I am around people who've chosen Crime as a profession all day nearly every day. There's a pretty huge difference, in my book, between a Thug and a Professional. Anyone can commit a crime. It's pretty easy. Sure society tries to differentiate between "Serious" crimes and "Non-serious" crimes. (Or if you prefer violent, non violent, property damage, etc...etc...) but the fact is we're really bad at it. Most people get away with more crimes than they are caught for.

Talk to any convict and they'll tell you that they committed tens, if not hundreds of offenses prior to being committed. Even more after they've been committed.

Being a Criminal is like any other job. Some people care about what they do, and how they do it. Some guys are going to burn the place down if we take their stapler one last time. Being a good criminal, in a lot of ways, is like being a good soldier or spy, or actor. In fact it sort of involves being all of those things at once in order to be successful. (A term I reluctant to use, successful, because it's subjective. We'll all define it just a little differently.)

To me the point of a "Shadowrunner" (Seriously? Who would say that? Who? No one that's who.) is that you aren't some jack ass with a day glow mohawk drawing attention to what you're doing. You're a nameless, faceless, anonymous ghost in the machine. You can be anyone. You can be anywhere. You can do anything. (Or at least make people believe you can.) That doesn't mean you're an amoral slob who'd jump out of a bush to touch kids funny. Even hardened killers (There are few of these in reality, most people kill one or a few people whom they tend to know well enough to be emotionally invested into.) have codes of conduct.

...who hire themselves out for the purposes of committing crimes.

Ah but not every job has to be illegal, and not every crime is equal, or even unjust. Just because you commit crime for money doesn't mean you have to take any job that comes along. Every criminal, just like anyone else, has different goals. Some are obviously less noble than others.

In all probability, they are violent, unstable, and quite possibly clinically insane.

I think this is way too narrow of a definition, and utter bullshit to boot. It's nothing personal, but if that were true wouldn't playing Shadowrun amount to some sort emo sadomasochistic circle jerk? Even the game as presented isn't about being an amoral, unstable, violent, insane monster. Maybe that's how you roll, but in my game that shit would get you tossed out on your ass, unless you had a story to tell.

They probably shoot or otherwise seriously injure and/or kill people routinely as a matter of course, have little to no respect for authority, and are probably breaking all kinds of laws just because of the stuff they own, never mind the stuff they do.

I think all of that can be true, but those are the guys who get caught, and do hard, hard time. For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. Remember that? No where is it more true than law enforcement. Ever been pulled over? Were a prick to the cop writing you a ticket? No? Why not? Because he could shoot your ass, right? Or write another ticket. Or search your car. Contempt of Cop is a pretty common offense, especially inside prison walls. (No that doesn't make it right, or even common place. It is what it is. I am not saying every cop is dirty, or that every cop is looking to bust your balls.)

Kill a boat load of people in my game, and guess what? Local, County, State, National, and International Law Enforcement people start looking for you. Unless it's the job to kill, why bother? A wounded security guard can only press charges against you for malicious wounding, felonious assault, and/or felon in possession of a firearm, right? A dead security has friends, family, and murder charges following you.

So yes, Use of Force is a tool in every Professional Criminal's tool box. But just like working in law Enforcement there should be a Use of Force Continuum. This isn't perfect but here's a decent example:



(Not sure why this isn't displaying, but just in case The Link

Notice it starts with Presence.

Presence is commonly defined as

Officer Presence. The mere presence of a highly visible uniform security officer or marked vehicle is often enough to stop a crime in progress or prevent future crime. Included in officer presence are standing, walking, running, and use of vehicle lights, horn, or speaker. Without saying a word, an alert officer can deter crime or direct criminals away from a property by use of body language and gestures. At this level gestures should be non-threatening and professional.

Follow up on each level, and their appropriate response. Use of Force is not cut and dried. Nor should it be. You don't use a screw driver to hammer a nail, and you don't use a hammer to open jars. The right tool for the right job.

