09-15-2013, 05:24 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2009
|
Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
So, I've decided to pause a TL10-11 sci-fi campaign that I was GM-ing; it had been written long ago, without player input or any real goal, so now when we dusted it off and tried to populate it with PCs, it didn't hold up. Namely, it was difficult to envision who the characters could be, what they had access to, and what the relationships between the factions were; every planet/habitat seemed to be floating in a separate reality from the rest, and it was difficult to derive any tension when the world felt decentralized and tenuously connected. I'm currently rewriting it to be less broad and hodge-podge.
A particularly problematic element were nanofabricators, which were introduced due to pure cool-factor (and because biotech/nanotech were supposed to be TL11 while everything else was TL10), which kinda reduced all space trade to automated bulk shipping of raw materials. I didn't consider this a problem at the time, since I thought that information, ideas, media, and art becoming the only valuable commodities might make for an interesting setting. But the players decided to play a crew of space pirates. I told them that, if we didn't change technological assumptions, their space piracy operation would look more like "bank robbers/art thieves/kidnappers that also happen to have a ship," and they seemed fine with it. But now that the setting is getting a full rewrite, I asked them how we could build it from the ground-up with space piracy in mind (without slipping into retro-space-opera). One player suggested nightmarish digital rights management: most things can be fabricated in one's home, but large companies (or a single consortium) control all blueprints and artificially inflate prices. Blueprints are licensed, heavily encrypted, cannot be copied, are limited to a number of uses, tied to a device or an account, and regularly check with home office to make sure the user isn't up to anything funny. Maybe they aren't ever really downloaded - they either go to a dedicated terminal on the nanofab, or delete themselves after fabrication is done. (I think you can guess what recent piece of tech the player was inspired by.) So space pirates would be of the copyright-infringing variety this time. They'd use ships to intercept tight-beam data transfers, copy blueprints, programs, music, invids, slinks or whatever, get the data to a kind of Port Royal for cracking, and resell it as "hassle-free" data (or give it away for free if they get their funding from some kind of infosocialist government). So, how many holes can you people poke through this? Is such a system sustainable? Are there easier ways of doing it (both stealing and protecting data)? What kind of adventures would you give to such a party? What would the ramifications be on society? I'd greatly appreciate any help I can get. |
09-15-2013, 07:13 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Irving, TX
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Safe tech and older items (10+yrs or more) can be printed at anytime. However, they are well, plain and basic. This is your household goods, most furniture/electronics and items you would find in a dorm room or person's first apartment. If you want the latest items ranging from weapons to fashions you need to steal it. Some companies may pay you to steal the latest designs from a competitors. Then the infosocialists want to look for the upgrades to the infrastructure. Plus on the frontier the latest music, videos and slinklys can be used to gain support from the locals.
|
09-15-2013, 11:43 PM | #3 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Quote:
One thing I know is that anything that is on a computer can be stolen. One just needs an unlocked version of the fabricator, probably available a few weeks after the locked version. I can't picture ships being useful in intercepting tight beam communication. At best they can be used to move stolen info from system to system. Or to steal new items so they can be reverse engineered. Also I could picture open source hardware being a big selling point so that if the company goes bankrupt you can still build repair parts. I really think that DRM will be the plaything of totalitarian regimes. Most people seem quite willing to pay a reasonable price for what they want. With open source hardware I could picture research costs being lower because most complex devices could be made of low-level components that are freely available. Open source object oriented hardware!
__________________
A little learning is a dangerous thing. Warning: Invertebrate Punnster - Spinelessly Unable to Resist a Pun Dangerous Thoughts, my blog about GURPS and life. |
|
09-16-2013, 04:05 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, uk
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Quote:
To complicate matters I would also expect that on an interplanetary/ interstellar scale these plans will be distributed through local servers with the long range data transfers being carefully orchestrated one off affairs using multiple separate channels with product data being in place before the product is formally announced. If this is the case then your pirates would be better placed trying to raid local transfers which is probably a dead end as far as your campaign is concerned. On the other hand a one off interception of a specific transfer might be an interesting change of pace in something resembling you original campaign premise of 'ship borne art thieves'. |
|
09-17-2013, 03:17 AM | #5 | ||||||
Join Date: Jul 2009
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Sorry for the thread-orphaning, it's been a busy couple of days.
Quote:
To reinforce the core premise of the setting, any upstart blueprint/media IP holder will run into two problems - most "plain, generic" stuff exists in public domain, and if they undercut the main IP holder with cheap trendy designs, they'll be bought and dissolved by the monopoly. The setting would have to be really connected (or really tiny) for the "trendiness" to be so urgent and profitable. Might also come across slightly comical - "We're live. We need to sell a million copies in the next 2 hours before the price drops. If any pirates crack our system before then, our profit margin is ruined!" My initial idea is was to have one big triple-star system (colonized slower-than-light quite a while ago), but the players requested something bigger and interstellar. To take advantage of that, I thought I'd make use a few other reviled corporate practice: regional locks and forced exclusivity! Different systems, or even different parts of a single system, would get their latest IP at different times and at different costs, maybe even modified and tuned just for the audience in that system (possibly in concert with the local authorities). Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The fourth party member is an art connoisseur (yes, they insisted on being space pirates, and then made their characters ponces and celebrities), so I fully expect them to oceanseleven their way into a few museums. |
||||||
09-17-2013, 08:31 AM | #6 | ||||||
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
||||||
09-17-2013, 09:05 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Have you read Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross? I bring it up because it is a book with pretty hard science, plentiful nanofabricators...and space pirates.
While getting into all their schemes would be telling a bit too much, their major interests in boarding ships appear to be inspecting them and their cargoes, partly for insurance reasons (they are technically an insurance agency branch office) and partly so that they can engage in commodity futures trading using inside information about any cargo that hasn't been publicly disclosed. (Actually physically stealing bulk cargos would be a waste.)
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
09-17-2013, 09:42 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Quote:
__________________
A little learning is a dangerous thing. Warning: Invertebrate Punnster - Spinelessly Unable to Resist a Pun Dangerous Thoughts, my blog about GURPS and life. |
|
09-17-2013, 09:51 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Quote:
I thought the banking system was developed entirely too little for the importance of its role in the book. What was the medium-money/fast-money split supposed to actually constitute? What is medium money really? Slow money was fairly well covered, but slow money was a serious contender for primary character of the novel.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
|
09-17-2013, 10:11 AM | #10 |
Computer Scientist
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dallas, Texas
|
Re: Nanofabricators, DRM and Forced Scarcity
Fast money is cash and other liquid assets that can be redeemed for face value or nearly so in short order, like mature bonds and home equity. IIRC, medium money is longer-term investments like multi-year bonds and ownership of private companies, but still in-system.
|
Tags |
drm, nanofabricator, scarcity, sci-fi, spaceships |
|
|