Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen
The problem is that the technological constraints are often the direct cause of the world being as it is. For instance, in one of Gibson's Sprawl short stories, the hacker character eventally decide to get hold a device that enables them to cheat the telephone company and get free calls, because as part of the prep work for their caper, they need to make a lot of long-distance calls, and the phone bill is getting big.
Or in Julian May's "Intervention", set in the early 21st century, one of the POV characters have to go to the post office to pick up a physical disc, which he than carries home and inserts into his computer, so that he can read his new emails. There's no Internet cabled to private homes, nor airborne Internet.
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Yes, that's all true. Those are great examples.
But that stuff could be modeled in a game with little or no use of real world technical specs. In GURPS the TL and 'Complexity' of computers and programs matters more than real world details about processing speed, or what have you.
Of course, providing convincing and 'correct' technical specifications and fine details can add verisimilitude for the reader of fiction or the player in a game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen
I might. I like that kind of gritty TL9'ish thing.
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Yeah, I like it too.