Private investigators and bodyguards don't dabble as Shadowrunners. They don't break into high security facilities and steal prototypes or kidnap people. They don't commit arson or assassinate people. certainly, some of them will have appropriate skill sets to be Shadowrunners, but that is a very different thing from being a hired professional criminal.

I think you either don't know anyone who works as a Private Investigator, or perhaps you just don't get the game as written (At the minimum you have a vastly different idea of what the game is, or how I understand it to be commonly understood.). While I agree that currently Police Corruption isn't anywhere near the levels it's portrayed as being at in Popular Culture, the News media, and other forms of entertainment (Make no mistake the News Media is selling you the news my friend. They're not nonprofits.); I think that misses the mark of the game is envisioned. It's a Dystopian Future where there are fewer checks and balances on authority; where violence is more common place and accepted at a level that would make International Prime time news these days.

For all intents and purposes there is little difference between Shadowrunners, P.I.'s and Body Guards. In fact I'd suggest that Investigative Work, and Body Guard are types of jobs some Shadowrunners could take. (The idea that all Shadowrunners have to be Professional Criminals is a box I don't feel the need to limit my players or game to.)

Shadowrunners do kidnap and steal. They can commit arson, assassinate people, and all kinds of other crimes.

So can every day people. Every member of this board, whether they want to believe it or not, is capable of any of these acts. Some may have actually committed them. Single parents kidnap. Soccer moms steal. Priest's commit arson. Everyday people assassinate each other every day. It's called murder.

A Shadowrunner can do these things. Or conversely they can choose not to. Haven't you ever seen the wrongly convicted Hero strive for his freedom? (Hey Harrison Ford in the Fugitive, I'm looking at you!) You need some more Pop Culture exposure my friend!

Odds are good that they're wanted under one or more alias in several countries, and the only reason they aren't wanted in more is because those crimes haven't been linked to them (yet).

Or not. You do realize how many people have Warrants right? In times past these warrants have been issued by Creditors, Jealous wives, angry coworkers...Let's just say it's not always a judge of what's really going on. That said, i do think you're somewhat correct. A high enough profile criminal will attract some attention, these could take the forms of Warrants, etc... That's one consequence to use on players who are sloppy.

We're not talking about sane, stable people here. We're talking about people who are not capable of functioning in normal society, for the most part.

You keep saying this. Why? Why is it true? Why is it like that in your game? Why limit yourself to that single definition?

Now I address all of this to you, but I should mention I'm not trying to put you on the spot here. You certainly don't have to answer, and I am certainly not trying to say your a bad person, or anything like that. I just trying to understand how you have your fun at your table, while explaining how we have fun at ours.

People who have skills that could allow them to get a high-paying job where they aren't likely to get shot at, and instead choose to routinely risk getting shot in the face.

That perfectly describes a lot of people under arms: Police men, Fire Men, the Military. Money isn't everything right?

Assuming that you can trust violent psychopaths who were probably drunk/high/chipping when you called them but not licensed professionals who've probably received some degree of training in their job and who carry the added plus of not being violent sociopaths?

Man how unfun is your game? Even in real life not all criminals are drunk or high when they commit crimes. I think you're bringing a personal chip to the table man. I think the game would be more fun if you left it behind.

Perhaps your specific group of Shadowrunners are a bunch of stable, well-adjusted people who for some random unfathomable reason just like risking their lives on a regular basis. But that is not likely to be the standard in a group consisting entirely of highly skilled individuals who've chosen a life of crime.

Wow, do you have any fun when playing? Look I'm not sure how to say this any better, but the best Criminal's are the well adjusted ones. The ones that fit right in. The violent psychopaths don't last long. Even in real life they burn out and fade away, getting old takes the piss and vinegar out of most people. Few people can be angry all of their lives.

I think you need to take a serious look at what you think of the game, and re-examine it. I think you'd have more fun if you let up a little. I'm sorry this has taken a slightly personal twist at the end, and obviously if you're having fun then who am I to tell you how to have your fun?

