You know, reading this thread makes me think about several things..
1)Wired Matrix:
I see a number of perfectly GOOD reasons for the Wired Matrix with the classic topography to exist.
a) Remember back in 2029 when that virus went around destroying all sorts of data? Remember the size of the
government tech immersion tanks that Echo Mirage was in? Let us, for a moment, assume that the tech continued
to advance at the rate it is now. How powerful would those have had to be to be that BIG? Remember that, today,
some of the most powerful "Super Computers" are the size of a business fax/copier unit.
b)Remember that the data unit used in the 3050's was not "megabytes"...it was "Megapulses", which was 1/second
of full sim-sense recording. Sound and visual data might be easy to encode, and low on the data cost, though remember:
even these are every detail as perceived by our senses. So you can discern everything from the direction of a sound, to the
subtle shadings of greens in a leaf. It also included smell, taste, touch and emotional feedback(part of how BTLs worked,
and how Simsense Porn would likely work, as well). For those saying their modern computer has as much processing power
as a deck, consider this: How many Megabytes is "Happy"? Now consider that the computer you are directly plugged into
is shaping that feeling...that is ALOT of data flying around..it is NOT like when we are going around playing, say, Second Life.
Which leads to...
c) Ever been doing something on a computer on a wireless hub, and it suddenly got really, really slow? And that is just at todays
levels where most of it is looking at a mostly text forum, or sending pictures of cats to friends. Now, imagine that when you
are dealing with something so massively complex that you had to develop an entirely new term for the amount of data being
thrown around CASUALLY.
Chargen Costs:
You know...things cost more back in the 2050's, and the maximum someone could start with was 1 Million Nuyen, compared
to 250K Nuyen ion the modern rules. And that 1 Million Nuyen could not buy quite the same as the 250K nuyen can. In fact,
something, by themselves, cost that 1 million(like, for example, the Fairlight Excalibur Cyberdeck)...and, of course, back then:
only Humans could have the loads of money(unless the GM was using optional rules!), the best attributes or best skills,
which BTW, was the choice for a Human Street Sam:Which am I best in Money, Attributes, or skills..(while Metas and Human
Awakened had the "Which am I WORSE in, Money, Attributes, or Skills..and Meta Awakened were just screwed).
Magic:
While I expect alot of debate on this, I hope we see Grounding return, and the explanation for why it is no longer a concern
is because people got better at making things shielded from it...Come on..they need to have the "I am terrified to use
a power focus because of what some enemy mage can do to me using it!" feel back...
