[mistrornge]

It would seem that all programs and skillsofts could be easily copied from character to character. So riggers could share programs with hackers and vise versa. Is this how GMs rules for these in your games?

As well from reading know soft/linguasofts it looks like any character with a simrig could make use of as many skills as he or she desires (that have been bought by the group). So one character could buy say a Hardware, rating 4 knowsoft,  copy it and pretty much the whole group would have the skill. Am I off base in thinking this?

On a related note the main Rulebook rigger is missing many needed programs as I found out on my first run.

[KarmaInferno]

According to Unwired, all commercial software comes with Registration and Copy Protection. Meaning they report back to the creating company pretty much everything and have protection against copying.

A good hacker can remove these things, but then your programs degrade every month, to represent their inability to access official patches and software updates. To counter THAT, a hacker has to spend time and energy every month to manually patch and update the software to keep the rating from going down.



-k

[FastJack]

Pirated Software
     Pirated software—i.e. programs whose copy-protection and activation/validation anti-piracy mechanisms have been bypassed through cracking—are usually distributed by warez sites (see Piracy, p. 94). While pirated programs have the advantage of not being linked to a registered SIN, they are not automatically updated and patched in the same manner as legal software. Without registration and the confirmation that the copy is legitimate and licensed, the software is not authorized to connect to the manufacturer’s update sites.
     In game terms, illegal and pirated software—and also programs that a character has coded himself (p. 118)—degrade over time, reflecting that the program is slowly becoming outdated. Hacking and malware programs degrade at the rate of 1 rating point per month; all other programs degrade 1 rating point per 2 months.
     To circumvent or prevent degradation of their utilities, hackers have three options. First, skilled hackers with programming resources can patch programs (see Patching, p. 118) on their own. Second, those that have connections to warez sites can go looking for an updated pirated copy. Third, daredevil hackers of course always have the option of hacking the corporate patching nodes directly to steal the patch for themselves and their contacts.

[Tsuzua]

You're right that it's not that hard to crack software.  Now Unwired has rules that cracked software degrade over time (-1 rating every month) though you can make/get patches to restore it to its normal rating.  Just wait till the players discover piracy.

As for our group, we use Mission rules and thus you can't have cracked software. 

Also for the record, Hardware is an active skill and thus covered by a Activesoft which requires skillwires to use.  If you wanted "Maglock Models"soft, that would be a knowledge skill and thus a knowsoft.

[mistrornge]

From a reality standpoint it would seem easy enough every time the hacker got an update/patch he would pass the new update to the rigger. 

Hardware is considered an activesoft?  Seemed like more of a knowsoft to me.

[CanRay]

My group is discovering Piracy.  I'll be running them through Airship Pirates soon. 

...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the OTHER kind of Piracy.

[Tsuzua]

From a reality standpoint it would seem easy enough every time the hacker got an update/patch he would pass the new update to the rigger. 

Hardware is considered an activesoft?  Seemed like more of a knowsoft to me.

Really it's more you have to keep on buying pirated patches (which cost a small amount of money) or code them yourself (which costs time).  You are however free to give the patch away after that.  Besides activesofts, most programs that someone who wasn't a hacker would care about are already pretty darn cheap.  You can run Encrypt, Analyze, and Browse 6 with Optimization 3 for like 2700Y.  That's an amount of money you spend on an AK-97 because you never know when you really need an assault rifle with an built in sound suppressor for called shot short bursts.

I guess rating 6 agents for 15000Y is actually a decent chunk of change.  However if you're planning on spamming those, then the whole matrix breaks open like the overripe melon it is. 

Activesofts are an exception because skillwires are cheap.  Thus pooling your money together and buying activesofts between you and all your skillwire 4 friends is a pretty good idea.  Unless you pirate, at which point activesofts are pretty gosh darn cheap once again.  I don't know why they decided to make activesofts expensive when they could have made skillwires the pricey choice and avoided this mess. 

It might be the strange in the same way that Cybertechnology is an active skill.  But activesofts cover technical skills which Hardware falls under. 

[mistrornge]

Thank you for clearing it up a bit. Went back and found that rules that Technical skills are activesofts. Doesn't make much sense as that area really doesn't seem to need a truly "active" component to work.

[JustADude]

You're right that it's not that hard to crack software.  Now Unwired has rules that cracked software degrade over time (-1 rating every month) though you can make/get patches to restore it to its normal rating.  Just wait till the players discover piracy.

And I've absolutely never gotten that. Yes, there's the Hand Wave of "everything is constantly updated and made better and faster and prettier and more compatible and sparklier, etc, etc, etc" but that just doesn't grok with me, especially for Activesofts/Knowsofts, which are basically archives of recorded information. How does not getting a patch to make them more compatible with the latest model Skillwires degrade the rating of someone using a 5-year-old implant? If anything, that patch would give people with the latest model a Rating boost.