Now onto remarks inspired by your post:

A Shadowrunner is a Professional. Like any Professional they have a code of conduct they adhere to, be it No women, no kids, or something more concrete. Just because you're a Shadowrunner doesn't mean you're SINless, or even a criminal. The game allows you to do more than that. Just like not every PC is a Mage or a Street Sam-not every "Run" is illegal, immoral or illicit.

Build an internally consistent world folks. Don't be afraid to make the game work for you, and make it fun.

Okay tear me apart! Tell me what you see Shadowrunners as being? What is your definition of a Professional Criminal? Do Shadowrunners in your game get Shoe Endorsements? Are they heroes? Are they antiheros? Are they villains? Is your game a wanton bout of blood soaked violence? Is it a puzzle trap that would make Grimtooth shudder? Is it a pop culture reference fest?

Speak the Word.

[Jeff Hauze]

Damn it! Cross board posts! YOU BASTARD!

[Kai]

To be simple about it, either. I think you play your game in a very 'modern world sped up' setting, where the tracking and the accountability and the etc is very much present so that keeping your head down and yourself unnoticed is A Very Good Idea.

Its equally viable to be playing a a Johnny Mnemonic/Gibsonesque, Battle Angel Alita, etc setting where there's the nice world where people care about security and safety and such, and then there's the Everything Else where survival of the fittest applies, people are expendable, and aside from making a few examples to reassure people, the privileged don't give a rats ass about who you are, what you look like, or tracking you down. Sure, they'll shoot you if you raid a warehouse, but run back into the Barrens, and they give it up, and won't bother to remember you had a 3ft tall mohawk and wore a bright yellow jacket. In that setting, yeah, 'professional criminal' could just be the guy who has a throne made out of KE riot shields welded together and a penchant for arson who can always find someone willing to pay to direct the target.

I've played both, and both are fun, the key is setting expectations going in

[Serious Paul]

As always the only rule is fun. As long as you're having fun, you're doing it right.

But yeah I hate the "Punk" aspect of Cyberpunk. Despise it. Same goes for mixing Anime, Furries, but that's just at my table. At yours, by all means do what's fun!

[Jeff Hauze]

But yeah I hate the "Punk" aspect of Cyberpunk. Despise it. Same goes for mixing Anime, Furries, but that's just at my table. At yours, by all means do what's fun!

I'm sort of with you on this. I hate the idea of Cyberpunk in a lot of ways, but most especially if we're shooting for a professional criminal game, or the idea that every place in the entire world of SR fits for a cyberpunk motif. It's one of the things I've appreciated about the Corporate/Runners/Untamed Havens series of books from SR4. Taking the time to point out that all the fucking world isn't the Redmond Barrens.

And let me also point out, runners don't live in the Barrens. The dregs of humanity do. Another major pet peeve. If you're going to use the Barrens, then fucking use them in all their awfulness.

[DV8]

I dislike magic in Shadowrun, but I realise that it's part of what makes Shadowrun unique and to remove it would be unwise. I tone it down, and make it less clinical. I think the same should be done with the punk in cyberpunk. I honestly don't think it's as impossible as you think it is, especially not when punk is a philosophy, a mindset, rather than the way you dress, which is what you seem to have a big problem with. If you remove the punk from Shadowrun, which is to say, if you remove the social commentary, the rebellion against the status quo, you wouldn't be left with Shadowrun, you'd be left with a futuristic game that resembles the movie Heat and Ronin. If that's what you want to play, be my guest, but don't for a second think you're still playing Shadowrun.

(As a small word of advice, when you're writing large posts, please refrain from using random capitals all over the place. It's really very jarring. It's like I'm reading German the whole time.)

[ak404]

I haven't played SR in years - the latest edition I own is the 3rd, though I've perused the 4th - but I'm generally in the same boat as Paul here. You'll forgive me if this comes out disjointed, but I'm typing it as the thoughts come to me. Fuck, I'll be surprised if I even answer Paul's goddamned question.

