[Bradd]

My group finally caught onto the idea of using emotitoys, which got me thinking about just how they work, what benefits they should provide, and what limitations they have.

The toys are essentially minidrones with empathy software, although only high-end models have the full mobility of a minidrone; basic models are merely animated. They have sensors to observe people around them, probably a camera and mic and sniffer. They react to people around them with some combination of motion, lights, and cute sounds, much like a sophisticated Furby. They can even give their owners an edge in social situations.

First question: Why are emotitoys so cheap? They sell for 20% of the cost of comparable empathy software. That's actually quite common in products that have "consumer" versions. For example, the home & student version of Microsoft Office is much cheaper than the enterprise version, and airlines charge a lot less for travel plans that look like a vacation instead of a business trip. Consumer margins are often very slim. Volume pricing plays a part here, but it's largely a case of charging what the market will bear. Corps and govs have much deeper pockets than consumers and non-profits. So if you're OK with the toys granting the full benefits of empathy software to their owners, you can use this as a rationalization for the deep discount.

However, lots of folks object to a relatively cheap toy giving you +6 to all Social Skills. I personally think it strains belief to get the full benefit of empathy software by playing with a toy. However, there's a pretty simple interpretation that addresses the issue. The owner isn't using the empathy software, the toy is. You don't get direct access to the empathy analysis: It's in an encoded proprietary format, and even if you could decode it, the data is tailored for the drone's idiosyncrasies. The toy does help you, but it helps in the same way as bringing a friend along to the meet, using the assistance rules.

I'd say that the toy can make Judge Intentions tests, with each hit giving +1 die to the owner's Judge Intentions and Social tests. Or for simplicity's sake, just give a straight +1 die for contributing to a group test.

Opinions? Sorry if this has already been done. I figure these things have been discussed to death.

[Chaemera]

It certainly makes emotitoys seem less absurd than typically seen.

Of course, the "so useful that everyone has one" approach has led me to another one: "If they're so useful that everyone has one, get rid of all of them and not worry about it, since they just cancel out".

[Bradd]

Yeah, I had largely been using that approach too. Most cases where you'd want to use it, you'd be up against somebody else who has one too. I also considered that maybe they would only work for face-to-face stuff, although with the way that everything is wireless that's probably bogus. But ultimately I felt like the thing should at least give some modest benefit, so that the face can have fun with it.

By the way, this opens up the possibility of using your own empathy software and an emotitoy, for one more die. But I'm cool with that.

[Chaemera]

Yeah, I had largely been using that approach too. Most cases where you'd want to use it, you'd be up against somebody else who has one too. I also considered that maybe they would only work for face-to-face stuff, although with the way that everything is wireless that's probably bogus. But ultimately I felt like the thing should at least give some modest benefit, so that the face can have fun with it.

Yeah, It is nice to have a few options for the face to play with. But, I also dislike emotitoys from the in-game perspective of everyone running around with a cute fluffy little rabbit or whatever on their shoulder kind of takes the "dark and gritty" out of a setting defined by being... dark and gritty...

[Bradd]

And pink mohawks. I've always had a large dose of silly in my Shadowrun, alongside the sociopaths and greed, sorta like Neal Stephenson. Then again, I have a hard time taking dark future stuff seriously, especially cyberpunk. Might have something to do with the fact that I'm a cold war kid and Gen Xer!

[Teknodragon]

I look at emotitoys as the social equivalent of a White Knight.

They're effective, yes. And _everyone_ can see that you have one. And that you're using one.

Which is why my first Face opted for the more expensive software that uses the sensors hooked into her eyes; much more subtle, and more socially acceptable.

Personally, I'd expect gangers to beat down the wuss who keeps playing with his toy while trying to talk them into a favor, or a Johnson to make a cutting remark about how he saw a child playing with a toy just like that the other day.

