From: hennessy@acsu.buffalo.edu (DOG BASEBALL!!!)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: Cyberspace/the Net/the Matrix/etc
Date: 12 Dec 92 16:44:44 GMT
Organization: Ministry of Information, Lower Volta.


	Very interesting..  I also think a problem with CSpace is that
sometimes GM's aren't totally familiar with the concept (especially in SR,
which attracts magic types as well as future types [Hi Jeff! <g>])..  I've
been putting quite a bit of thought on how to compromise technical 'accuracy'
with theatrical gameplay, and I've come up a little short.  
	However, I think I like SR's description of CSpace best, as it is
easiest for me to describe to others who aren't that computer literate.  in
SR, (as you may well know), Cspace is described essentially as a descendant of
the iconic-desktop interface, combining innovative visual representation of
networking, files, apps, etc.  the interface itself is ultimately malleable
(like some modern window managers) and the user can make the interface most
comfortable and efficient as he likes (ala roll-your-own-X stuff).  However,
you take the simplistic graphics and tinny sound and multiply it out to cover
all five senses and increase the resolution to real-world or damn close to it.
imagine running an application by winking at it, or getting a file by sniffing
it and going "mmmm mmmm good", or any other strange or bizarre multisensory
interface.  Like I said, it's like the "old" desktop icon interface, simply
expanded way out.
	now all this would be fine and good, but if you couldn't interact with
others it would be fairly useless.  Right now business and education are
trying to cope with the security issues behind networking, but for sure they
are going to go beyond 'sneakernet'.  The trend now is connectivity, and it's
been going up and up.  Extrapolate this to the future, where computer
capabilities are unimaginably great, and network bandwidth has been expanded
beyond our wildest imaginings (say, FDDI in every hovel as the bare minimum),
we can't picture it now, but with tech going down in price just as it goes up
in power, it can happen.  Now, we need a new interface to make all this sticky
network behind-the-scenes stuff look good for the average user.  So,
extrapolate the concept of X (a standard layer of windowing stuff compatible
with networks) out to the interface I mentioned above.  We now have a "global
village" of networked users, interacting via the five senses, trading
information of all kinds.  But hey, we can't simply have these poor folks just
hovering in null space, so let's develop a user-friendly standard that
provides for comforting things such as proportionally sized objects
(proportional to their complexity, simple objects being small, complicated
ones bigger), a standard net interface that resembles a plane going off in all
directions, etc.  
	Thus, VR.  You now have a separate reality glued together via network
lines and computers that people, via simulated senses, can easily mistake for
the real world.  

	why take up all this space describing this?  This message is not for
the computer user/GM/decker who knows this already, but rather for the gamer
who isn't really sure what all this Cspace talk is about.  

	oh, if you're reading this, you are already participating in a form of
Virtual Reality, albeit a very simplistic form.  You are reading this, and you
may imagine that I'm talking.  I may well be from a different country, and you
would've never heard me speak, but you are reading this now.  This simple
text-based connectivity is the first step towards virtual interaction of
users, a vital component of any real VR.

whew.  btw: this post is dedicated to Jeff, so that he might see my side of
the story 8)

-- 
   /I\          Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
  /(*)\         hennessy@acsu.buffalo.edu                 
 /IIIII\        "Leave EVERYTHING to ME!" - Powdered Toast Man       
/IIIIIII\       Happiness is a warm gun.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc