@Iron Serpent Prince
Firstly, all great points. However, I think there are a few things you've overlooked. In my opinion.
1: Wireless off
Yes, you are right, turning wireless off is a great way to sneak items into an area where there are no MAG-scans but there is security around.
However, to say that it is unfathomable to have a reason to need the item connected to the wireless is shortsighted. The explosive connected to the comlink, for example. If we needed to control when the detonation was going to occur (say, with no one in the room), then we couldn't just have it turned off, or on a timer. I mean, if you really want to make sure that NO ONE is going to access a thing...Faraday Cage.
As for Change Icon. Yes, I can change Icon, but there are specific things I can't do with that action alone. I can make a gun look like a weapon, a file look like a scroll...all the normal stuff. However, the icon must give a clue as to what the icon does (In the case of Devices)...
(SR5 CRB (219)
Basic Matrix protocols require device icons to provide some hint of their real-life function. A firearm’s icon looks like a weapon (even if that weapon is a tomahawk, like the icon of the Super Warhawk pistol), a vehicle’s icon looks like a vehicle, a lock’s icon looks like a lock, a refrigerator looks like a cold box for food, etc. The restrictions on devices aren’t as stringent as on personas, as long as form suggests function at a glance.
)
So without wrapper I can't make a Pred. V look like a music file...
As for matrix perception, well this gets a little...specific. I'll get to that in a moment. For now though, the matrix protocols.
The issue here is that it
might violate protocols. Sleaze actions, and Attack actions generate OS, but Data Processing doesn't. Change Icon is a DP action, thus no OS. The question is: what does wrapper do to allow these icon changes. Does it skip the validation step in the Change Icon action, thus the Matrix doesn't know anything wrong has happened? Does it just tell the Matrix, 'Hey, it's this thing just trust me.'? Does it just put the item in a Virtual WAN? Truth is, it doesn't matter.
Because it's a DP action thus it doesn't generate OS, and the effect is: The Icon can now be anything you want it to be.
As for matrix perception, the thing here is that yes, you need 1 hit to ID 1 icon as being wrapped.
SR5 CRB (235)
When you take a Matrix Perception action, each hit can reveal one piece of information you ask of your gamemaster. Here’s a list of some of the things Matrix Perception can tell you. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it should give you a pretty good idea about how to use Matrix Perception:
• Spot a target icon you’re looking for.
• The most recent edit date of a file.
• The number of boxes of Matrix damage on the target’s Condition Monitor.
• The presence of a data bomb on a file.
• The programs being run by a persona.
• The target’s device rating.
• The target’s commode.
• The rating of one of the target’s Matrix attributes.
• The type of icon (host, persona, device, file), if it is using a non-standard (or even illegal) look.
• Whether a file is protected, and at what rating.
• The grid a persona, device, or host is using.
• If you’re out on the grid, whether there is an icon running silent within 100 meters.
• If you’re in a host, whether there is an icon running silent in the host.
• If you know at least one feature of an icon running silent, you can spot the icon (Running Silent, below).
• The last Matrix action an icon performed, and when.
• The marks on an icon, but not their owners.
The bolded action is what allows you to discover the wrapped Icon. You mentioned the underlined one as well. And that is a good point as well. However, my three counter points as as follows.
- If you are within 100m you spot the icon, not get additional info from it.
- Who checks a non-persona icon with a persona specific check?
- A Matrix Perception check with 1 hit can reveal if an icon is wrapped.
To kind of elaborate on the first two points:
If your GM decides to, yeah you see every icon within a pan within 100 yards...great, PANs are kinda pointless with clutter-cleanup. Oh well.
How often do you try and drive your toaster to work? How often do you try to change the channel of your oven? These sound silly but that is essentially what the Persona->Program question is when used on a non-persona icon. 100 times out of 101 the answer is going to be none. That being said, the one time your toaster gets you to work, that raises more questions than answers.
For the last one, it's a numbers game.
SR5 CRB (241)
MATRIX PERCEPTION
(COMPLEX ACTION)
Marks Required: none
Test: Computer + Intuition [Data Processing] (v. Logic + Sleaze)
This versatile and important action is used both for finding icons in the Matrix and for analyzing Matrix objects. When you use this action to analyze a Matrix object or scan the vicinity for silent-running icons, you make a Simple Test and your hits determine how much info you get. For each net hit scored, you can ask for one piece of information about the object—this could be type, a rating, how many marks it has on it, any files it may be carrying, which grid it is using, whether any silent running icons are in the area, or any other pertinent Matrix information. You learn one fact per net hit. If you get a list of marks, you can only recognize marks you have seen before or marks left by personas that you have marks on yourself. Otherwise you only get a count. If you’re trying to spot an icon that is farther than 100 meters away, this is a Simple Test: the first hit lets you spot the target, and any additional hits can be used to get more information about it as mentioned above. If you’re looking for an icon that is running silent (after you’ve determined that it’s present), the test becomes an Opposed Test, with the target defending with Logic + Sleaze. Net hits are used just like you would for spotting distant targets, with the first one for spotting the target and the rest for analysis.
Bolded text is the important thing. If when I walk into a building and the Sec-officer walks up to me immediately and wants to know why I have a wrapped icon...I am calling bullshit to the GM. Unless I am in the middle of an empty Faraday caged room and it is only me a spider and a sec-officer. There are going to be hundreds or thousands (or more) icons to scan, and each one requires a complex action.
For the scenario where I am stopped the moment I walk in the door means that as I walked in the Spider looked at everyone in the room, saw my wrapped icon, Matrix perception'd it, asked 'Are you wrapped?' and then told the Guard this was the case. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.
Yes you are right, the checkpoints and choke points could have a guy there doing nothing but Matrix Perceptions all day, however my counter argument to that is three fold:
1: That is a mind numbing job that eventually the guy hired to do it is going to slack off...
2:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Shadowrun/comments/6bduwu/lets_talk_about_rule_zero_shadowrunners_exist/3: That isn't fun for the players.
Maybe this is just me and my group of players, or not. However at the end of the day the players should accomplish their goals.
The first game I was in my GM was starting up and we had a simple run. Essentially steal A for B for profit. (I can't even really remember why, or who) What I do remember is that in our leg work the Gun-bunny Street Sam got impatient shot a guy we were looking for, which set us off being chased by the police through all of Seattle before we ducked the car under an over pass and blew it up with a grenade before ducking through the sewer. [Because the car was tagged in KE systems...]
My point being that while that sounds interesting...it wasn't. EVERY time we did anything we had the cops on us. We had no options. It was strangling. We were not struggling to make ends meet, we were actively being pushed down and suffocated.
Quite simply: Wrapper isn't crap. It is a tool with a specific purpose and uses, and sometime there are better ways, and sometimes there aren't...
You are attempting to create a false dichotomy, intentionally or otherwise. Wrapper doesn't generate OS (nothing said it does), it does work as written (Icon does change), and it can work within the matrix as written.
My only issue with how Wrapper interacts with the matrix is the part I pointed out: does a wrapped gun still show up as dangerous--thus always there--or not? (Which I would argue not personally...)
Also, Is your name a reference to Exalted? Cause it sounds like it...