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Old 02-13-2019, 07:09 AM   #21
Michele
 
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I actually like the tropes of addiction that underlie a lot of cyberpunk.
Addiction or other entertainment. I was about to ask, what's the circenses that keep the masses content? Classic cyberpunk has Simstim and other advanced forms of VR entertainment.
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Old 02-13-2019, 07:21 AM   #22
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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I actually like the tropes of addiction that underlie a lot of cyberpunk. Addiction to virtual sex should play an important role, as complete VR allows for anyone to explore their kinks without having to involve other people, which would have a dehumanizing impact on real sexual relationships. I can imagine beautiful people licensing off their virtual selves (after a complete 3D scan that includes auditor, chemical, sexual, and tactile analysis) for money, so that complete strangers could pay $10-$50/month to have a copy of them for their virtual brothels.

A complete workup (including sexual responses) would probably take a week and would include a variety of RP scenarios. After the workup, the individual would probably receive 10%-20% royalties, depending on their fame, which could allow an Independent Income. At 10% royalties, an individual would only need 10,000 subscribers at $10/month to make a reasonable income. A famous individual could possible get 100,000 people to spend $50/month and, at 20% royalties, they would earn $1 million/month. With 10 billion people, you might have as many as 1 billion people addicted to virtual sex, men and women.
Addiction is ok, but the rest is a bit too squick for me as a GM to RP out.

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Addiction or other entertainment. I was about to ask, what's the circenses that keep the masses content? Classic cyberpunk has Simstim and other advanced forms of VR entertainment.
I plan on having some kind of gladiatorial type distraction, VR, and maybe some other stuff. VR and bloodsport will be the big two.
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Old 02-13-2019, 08:20 AM   #23
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
I actually like the tropes of addiction that underlie a lot of cyberpunk. Addiction to virtual sex should play an important role, as complete VR allows for anyone to explore their kinks without having to involve other people, which would have a dehumanizing impact on real sexual relationships. I can imagine beautiful people licensing off their virtual selves (after a complete 3D scan that includes auditor, chemical, sexual, and tactile analysis) for money, so that complete strangers could pay $10-$50/month to have a copy of them for their virtual brothels.

A complete workup (including sexual responses) would probably take a week and would include a variety of RP scenarios. After the workup, the individual would probably receive 10%-20% royalties, depending on their fame, which could allow an Independent Income. At 10% royalties, an individual would only need 10,000 subscribers at $10/month to make a reasonable income. A famous individual could possible get 100,000 people to spend $50/month and, at 20% royalties, they would earn $1 million/month. With 10 billion people, you might have as many as 1 billion people addicted to virtual sex, men and women.
I'm left wondering why you would need to licence a real person (except possibly for marketing reasons) where a fully CG character made to look like the person in question but with none of the imperfections of real life would be far more practicable (and a lot more in the spirit of porn, such as it is).
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Old 02-13-2019, 09:23 AM   #24
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I think it would be a matter of status and personal preference. CG shells would probably be available as freeware and probably be lower resolution (and they would likely have ads and/or computer viruses). Real shells would be higher quality and would likely be ad free and be free of computer viruses (at least initially). CG shells would also likely be used in erotic games, as they would be cheaper than paying for the utilization of real shells.

In the case of VR sex addiction, some people will prefer quantity over quality and go for the CG shells while some people will prefer quality over quantity and pay a premium for real shells. In either case, there will likely be a massive market and hundreds of billions of dollars involved (either in subscription fees or ad revenue).

One possible treasure in such a scenario is a real shell whose release was blocked for various reasons. It may be illegal, as the responses involved deal with being a victim of rape or murder. Or may just be unlicensed, as the person involved decided to retract permission. An unreleased version of a popular celebrity that included their sexual responses when they lost their virginity might sell for millions on the black market, as a VR sex addict could experience taking the virginity of their favorite celebrity again and again.
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Old 02-13-2019, 09:38 AM   #25
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

Yeah, I'm going to call this verboten in this thread. I'm not interested at all in pursuing it. Thank you.
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Old 02-13-2019, 09:53 AM   #26
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

We've got either a food crisis or the shadow of a past food crisis but an energy surplus. I recently saw someone detail how to turn electricity into food. It involved splitting hydrogen from water, methanizing that hydrogen to make methane, and then feeding it to chemosynthetic bacteria.