Like everyone else, shadowrunners have varying degrees of sanity, but it's the most sensible one that are the most successful. For example, I keep remembering Hatchetman's bio from Cybertechnology: barring the bias of the narrator, the guy had a relatively normal life up to his lucky break from Renraku. Even then, he was consistently one of the more sensible recurring characters in the sourcebooks.

On the other hand, another (radical) example would be Joker from A Killing Joke: One bad day is all it takes. He was relatively normal too, until that one bad day.

Sanity can go both ways. So can morality: I'm sure Paul will correct me on this, but as far as the 'sane' criminals go (and I'm excluding the pedos and psychos here), I'm not exactly 100% sure they would choose a life of crime over anything else if given the chance. Not every 'runner is evil, but every 'runner is an opportunist. Are they criminals because they're doing something morally wrong, or are they criminals because they're doing something illegal? (For example, does Batman not kill because it's morally wrong to take a life, or because the Gotham PD would finally drop the hammer on him?) Maybe they don't buy into the corporate lifestyle...or maybe they do, except crime pays better.

(Debatable point time: Crime is merely an act following the precepts of consumerism {or was it materialism?} taken to a logical extreme. Shadowrunners fill a niche in a market the megas badly need. Thus, they're not so much criminals as they are...salesmen for a particular kind of service.)

One of the reasons I tend to stick with the 'punk' in cyberpunk is that, as Deev said, it's about the mindset of being 'punk' - at least before those suits in the music/culture industry got their grubby little paws all over it and neutered the living shit out of it by focusing on the style over the culture - and refusing to accept what was then a disturbing trend towards corporate hegemony (in other words, corporate culture).

Speaking of corporate culture, some of us (re: bleeding heart liberals) see the trends in Shadowrun as a bit...behind the times: Damien Knight, for example, is nowhere near as ruthless some of CEOs today, but I see this more as a limitation on the part of the writers and their sense of decency than any fault of the game culture itself.

One of the major charges placed against corporations today is that they place profits over people. One of the major concepts of cyberpunk is that megacorporations have eclipsed governments as the premiere source of political power.

(An aside: Say what you will about privatization and socialism, but post-humanist forms of governments are theoretically created because they have a moral obligation to secure the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness to the people who maintain such an institution, while corporations are theoretically created to generate a profit. The shift in culture would be immense, changing a person from an active citizen to a passive consumer.

For this reason, by the way, I mentally edited out former military folks, as they would still have something of a remnant of patriotism in them, though nothing like the American patriotism of today. If anything, it may be more akin to one of the former Imperial powers, like Britain or France - an institution that used to be top dog, but no longer. However, since I know nobody from those countries, it's hard for me to say what those mindsets would be.

It's probably one of the reasons the Big D was considered one of the good guys. Philosophically, he was a humanist...or something along those lines.)

So what happens if you take that belief, put it into hyperdrive, and make it part of the popular culture? What happens when laws are less about human beings and more about material possessions? What happens when those kinds of beliefs turn the world into a sort of dystopia? (Why am I thinking of Bioshock?) What happens when unfettered consumerism is considered sanity? Even if 'punk' still exists, what would such a world think of people who still think of people as, well...people and not merely consumers?

I was born in the late 70s, which makes me a child of the 80s to early 90s, and this new millenium already seems...unwell to me, simply because I'm of the opinion that technology changes culture, and technology is progressing at a neurotically fast rate. I can only imagine that my reaction to the world of Shadowrun would not be unlike the reaction of one of Warren Ellis's Revivals to The City. In fact, in my eyes, shadowrunners might be the only 'sane' people left in the world.

That being said, the big problem I have with the 'punk' counterculture in Shadowrun is that in earlier times, that sort of mentality fell under the Neo-A's, which would have felt very secretive and very underground back in the 1980s, but today would be branded as some sort of cultural label. Common causes get marketed and sold, just like every other commodity. The other problem is that it seems to depict a 'shadowrunners' versus 'The Man' picture, a grand narrative that seems a bit unbelievable to me.

