major crimes and identity
I believe there should be a way to escape major crimes (as in murder of a politician,mass murder or raiding a corporate data center).
Beyond physical escape, there should be a two-tiered system of identity which would be nescessary to deal with to escape a particular group.
1. "bureaucratic" identity -- basically what large organisations (large corporations, cops, military, information brokers) have on file on the player character. I think I have touched upon it a lot in my other threads so I will not revisit the bulk of it here. I would just add
identity theft should be possible through netrunning to change one's legal identity.
As a design goal, I think it would be desirable if there is a trade-off between services and identity
E.g. you could apply for a driver's license, a monthly public transit pass, banking and even some form of medicare/insurance, but your face would permanently be in the system unless you went into those shady places that might or might not take your money and run.
A general strategic question to answer mid game should be "How much convenience should I have in exchange for giving up some of the tactical flexibility when committing a crime?"
2. Physical appearance -- Unless a PC is a reclusive hacker, someone else is always going to remember him/her.
There could be basic disguises, or a simple change of style/clothes and that should be enough to evade some low-level thugs with equally low intelligence. New vegas style gameplay.
Things get dicey when dealing with corporates or even a tech-savvy SMB owner connected to a data broker as surveillance technology is very impressive even in the early 21st century.
There is already software to both recognize face and predict criminal behaviour such as shoplifting. Reportedly, the former is more efficient then humans to detect specific faces in crowds and such. Some bars have already implemented this to identify troublemakers.
It is unlikely that such software would still be defeatable by simple means in 2077. .
but let's say that not all software is created equal for the sake of gameplay
Depending on the depth of physical changes the player goes through, the chances of detection should be higher or lower. A simple face camouflage (which would not be all that out of place in CP2020) might defeat some face recognition software. Likewise for a basic mask.
http://cdn.gajitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/defeat-facial-recognition.jpg
A large overcoat might also do the trick (it also might raise suspicions, but at least it does not raise an automatic alarm)
In extreme cases (where the cameras might use IR signatures for example), having radical changes through surgery like putting on exotic features ,having a sex change, going from a ginger dwarf to a wirey 7 foot tall character or going to a mech with more metal then meat would pretty much take care of it.
The consequence for being caught (beside being shot dead) for serious violent crimes would be effectively a loss of identity and skills resulting from a life on the run. I suspect that for RPers doing Ironman challenges (where saves might be limited to every week for example, this would be a quite a formidable deterrent.
A corporate,rockerboy,cops and media would be espescially hard hit. They might give up a hard-earned reputation as well as contacts.If they were able to bribe a bureaucrat or politician they would no longer have access to him. They would still retain their skills, but be forced to lose all their reputation. Their businesses, real estate and basically all that they have to their legal names. Cops might retain some contacts with the rogue elements of the police precincts but otherwise be prevented from doing any official tasking.
For a solo to do a major crime and be caught, he would have to give up most of his implants that would make him visually unique and easily distinguishable from a crowd. Likewise, an "original meat" character would consider going for a full mech style to avoid the authorities.
The idea here is a gradation of difficulty based on severity of the crime, the location(combat zone or corporate?) and strategic choices (do I give up most of what I accumulated so far including who I am for that one big shot, do I risk it all? Do I stay "safe" in combat areas or do I try to mess with corporates? ).
(To be clear: there should be areas where you could commit violent crimes in relative impunity like in fallout, what I just wrote applies only to major crimes in relevant areas like if you wanted to pull of a big big heist or something. I would like to reiterate also there should be mechanics so that with proper scouting and preparation, you need not get caught and live life on the run)
Thoughts?
I believe there should be a way to escape major crimes (as in murder of a politician,mass murder or raiding a corporate data center).
Beyond physical escape, there should be a two-tiered system of identity which would be nescessary to deal with to escape a particular group.
1. "bureaucratic" identity -- basically what large organisations (large corporations, cops, military, information brokers) have on file on the player character. I think I have touched upon it a lot in my other threads so I will not revisit the bulk of it here. I would just add
identity theft should be possible through netrunning to change one's legal identity.
As a design goal, I think it would be desirable if there is a trade-off between services and identity
E.g. you could apply for a driver's license, a monthly public transit pass, banking and even some form of medicare/insurance, but your face would permanently be in the system unless you went into those shady places that might or might not take your money and run.
A general strategic question to answer mid game should be "How much convenience should I have in exchange for giving up some of the tactical flexibility when committing a crime?"
2. Physical appearance -- Unless a PC is a reclusive hacker, someone else is always going to remember him/her.
There could be basic disguises, or a simple change of style/clothes and that should be enough to evade some low-level thugs with equally low intelligence. New vegas style gameplay.
Things get dicey when dealing with corporates or even a tech-savvy SMB owner connected to a data broker as surveillance technology is very impressive even in the early 21st century.
There is already software to both recognize face and predict criminal behaviour such as shoplifting. Reportedly, the former is more efficient then humans to detect specific faces in crowds and such. Some bars have already implemented this to identify troublemakers.
It is unlikely that such software would still be defeatable by simple means in 2077. .
but let's say that not all software is created equal for the sake of gameplay
Depending on the depth of physical changes the player goes through, the chances of detection should be higher or lower. A simple face camouflage (which would not be all that out of place in CP2020) might defeat some face recognition software. Likewise for a basic mask.
http://cdn.gajitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/defeat-facial-recognition.jpg
A large overcoat might also do the trick (it also might raise suspicions, but at least it does not raise an automatic alarm)
In extreme cases (where the cameras might use IR signatures for example), having radical changes through surgery like putting on exotic features ,having a sex change, going from a ginger dwarf to a wirey 7 foot tall character or going to a mech with more metal then meat would pretty much take care of it.
The consequence for being caught (beside being shot dead) for serious violent crimes would be effectively a loss of identity and skills resulting from a life on the run. I suspect that for RPers doing Ironman challenges (where saves might be limited to every week for example, this would be a quite a formidable deterrent.
A corporate,rockerboy,cops and media would be espescially hard hit. They might give up a hard-earned reputation as well as contacts.If they were able to bribe a bureaucrat or politician they would no longer have access to him. They would still retain their skills, but be forced to lose all their reputation. Their businesses, real estate and basically all that they have to their legal names. Cops might retain some contacts with the rogue elements of the police precincts but otherwise be prevented from doing any official tasking.
For a solo to do a major crime and be caught, he would have to give up most of his implants that would make him visually unique and easily distinguishable from a crowd. Likewise, an "original meat" character would consider going for a full mech style to avoid the authorities.
The idea here is a gradation of difficulty based on severity of the crime, the location(combat zone or corporate?) and strategic choices (do I give up most of what I accumulated so far including who I am for that one big shot, do I risk it all? Do I stay "safe" in combat areas or do I try to mess with corporates? ).
(To be clear: there should be areas where you could commit violent crimes in relative impunity like in fallout, what I just wrote applies only to major crimes in relevant areas like if you wanted to pull of a big big heist or something. I would like to reiterate also there should be mechanics so that with proper scouting and preparation, you need not get caught and live life on the run)
Thoughts?
