comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

gram and a massive amount of time (every single action of your
icon has to be programmed, animated, and pre-rendered).
commcalling
You’ve been able to get commcalls on your KidLink already,
but now you’ll be able to call anybody, not just the people your parents
okay. When you make the call, you can specify audio, text, image,
video, or any combination of the above. Just pick the commcode of
the person you’re calling, hit the commcall button (or whatever
you’ve set up for your personal commlink), and wait to connect. If
you don’t need to talk to them right away, just compose a message, in
voice, text, or images or whatever, and bam, you’ve sent an email.
Now that you have a real ‘link, you’ll also be able to call more
than one person at once. You don’t even have to have all of the
conversations at once. You can hold some, merge others, only
send messages to part of a group, whatever you want. The power
is totally in your hands!
Remember that while you can call anybody, anybody can call
you, so always screen your calls before you connect, and leave the
auto-answer feature alone!
You are who You know
One of the coolest things you can do on the Matrix is connect
with your friends on social sites. There are a bunch to choose
from, like blog hosts, interest clubs, forums, info boards, and so on.
They offer chat proxies (so you can call people without giving out
your commcode), file sharing, and discussion groups where you
can post your thoughts and read those of others.
A social network can help you out and help you find folks
who can do you favors, but don’t forget that it’s all give-and-take.
Every social network has a reputation system of some sort, be it
ranks or smileys just a number. If your reputation is low on a site,
you’re not likely to be popular, and if you ask for too much you
might get kicked off, so be polite and lend a hand when you can.
awesome places to Be
There are some sweet clubs, hip-hoppin’ hang-outs, and neorawkin’
raves going on in the ‘Trix. These places are just like real-life
clubs, except that all the architecture is virtual. Jump in, pop your
AR to full-view (you still aren’t using VR, right?), and enjoy.
These are the places where your icon can be important. They
are the best venues to see and be seen, whether you’re wearing offthe-rack
or a custom number. In fact, if your avatar is good enough,
people won’t immediately assume you’re a kid and not take you
seriously (yeah, grown-ups suck, I know). Some places won’t even
let you in if your icon isn’t up to snuff. A lot of places will disconnect
visitors who misbehave, too, so mind your manners!
It’s true that you could go to these places in VR. I’d hold off
on the whole virtual reality thing, but if you’re going to do it, read
what I have to say about it later on before you jack in!
keep Your friends close and Your enemies pwned!
You da playa? Got game? Prove it over one of hundreds of
massively multi-player games! You can find pretty much any kind
of game you’re looking for, from Miracle Shooter to Pony Trainer
and everything in between and on either side. Be careful not to get
into it too much, though, ‘cuz the stories about kids dying because
of an AR game aren’t all urban legends.
Unwired
> She’s right. They’re not.
> Snopes
the Matrix knows everything
Almost the whole of human knowledge is sitting on the ‘Trix,
waiting to be found. You’ll need a Browse program of some sort,
but your MSP has one, if you have an MSP. Most databases aren’t
free, but a lot of them will come with your MSP. For the others,
you might need an account. Aetherpedia is a good and comprehensive
database of information about everything under (and
around) the sun, and it’s free if you have any kind of MSP.
> Aetherpedia’s got an augmented wiki-style editing and peer review
scheme, so it’s always a good place to start. Plus it’s trivial to
hack if you don’t have an MSP.
> Glitch
But wait! there’s More!
There are all kinds of services and surprises available in the
Matrix. Data havens, hidden clubs, meta-games, blogs, escrow
services, newsfeeds, you name it, it’s probably out there.
> Data havens? Isn’t this for kids? And escrow services? Why the
heck is she talking about escrow services?
> Kane
> She’s probably planting seeds in the minds of future shadowrunners.
The employers who are up-front about paying will set up an
escrow account with a trusted entity, usually your fixer. That way you
know you’ll get paid, and the issue of trust is never raised.
> Fatima
> Another way to gauge Mr. Johnson’s credibility is to ask that they
use an escrow service to insure payment after the job is complete.
If they balk, you walk.
> Haze
But that’s not all that’s out in the big bad virtual world …
tHe dangerS
There’s more to the Matrix than data searches and a social
scene full of awesome. There is a lot of bad stuff out there, and
if you don’t play it smart, it’ll chew you up and spit you out. The
‘Trix ain’t for kids. Don’t worry, though, just read my warnings and
stay smart, even if your friends aren’t. Don’t be a statistic!
Brainfried
You can read it in the newsfeed almost every day. Some kid
gets brainfried on DNI. That kid thought that it could never happen
to them, but there they are, brain dead and drooling. DNI
can mess you up hard, before you can blink. You don’t need it.
Everything you can do in VR you can do in AR.
But if you’re not going to take my advice, then at least don’t
be an idiot about it. Use trodes instead of an implant, so you can
take them off if things get dangerous. If your ‘link suddenly starts
the configuration process with your DNI again, take them off and
reboot, you’ve been hacked. And never go solo; make sure there’s
someone there with you to pull the trodes if things look bad.
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9
45
the idiot’s Guide to the Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . .