I often wonder how much of the ratings of the ID scanners that we use in our games is, GMs trying to catch fake SINs. I was looking at Shadows of North America today and they list the ratings of Border checkpoints and most have a rating 3 system (UCAS, CAS, Ute, Soix, etc.), some have 2(Californian Potectorate), or 4(Tir Tairngire, Denver) but that's only the really paranoid countries. If border checkpoints have this security then why would you suddenly find yourself in a stuffer shack that is almost a secure as a border crossing that has FBI agents trying to crack down on smuggling. so that brings me to the question of; Did we as GMs creep the level to try and catch our players who bought really good SINs? Was this our answer to their hardly ever being caught by ID scanners?
I did it too I would have rating 3 stuffer shacks and bars and level 5 or 6 checkpoints at borders and as I was getting ready for my New York game found myself rating the checkpoints at 5's and 6's. if it is due to me wanting my players to sweet then am I going about it the right way? I think we all want our players to sweet a bit, not truly catch them but at least make them feel like they are criminals doing illegal activities. But I also at the same time want to stay consistent with the world and the "pseudo reality" of it. So i make them keep SOTA on their SINS they degrade by one rating each month of non use. Forgers have to put expiration dates on the IDs to make them realistic so all IDs expire within 1d6 + Loyalty months and have to be renewed, it is also just good business. they can have their hacker forge them some IDs but that will take him time and resources(skills ad equipment) and has its own risks as these databases are pretty tough.
All of these things allow me to keep ratings at a reasonable level of 1-3 for UCAS I even have some rating 0 ID checkers that simply look at the name and picture of the ID and verify it with the person standing in front of it. Not all businesses, that are trying to make rent month to month, can afford the monthly service charge of ID verification, especially if you look at the number of places in major metropolitan centers today that don't have credit card machines because they don't want to pay the fee. In 2072 they are forced to deal with credit accounts but they don't have to check all IDS as thoroughly as a border crossing.
Long and short is in my game a rating 1 does have meaning, you can get a basic credit account with it and use it for purchase that you don't want to be tracked and traced to your real fake SIN you can use it to go into bars nightclubs and stuffer shacks to help keep anonymity when going to meets or while on a walk by or stake out so that NYPD doesn't pull up local stuffer shack and delivery joint records to see if the same person order food over a long period of time, and you could use it to simple walk around town as you just need to display an ID and not look suspicious to keep from getting pulled over. The problem in my games with a rating 1 ID is if it isn't verified at least once a month you will have to buy a new one each month which adds to monthly costs. remember that i use rating 0 and they don't verify with another database they just check the ID against the person standing there, anyone could use it with some nano paste and a prayer.
Red
