SleepingSilence

Music Appreciation Thread 2.0

@TheMadAsshatter 8/10 Enjoyed the song (and video) as much as the first time I heard of it. :3 (I think I enjoy the Streetlight Manifesto version of this song just a bit more.)

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And now I have to share my discovery. I'm not much of a post-music listener. But four songs into this band, and I think I found another niche to sink my teeth into. They've all been a little repetitious. (Not in a way to ruin the tracks for me.) But if even hearing the word "experimental" interests you, and this album art immediately intrigues you. You just might enjoy it too. (and if I'm lucky there's over 13 albums with music on par with this.)

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

@Hekazu@The Harbinger of Ferocity

Well like I said, won't be a prude. If someone voices a complaint or concern now, it will be better all around before everyone has their stuff already done or heavily worked on. So I'll just scrap my idea entirely and try to think of another idea for a character.

But just so we can squash any further power creep discussions, perhaps we should make perfectly clear the limit of pieces you'd all like to see? One, two, six? Their power/capability is subjective. Is there any certain standard we are setting here? I'd much rather have that cleared up, before we go "mechanical eyes that can see -that- far?!"

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

I guess my only question is does anyone have a problem with full body conversions? I'm fully aware and intending to do what would make sense/use logical steps to justify it. (I'd like to know in advance.)

Might be a little busy this weekend? Time will tell, but will try to work on a character sheet as soon as can.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

@SleepingSilence
Neither a question nor issue of it, but my emphasis is that this should be an exception rather than a general rule in keeping with the theme we had in mind. The goal was and is to focus on the lower level individuals and activities associated alongside avoiding the issue of any form of power creep. It becomes an effort to separate and denote one from the other rather than say, "Just because it exists we are doing it."

@The Harbinger of Ferocity

Hopefully that general theme is made more clear and described. I know there's been a lot of discord chat and things outside these pages alone that I'm unaware of. But I certainly intended to be lower on the wheel of rank/importance. Basically a lackey forced to do dangerous and morally black work. Like I said, I'm alright with keeping the AI bodies as a rarity in the particular plot. (Have a perfect alternative anyhow.)

I'm just not 100% certain what plot has been decided on.

Post a random fact about yourself.

I've played basically every team sport for a season, including nearly a decade of soccer. As an added bonus, always either one of the best players and/or on a team that never lost. (And I'm including being in the Cub Scouts participating in those little model car races.)

(And now I have basically no interests in most sports...) But hey, that's life for you. :D

What Are You Listening To?

A bunch of nightcore. I'm sorry. <.<'

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Considering the divergence technology took in the genre, androids seem only appropriate at large, just in that tier outside of reach for the majority. As I noted before, I could easily see compromised models existing in the criminal underground, either salvaged and pieced together out of others in the vein of Frankenstein by some particularly talented deckers and techies for their gang ventures, while on the other side the wealthy elite have some here and there. Related to this, given the majority of it is focused on the people and their cybernetic enhancements that turn them from effective meat into cyborgs, I suspect most robots are primitive and simple minded. Say, vending devices more advanced than what we see today in our own, but far more crude and block-like.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity

Just from what I've read about it, it seems like the world has made artificial intelligence (and even outright human cloning) that would be impossible in this day and age. But cellphones are going to look and weigh as much as a concrete block. Least from how I'm interpreting the sources I'm reading...

In the 2nd Chromebook, it goes into the concept of full body conversions which basically replaces all the human parts with robotic ones effectively making you a robot as is. Though with the negative of "Cyberpsychosis" were you loss humanity/empathy and see people as lesser beings as a result. So I guess, simple in the way of losing the complexities of human emotions perhaps...

I tried looking for more information on cloning and AI, since I know it's there, but didn't happen to find what I needed. All I can really find is comments on its Reddit page, and articles about it.

Cyberpunk 2020 is all about the diminishing humanity of the player, as they add more and more cyberware and become more and more machine, and trying to figure out where the line between man and machine is. Even at the most machine-like, becoming a full body conversion, the player still retains their brain and brainstem, and thus a small sliver of humanity. While the Net definitely does have actual, full-fledged AI in it, AI-driven humanoid (or otherwise) bodies have never really been a big part of 2020. That's not to say it wouldn't be a possibility. It just hasn't been what the game is about.

I guess if the biggest concern is not entirely knowing the answer to the question of "How in-depth is the cloning and AI technology? If they can perfectly replicate human brains, would they be on-par with/similar to replicants?"

I won't be a prude and argue over semantics. I can always change the character to a "full-body conversion" type. If that would raise less concern, though I sort of already kind of had a mostly non-empathetic personality to begin with. So either honestly fits...

I guess the more I know about how we're setting everything up, and how a certain character connects to every player character. I'll be able to piece together a believable backstory/timeline.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

@The Scotsman Oh no, I understand what you mean. I'm perfectly willing to discuss that among everyone, along with every other character. So we all have a good idea what we're all trying to accomplish.

I know I'm a little behind on what story line and events you guys had built for this character in question, so when that is explained in greater detail with a more expansive timeline, I can make that inclusion more natural when I have the context required.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

@Terminal@The Scotsman

Well there's always a way to find some kind of connection. Have we decided exactly why, and where he disappeared? And what caused it? (Or if he's still alive or dead?) Maybe my character isn't directly connected, but maybe I somehow saw Davidson later than any other character by happenstance. Which would provide insight about his location. Maybe the company I'm involved with had something to do with the disappearance. Whether directly or from connections with another gang that was involved/negatively effected by is actions/with his gear selling.

If every character was too closely connected, might make the world seem unnecessarily small. But I think I could think of a decent enough reason to be related, if I had a timeline of the character and how we're connecting him with all the other characters.

@The Harbinger of Ferocity

Looking at people discussing it online, because on the Wikipedia it only mentions that it does point them out but barely references them in the original book but clarifies in later material. This is how someone explained it.

"In the world of Cyberpunk 2020, in the late 80's, they discovered a neural-networking technology that allowed them to interface with human brains, as well as create artificial brains very easily. This means that all the research money went into creating those kinds of computer chips, and so the computer chips WE use, are not as developed. That's why some things, like AI, work very well in Cyberpunk 2020, and other things, like traditional computers, are very much still stuck in the 90's. Moore's Law was never a thing, and processing speed did not double every year. Instead neural nets grew every year, creating a very different computer revolution."

So if they can create artificial brains as chips more advanced than we currently have, I could only assume they'd make AI smarter/more complicated too. But yes, I agree that it would be a rarity and probably only used by the big wigs of society.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

I guess if we're just spitballing character ideas. One idea I was drifting toward was doing an AI, possibly doing some pretty morally black shit. Something like human trafficking. The reason is because the character is paid in some kind of rare and/or expensive medicine, that keeps a child alive. (Which happens to be someone I look after/close relationship with.)

It's quite different from the other stated professions, but pretty sure AI/smuggling fit fine within the world. I think it would be an interesting anyway. ;P