If its some specific bullshit done by the company, like a systemic problem that they intentionally designed into it to create a need for constant corrective patches because otherwise the program tears itself apart, then a hacker should be able to fix that as part of the cracking.

Yes, yes, "balance and simplicity", just like capping all guns at 6 slots and making ammo cost the same no matter if it's a .22 short or a .50 BMG. It still makes no freakin' sense.

[Falconer]

It's not about getting it, or trying to rationalize ways to get around it.

It's about presenting a game balance mechanic to stop rampant cracked programs from being the norm.  Quite frankly, the SOTA works rather well if you actually play with it.  It basically works out to be a monthly line item you tack onto your lifestyle costs.  It gives you the option to crack software when you really do need multiple copies for a short time... but there's a reasonable cost associated with it.


Stop and think about it from another angle... what happens if EVERYONE does it... corps, consumers, runners... everyone.
How is there ANY market whatsoever for any software if it's just going to be stolen and copied....

[Crash_00]

Its just like the modern day equivalent. The issue here is that if you are a business and the developer look into you and realizes you don't have an actual license, but are using their software, you're in a lot of trouble. It isn't uncommon to see a non-professional's computer loaded down with software, none of which is legal though.

Then again, a lot of younger members of modern society don't even seem to realize that it is a real crime. When I explained to one guy how copyright infringement actually works, and the fines associated with it, he swore I was lying because there is so much free stuff out there you can get just by torrenting it.  Then again he also though that Linksys was a company that broadcast free wifi internet almost everywhere as well.

[rasmusnicolaj]

I haven't read Unwired so maybe this is a stupid question but what about hacking software?
I mean it can't be legal to own and have on your commlink or what?
I just don't think it give a lot of sense, that you can buy a program like example stealth in Stuffer Shack because who would make a program like that available to the public? It can only be used for nefarious uses.
But if that is the case, then how do you get hacking programs other than through illegal contacts or by making it yourself? And then we automatically hit the degrading program rule (that is actually fair enough, I guess you should update your hacking tools to keep up with the constant updates of the corporation’s firewalls).

Rasmus

[Mirikon]

Then again, a lot of younger members of modern society don't even seem to realize that it is a real crime. When I explained to one guy how copyright infringement actually works, and the fines associated with it, he swore I was lying because there is so much free stuff out there you can get just by torrenting it.  Then again he also though that Linksys was a company that broadcast free wifi internet almost everywhere as well.

So, how many times has his identity been stolen?

[Crash_00]

Somehow it hasn't. It was surprising to say the least. He was horribly ignorant.

[JustADude]

It's not about getting it, or trying to rationalize ways to get around it.

It's about presenting a game balance mechanic to stop rampant cracked programs from being the norm.  Quite frankly, the SOTA works rather well if you actually play with it.  It basically works out to be a monthly line item you tack onto your lifestyle costs.  It gives you the option to crack software when you really do need multiple copies for a short time... but there's a reasonable cost associated with it.


Stop and think about it from another angle... what happens if EVERYONE does it... corps, consumers, runners... everyone.
How is there ANY market whatsoever for any software if it's just going to be stolen and copied....

Its just like the modern day equivalent. The issue here is that if you are a business and the developer look into you and realizes you don't have an actual license, but are using their software, you're in a lot of trouble. It isn't uncommon to see a non-professional's computer loaded down with software, none of which is legal though.
 

Falconer, Crash pretty much has it dead straight.

The only thing stopping modern businesses from pirating everything they want is head-count (or is that chair-count?) audits by their vendors, whistle-blower rewards, and all that jazz, not the fact that (except for possibly AV software) the software goes kaput in a few months. Oh, yes, and because of basic human morality. Most people will pay for the software because they want to support the creator of the product so they can keep making more. Either that or, deep down, they know stealing is wrong and the little policeman in their had is giving them dirty looks when they think about it.
 
The average home-user that's not subject to such audits can pirate with impunity as long as they take a few minor precautions. Given that the average Hacker with a high-end Commlink is already likely neck-deep in enough Restricted and Forbidden hardware to get them severely locked up, I severely doubt they'd worry about some Forbidden software. I also severely doubt most of them (not all, of course... there's always exceptions) would give as much of a fuck about Intellectual Property rights as the average college student with a Hard Drive full of illegal music.

Totally "unbalanced" from a system perspective, yes, but that's the way the real world works. Life isn't balanced, life isn't fair, and those who are willing to lie, cheat, and steal will always, always get an edge over those who aren't. It just so happens that, when it comes to digital information, that edge is huge.

------------------------------------

Also, most of the stuff is put put there by people who do it as a hobby, just for the challenge of it, and release they cracked programs as proof of their success. That, or the programs are leaked by disgruntled employees from the company itself out to screw their bosses. In either situation, the idea of them charging anything for the pirated software is just absurd. Not only is money not their motivation, but a money trail leading back to them makes it easier to get caught and strung up by the neck.