Come to think of it, this is probably one of the reasons I actually like the magic angle, or to be more precise, the shamanic magic angle. In a game overshadowed by corporations, technology, hypermedia (and the hyper-attentiveness that comes with it), possessions, and reeking of material gain and social progression as a driving force in everyone's lives, it's actually somewhat comforting to see some characters who would be motivated by something more valuable than creds, more timeless than the newest fad, and demanding of one's absolute attention. In the world of Shadowrun, happiness and personal fulfillment is determined by how much you own and what position you hold in life; in its world of magic, personal fulfillment is determined by something older, something more comprehendible...at least to someone raised to believe in that sort of thing.

See, didn't answer the fucking question at all.

[Serious Paul]

I think it's an answer, I even agree with a lot of it!

[ak404]

Well, here's something scary, if you think about it. I'm 34 years old. To me, e-mail is a tool. To my 14-year old brother, e-mail was a way of life, one which has quickly been succeeded by text messaging. It's one of the reasons I completely distrust any ruling on the social effects of cyberlimbs, wired reflexes, or cyberware in general: if you go through various sourcebooks and accept the characters and settings as canon (anyone remember Shadowbeat?), then you quickly come to the conclusion that cyberware and bioware is not just useful and dangerous, it's fashionable.

Think about this. A shadowrunner lives in a world where it is considered culturally acceptable to shear off parts of your humanity...unless you have an asset that suffers because of it. No, not essence. Magic. Transhumanism aside, humanity/spirit is completely tossed aside in favor of efficiency and fashion. So...who's crazy now?

So while a role-player might look over something like retinal modification (say, changing the shape of one's pupils or adding low-light vision) and see them as a useful tool, someone who lives in the world of SR would see them as natural and fashionable as a cell phone. It's not just a tool, but something that one cannot do without. Hence, a shadowrunner would, due to the nature of the relationship between the player and the game, always live on the fringes of what would be considered normal society.

[Serious Paul]

I think there's a lot of things that are either over looked- the effects pf magic in the real world, what cyberware could really mean-but I also think some things are way over sold-the balkanization of North America, the wireless matrix, the punk aspect of Shadowrun.

[ak404]

Well, that comes as a consequence of the trickiness of dealing with magic and cyberware in Shadowrun. It's dealing with ideas and theories that go beyond current technology and thinking. It's best to stick with stuff that people can work with.

But back to the professional criminal bit. Labeling shadowrunners as such seems to fall well within the corporate culture of the Shadowrun world, that of putting an overarching label or brand on concepts and things. While shadowrunners themselves may not be a unified group, I don't think many would take offense at being called one, not even mercs, former company men, or former soldiers. Like any group, however loosely affiliated, they might stress at finer points within their circles (like this is what separates a merc from a 'runner, got it?), but outside of it...hell, what do those suits know, right?

[Kai]

I tend to think of the term 'shadowrunner' as applied to the types of people who do illegal stuff for some gain kinda like I do for 'otaku' when applied to american anime fans. Some embrace the name, seeing it as a sign of having 'arrived' on the scene when called it, some wonder what the hell you are talking about, some roll their eyes and go 'whatever', some get pissed off being called that, and some like to get into the technical details of why its wrong. But, when someone makes a broad negative generalization using the term, every one of those disparate groups gets defensive and/or indignant.

[Jeff Hauze]

I think there's a lot of things that are either over looked- the effects pf magic in the real world, what cyberware could really mean-but I also think some things are way over sold-the balkanization of North America, the wireless matrix, the punk aspect of Shadowrun.

I agree, except for the wireless part. Oversold? Probably. Totally necessary to keep the game moving forward, and get the damn deckers to be something more than geeks in a closet apartment? Yes.

[3278]

I agree, except for the wireless part. Oversold? Probably. Totally necessary to keep the game moving forward, and get the damn deckers to be something more than geeks in a closet apartment? Yes.

I'm not entirely certain how it does that, and I've been wondering about this for a while.