[Bradd]

That's one way to handle it, but it goes against the description in Arsenal. Emotitoys are extremely popular fashion accessories, even among adults. They're specifically noted as being popular among shadowrunners, so if the Johnson's disapprove, the 'runners don't care. I think it's more likely that the Johnsons are using the toys themselves.

I'd say the social implications are more designer sunglasses. Most people are positive or neutral about them, poker players use them to hide tells, and nobody gives a damn if you disapprove.

[Kontact]

Of course, the "so useful that everyone has one" approach has led me to another one: "If they're so useful that everyone has one, get rid of all of them and not worry about it, since they just cancel out".

Though it doesn't exactly work like that.  Going from 3 dice to 9 dice is different from a statistics standpoint than going from 12 dice to 18 dice.  It's like a massive glitch buffer.

I don't mind using emosofts for teamwork.  The teamwork rules limit the DP bonus to 1/2 skill, so the most old furby will ever be able to help is 5 dice, and then only with a maxed-out adept with the aptitude quality.  A regular face will probably only get 3 dice at best and 2 on average.  This also keeps face work to the face.  Amateurs don't suddenly become pros.

[Mäx]

However, there's a pretty simple interpretation that addresses the issue. The owner isn't using the empathy software, the toy is. You don't get direct access to the empathy analysis

Yeah this is one of the thinks i have never understood.
Where the frak does everyone get the idea that their character gets +6 to her social skill because her toy drone has an empathy software 6?

[Morg]

I feel that the emotitoys empathy software is more of an autosoft version rather then something actively usable by a metahuman,
you could handle it is as a teamwork bonus pilot + autosoft (empathy)
and that would also support the price reduction because it would lack the GUI and other frills that a metahuman would need to use it actively

Opinions?

[Bradd]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying. However, I don't think emotitoys can even add Pilot because of the way empathy software works. The toys would also need Social skill autosofts for that, and I don't think they do.

[Morg]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying. However, I don't think emotitoys can even add Pilot because of the way empathy software works. The toys would also need Social skill autosofts for that, and I don't think they do.

I was Implying that the empathy software that the emotitoy have is in effect the autosoft (social skill) because it uses the program to generate its own emots based on what it senses with its camera and mic

FTY white nose generators and dazzling the emotitoys camera would make it less effective, but they would need to be paranoid to suspect a cute fluffy rabbit toy of analyzing every facial tick or vocal stress and creating a potential recording of the meet. Its not like everyone is paranoid right

[Bradd]

I don't think emotitoys have social skills. They can't con anybody, or negotiate, or teach. They just judge the feelings of people around them and make cute Furby responses, which you get from the basic Judge Intentions feature of empathy software.

[Chaemera]

However, there's a pretty simple interpretation that addresses the issue. The owner isn't using the empathy software, the toy is. You don't get direct access to the empathy analysis

Yeah this is one of the thinks i have never understood.
Where the frak does everyone get the idea that their character gets +6 to her social skill because her toy drone has an empathy software 6?

I think it comes from this:

Empathy software can be discreetly used in real time during negotiations or social interactions, adding its rating as a dice pool bonus to the character's Social skill tests.

Emotitoys have a pilot, which means they have a Device Rating, as well. Therefore, they have a signal, and can be slaved to your commlink, with their image feed (complete with empathy software analyses) fed to your AR contact lenses. At this point, you now get the dice pool bonus to all social skills where the sensors of the emotitoy can capture the target.

Since it's a DP modifier, there's no reason that it cannot grant it's full rating 6 to your social tests, unhindered by the 1.5 times skill rating limit to skill modifiers.

[Kontact]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm saying. However, I don't think emotitoys can even add Pilot because of the way empathy software works. The toys would also need Social skill autosofts for that, and I don't think they do.

This is a problem for all sensor-softs.

If the sensor rules had any coherency in the first place, sensor-softs would ruin that.  Luckily the sensor rules are already garbage so there's nothing left workable to ruin.