define this disability

[whswhs]

One of my players has asked about an Ally who can't cope with virtual reality. How would you handle this? It's not quite an Incompetence, because virtual reality activities aren't a skill. . . .

Bill Stoddard

[Flyndaran]

Can't cope as in fears? Or as in vows not to use it?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Can't cope as in fears? Or as in vows not to use it?

Actually, neither: He seems to have a mental handicap that he has difficulty interacting (socially and "physically") in virtual worlds is what the player said.

Bill Stoddard

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Actually, neither: He seems to have a mental handicap that he has difficulty interacting (socially and "physically") in virtual worlds is what the player said.

Bill Stoddard

If I'm reading this correctly ( a neurological defect that doesn't bar him from VR but means he processes it poorly), one possibility would be to give him Bad Sight, Bad Hearing, Bad Taste/Smell, Klutz (or Ham-Fisted)and Stuttering, all with the Accesibility Limitation "Only when in VR," along with a -2 DX penalty whenever he's in a virtual reality situation. That should simulate someone who's not quite in sync with the program; he's getting the signals, but they're garbled.

If the neurological defect is severe enough that he can't access VR at all, that's another story.

[Rowan]

I would say he'd almost get full points for all of the disadvantages he takes for this since VR seems to be a fairly ubiquitous in the THS world. It's been stated that v-tags are frequently used even in VR overlay environments. That is, augmented reality that's nothing more then showing and displaying v-tags on items buildings, etc, so if he gets all screwed up even from that light level of VR interaction, I imagine he might have a pretty 'severe' handicap in more of the higher wave worlds, I can't recall the waves that don't use VR or rather can get by in day to day life without it.

[Xplo]

I'm not sure your player's intended disadvantage makes sense for the setting. As far as I can tell, most VR is just augmented reality, and even the immersive kind doesn't seem to require any kind of special skill or familiarity to use. Furthermore, why would VR (and only VR) retard him socially?

If we pretended that THS had a "cyberspace" where people have human-like avatars that they control with their mind, and where people with more experience or natural talent are faster, stronger, more graceful, and/or capable of manifesting superpowers (like Neo's ability to fly in The Matrix), then Rocket Man's suggestions make perfect sense. But, as far as I can tell, it doesn't.

Likewise I can think of a few potential social retardants, but none of them work quite the way your player wants. If we had the aforementioned cyberspace, and it had its own culture, he could lack the proper CF. Or, if people with clumsy avatars were regarded as "retards" or "n00bs", he could have a Social Stigma; if there's no such stigma, he could have an OPH (for dropping things, stumbling into people, asking them to compensate for his poor senses, etc). Neither make him bad at socializing, exactly, but they'll hurt his reaction rolls. Alternately, if his character was Confused, he would find augmented reality difficult to use and probably have to turn it off most of the time. This would affect him in other ways, though, and wouldn't apply in a VR environment that didn't bombard him with information.

Does your player understand how VR works in THS? (Alternately, do I misunderstand it?) Does he know enough about GURPS to describe his character's handicap in mechanical terms?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Actually, neither: He seems to have a mental handicap that he has difficulty interacting (socially and "physically") in virtual worlds is what the player said.

Bill Stoddard

Exactly how does this work? If he can't process the information from a wearable VI; can he view a traditional monitor, or read a dead tree book? Given that VI isn't really all that different from 2nd, 3rd and 4th wave information technologies, I have a lot of trouble imagining an untreatable neurological condition that would be specific to VI, and not a disorder (like Non-Iconographic, or Dyslexic) that would have much broader effects. Furthermore given the existence of brain-bugs, it would have to be a really weird condition to untreatable with 5th wave medical technology, anyway.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Exactly how does this work? If he can't process the information from a wearable VI; can he view a traditional monitor, or read a dead tree book? Given that VI isn't really all that different from 2nd, 3rd and 4th wave information technologies, I have a lot of trouble imagining an untreatable neurological condition that would be specific to VI, and not a disorder (like Non-Iconographic, or Dyslexic) that would have much broader effects. Furthermore given the existence of brain-bugs, it would have to be a really weird condition to untreatable with 5th wave medical technology, anyway.

The character in question is an AI. The player's explanation is that it has trouble coping with the logic of virtual realities, and that its designer is hoping that experience with physical reality will give it an improved model of cause and effect. He's apparently trying for an entity that functions somewhat like a small child.

Bill Stoddard

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

The character in question is an AI. The player's explanation is that it has trouble coping with the logic of virtual realities, and that its designer is hoping that experience with physical reality will give it an improved model of cause and effect. He's apparently trying for an entity that functions somewhat like a small child.

Bill Stoddard

Wouldn't that just be a low IQ and possibly Gullible?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Wouldn't that just be a low IQ and possibly Gullible?

The low IQ I've got on the character sheet already. But he seems to have in mind some sort of specific disability relating to virtual environments like digital kingdoms. I've asked the player to clarify.

Bill Stoddard