Let's say the decker's job on a given run is twofold: he needs to obtain a piece of information from a computer, and he needs to disable a door lock. [This gives us two cases, one information, one a device.] On the original matrix, he could comfortably sit at home and connect to those devices through his cyberdeck, through his home matrix connection, through the matrix, to the target host, to the computer and to the device, unless those devices are isolated from the matrix somehow.

So part of the new wireless matrix is to get the hacker [nee Decker] "along for the ride." What's he do on the new, wireless Matrix 2.0? Oh: he can comfortably sit at home and connect to those devices through his commlink, through his home wireless connection, through the matrix's wireless mesh, to the target host, to the computer and to the device, unless those devices are isolated from the matrix somehow, which in the case of wireless devices, means they can't be within [Signal] range of any other wireless device! So I don't get it: what's changed? Why can't the hacker stay home, unless the devices are isolated from the matrix?

Perhaps there's another way to go about it. If the problem is that the decker isn't going along for the ride, I cannot see a solution that involves physically forcing the decker to go to the site that doesn't involve isolating devices from the matrix. [This can be done under either system, so there's no necessity for wireless there.] The problem is that isolating any device from the matrix means restricting its connectivity to some degree, whether the device is never on the matrix, or whether it is protected from decking by only periodically making a physical connection to the network.* A corporate workstation that's only connected half the time [via switching solenoid] has half the bandwidth of one that isn't; a door lock that's only connected twice a day can't be unlocked from the corporate headquarters. However, some isolation is certainly possible, with a combination of these methods and things like unidirectional datalines, which allow data either only in or only out [and which can also be physically switched].

If the problem is that the decker isn't along for the ride, but isolation doesn't provide a complete solution, what else is possible? Let me ask this: why is it a problem for the decker to not be along for the ride? Well, it's basic party-splitting, as far as I can tell. In SR2 - the last time we really bothered to use them - the decker went twice as often as everyone else, and the setting for his actions was totally different from the rest of the group's. Yeah, he was working with devices and information that were physically where we were, but due to the matrix iconography, his perception of those events was totally different.

A huge portion of the appeal and the idea of the matrix was its unique iconography. A program, instead of looking like text on a screen, looked like a dragon that you got to fight with your shiny purple mecha [or whatever]. The matrix wouldn't be the matrix without it...but it's also the source of the problem. Unless you take the information off the matrix, he has no reason to go along with you, and if he is mentally where you are physically, it's not going to look at all the same. The GM basically has to write two adventures - one matrix, one physical - and the party is split, even if they're mentally operating in the same spaces.

So what do you do? Well, the solution to the astral problem presents itself: originally, the reason astral travel was a pain in the ass was because of the speeds and number of actions available there. Temper those, and astral space is just another dimension of our space, with different rules, but similar appearance. The GM has to think, yes, about astral barriers and such, but the mage could be sitting at home and only astrally present and still get much of the same description as the rest of the party.

How could this be done for Shadowrun? Normalize the number of actions available from the matrix, and make the matrix iconography similar enough to the physical reality to be able to feel like the decker is there, without making the decker necessarily physically be there?

Also, if you've just got to have him along physically, does anyone know of any better solutions for isolating devices from the matrix without making them useless?

*This could be done either very quickly [a solenoid with no matrix connection physically breaks the connection according to an algorithmic schedule] or more occasionally [twice daily, at random schedules, the device backs itself up to the corporate datastore and receives new information from it].

[Jeff Hauze]

So part of the new wireless matrix is to get the hacker [nee Decker] "along for the ride." What's he do on the new, wireless Matrix 2.0? Oh: he can comfortably sit at home and connect to those devices through his commlink, through his home wireless connection, through the matrix's wireless mesh, to the target host, to the computer and to the device, unless those devices are isolated from the matrix somehow, which in the case of wireless devices, means they can't be within [Signal] range of any other wireless device! So I don't get it: what's changed? Why can't the hacker stay home, unless the devices are isolated from the matrix?

