Michael, see, that's what I thought sounded logical too. But I can find no reference in the book about it. In fact, the noise section on page 230 continually refers to "you and your target", implying that noise only applies when making a matrix connection to another device/node. Without making the game horribly complicated (where is the closest node I can connect to?), I don't see an easy way of implementing this mechanic on non-hackers/technomancers. Thoughts?
Examples against noise applying to anything but Matrix actions:
"The most common source of noise is distance from your target, but there are other causes, as listed on the table."
"To figure out how noise is affecting you, start with the noise level from real-world distance to your target and add the noise level from any other applicable situations, then subtract any noise reduction you are using."
"Any positive noise level you have left over is a negative dice pool modifier to your actions. Noise never applies to defense or resistance tests."
The first two specifically mention "you and your target". If a street sam is using wirelessly connected Hydraulic Jacks to run faster, what is the target in this equation? Furthermore, what if the same street sam is using wirelessly enabled Reaction Enhancers and Wired Reflexes; does he get the bonus to REA when defending against an attack (reaction + intuition defense test), but not when calculating initiative?
This seems hopelessly complicated.
Examples of noise counting against all actions:
"There are also spam zones and static zones to deal with. A spam zone has so much traffic (often commercial in nature) that everything gets processed slower. Static zones are areas with either a lot of electromagnetic blockage (like an underground tunnel, labyrinth of sewers, or ruins of a steel office building) or far away from civilization (the middle of a desert, the north pole, adrift in the Pacific, etc.)."
Then there's the table on page 231 that lists noise modifiers, titled "NOISE AND MATRIX USE", which can be read either way (matrix use being "matrix actions", or just anything that uses a matrix connection).