Such a food source is likely to have a weird texture and miss lots of trace nutrients. The factories are also likely to be a touch flammable, and raise the flammability of the area around them as they pump out excess oxygen.
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Old 02-13-2019, 09:56 AM   #27
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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I plan on having some kind of gladiatorial type distraction, VR, and maybe some other stuff. VR and bloodsport will be the big two.
A couple ideas, then:

Death Race! No elaboration needed.

Escape the sprawl - contestants are dropped into a hostile zone with as much prep as the producers feel is entertaining. First one to reach a "safe spot" wins. Event is broadcast via drone cameras and VR hookups. A population way for daring, ruthless dregs to catapult themselves into the celebrity class.

Drone hunting - a mix of VR and blood sport. Participants control drones in warzones or free fire zones and engage in remote controlled violence - sometimes against legit targets, each other, or any random passerby. A variety of scoring systems exist. Illegal versions go drone hunting in corporate arcologies, wildlife refuges, and other spaces, blurring the line between entertainment and terrorism. VR recordings of hunts are hot on YouTube.

Old school fighting: in a world where tech is omnipresent, watching two people beat the tar out of each other with no gimmicks, according to ancient rules of fair play, has a certain draw. It might be seen as something for the more sophisticated aesthete.

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Old 02-13-2019, 11:14 AM   #28
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Seattle (a free city sprawl occupying basically the old state of Washington) is a haven for psi-actives and is almost 70% psychic. The NAU got thrown out of that area by the combined power of a massive gestalt and have been kept out. Currently, it would be too costly to take it back so they don't.
Love it.

If psis are so prevalent in Seattle/Washington and hated/oppressed everywhere else, I would assume that at least some movements and/or cults arise in that area. The Psi Civil Liberties Union (PCLU) is a political organisation opposed to the systematic oppression of psis. Psion (get it?) is a much more grass-roots movement that encourages acceptance and development of psi abilities ("it's okay to be psi", "psi pride", "There is no spoon / Use the Force"), with a supremacist faction ("we are humanity's next step in evolution").

It might be popular among psis to tattoo themselves voluntarily here, but as a matter of pride instead of a mark of shame. Psi-only night clubs, where you have to levitate something or read the bouncer's mind to gain entry, á la Papa Midnite's (Constantine).
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Old 02-13-2019, 12:04 PM   #29
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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They are treated as such and (at least in the NAU) psis must accept GPS implants to monitor their activities are tattooed with their known abilities. Not registering abilities (or at all) can mean a death sentence in some areas. Seattle (a free city sprawl occupying basically the old state of Washington) is a haven for psi-actives and is almost 70% psychic. The NAU got thrown out of that area by the combined power of a massive gestalt and have been kept out. Currently, it would be too costly to take it back so they don't.
Why not make this the cause of psi-hatred? Maybe local government in Washington got pretty heavy-handed in "managing the emerging psi problem", and a particularly well-organized group of psis responded via the gestalt. Federal government was caught flat-footed and deeply embarrassed. Now psis inside the NAU are seen as potential fifth columnists for the Seattle Gestalt. In short, you've got a Red Scare going on. That also lets you play with just how psis get treated outside the NAU. Megacorps and states closely associated with the NAU follow its lead, but some polities and corps find it useful to oppose or moderate their stances - either as PR or prestige moves, or for other reasons. Could have a corp group touting a "Third Way" trying to moderate between the NAU and Seattle Gestalt hardliners and draw off secondary powers...
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Old 02-13-2019, 12:16 PM   #30
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Default Re: Build a Cyberpunk Setting

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Why not make this the cause of psi-hatred? Maybe local government in Washington got pretty heavy-handed in "managing the emerging psi problem", and a particularly well-organized group of psis responded via the gestalt. Federal government was caught flat-footed and deeply embarrassed. Now psis inside the NAU are seen as potential fifth columnists for the Seattle Gestalt. In short, you've got a Red Scare going on. That also lets you play with just how psis get treated outside the NAU. Megacorps and states closely associated with the NAU follow its lead, but some polities and corps find it useful to oppose or moderate their stances - either as PR or prestige moves, or for other reasons. Could have a corp group touting a "Third Way" trying to moderate between the NAU and Seattle Gestalt hardliners and draw off secondary powers...
The gestalt could even be involuntary - perhaps addictive in its own right - people who spend too much time melding with one another actually lose themselves in one another, becoming ...changed if not strictly de-humanised...
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