There's a better, longer response this deserves, but I'll go with the cheap answer now. Wifi inhibiting paint and construction materials. It's a cheap countermeasure, something easily deployed by many corps, but still allows a network to exist within the building or secure research portion, while still keeping outsiders out. I'll freely admit upfront it's a totally cheap answer, and not necessarily any different than having buildings hard-wired and cold, non-Matrix connected sites under SR3 and prior. I'd wager a fair guess that most of the folks posting in the thread had less problems getting deckers out of the house (and less godawful time consuming messes with deckers than I did). But across the board, I think the wireless Matrix has helped a great deal to force hackers to be more useful in vanilla SR and canon materials.

Addendum: Another big one in my own group is seeing how effective the hacker can be without a need for drones. With the prevalence of commlinks and DNI connected gear/ware that has wireless capabilities, it has allowed the hacker to have far more opportunities for actual team security, capabilities to mess with the OpFor without having to resort to guns, and cut down on the idea of lower rent criminals carting around highly illegal, expensive, and hard to acquire tactical comm gear. This in turn allows for the absolute fun of messing with the OpFor's razor boy's cyber, cutting out vision to someone's vision enhanced glasses/goggles, etc. It's just delivered a lot more options for me and my group than we found ourselves with in the past.

*All of the above should keep in mind that I much prefer SR4, and my gaming tastes have changed rather quite a bit since my long-lost diehard SR3 gearhead days. So colored me biased. I will try to get back with some more point-by-point responses when I get some free time. 32, I think I still owe you some responses about your biker fellow too. Damn, I just remembered about that.

[ak404]

I always had to wonder why a decker simply couldn't use his team mates as relays to the wireless Matrix. As small as computers would be in SR, I'm fairly certain that a decker should be able to do this.

[3278]

So part of the new wireless matrix is to get the hacker [nee Decker] "along for the ride." What's he do on the new, wireless Matrix 2.0? Oh: he can comfortably sit at home and connect to those devices through his commlink, through his home wireless connection, through the matrix's wireless mesh, to the target host, to the computer and to the device, unless those devices are isolated from the matrix somehow, which in the case of wireless devices, means they can't be within [Signal] range of any other wireless device! So I don't get it: what's changed? Why can't the hacker stay home, unless the devices are isolated from the matrix?

There's a better, longer response this deserves, but I'll go with the cheap answer now. Wifi inhibiting paint and construction materials. It's a cheap countermeasure, something easily deployed by many corps, but still allows a network to exist within the building or secure research portion, while still keeping outsiders out.

But information still has to get in and out of any facility worth taking a hacker into, yeah? So that means that if the corporation is restricting all wireless communication to inside the building, and letting nothing wireless in or out, they must have an optical hardline to the building...so the hacker stays home.

I'll freely admit upfront it's a totally cheap answer, and not necessarily any different than having buildings hard-wired and cold, non-Matrix connected sites under SR3 and prior.

Right. Wait, how was this an answer, again?

Addendum: Another big one in my own group is seeing how effective the hacker can be without a need for drones. With the prevalence of commlinks and DNI connected gear/ware that has wireless capabilities, it has allowed the hacker to have far more opportunities for actual team security, capabilities to mess with the OpFor without having to resort to guns, and cut down on the idea of lower rent criminals carting around highly illegal, expensive, and hard to acquire tactical comm gear. This in turn allows for the absolute fun of messing with the OpFor's razor boy's cyber, cutting out vision to someone's vision enhanced glasses/goggles, etc. It's just delivered a lot more options for me and my group than we found ourselves with in the past.

Now, that's absolutely true, and from an out-of-game perspective, provides a reason for wireless to exist. Instead of the decker hiding under the table when combat breaks out, the hacker can hide behind a table and turn off the opposition's smartlinks. Yay!

But in-game...why the hell would you have a smartlink that someone can possibly - much less as easily as stock equipment can in SR4 - turn off, or reboot, or otherwise fuck with? Wireless is everywhere in SR4, but wireless security is a joke. So now all the books are having to go back and say, "Well, but most people turn it off," or, "Well, you get it removed," or, "lots of stuff is actually hardwired, instead." Someone should have thought of this in playtesting.