POPULATING YOUR REALITY

Okay, now you've made yourself a real nice place to play. Now it's time for some actors. Virtual realities are basically stage sets, with buildings, sky, trees and ground all serving as the major locations. Cars, AVs, books, furniture, etc., are all props in the virtual construct But if you want other people to relate to, you need to create those separately, as programs. There are three kinds of "people" you can construct to populate a virtual reality:

The Crowd: The Crowd is an interactive program with limited conversational ability and a pseudo-intellect. The Crowd tends to act like - well... a crowd; all of ifs members think and do about the same things. For example, if the Crowd is at a party, they will mill about, chatter aimlessly about nothing. and "ooh" and "ah" if you do something really interesting. However, if you attempt to engage a single member of the Crowd in conversation, he or she will only be able to utter banal pleasantries, like "Yeah, nice party" and "Hey, what about those (Giants, 49ers, Bears, Yankees, etc.)?". The Crowd doesn't have a Memory option, so if you meet someone from the Crowd elsewhere, he will stammer, try to pretend that he remembers you, and generally do all the things you would do in a similar situation. Who says this is an artificial reality?

To create a Crowd takes a Difficulty of 16 (multiplied by whatever you spend for it's level of realism). A Crowd takes up 1 MU for every 100 people involved. The same crowd can be used in any part of the virtual reality; it just gets moved around and "redressed" for the next scene. Crowds are often sold on the open market or traded among Netrunners. After all, everyone needs a change from the same old Crowd.

Individuals: These are characters with all the pseudo-intellect and conversational abilities of the crowd, but with a memory option as well. They represent key players in your virtual reality, and can relate to you very much as real people would. They remember your name, what you've done together, and even have their own personality quirks. Each Individual has a Difficulty of 21 (multiplied by what ever you spend for its level of realism), and takes up 2 ML) of space. But this can be well worth it if the Individual is your own Virtual Cute Blond Movie Starlet (or Hunk).

Individual programs can often be bought or copied from other sources; there is a booming business in providing these one of a kind programs for virtual use. Most bulletin boards and shopping boards have advertising sections for Individual copies; these are known as "meat markets", "slave pits" and "casting couches". Prices range from a couple hundred eb (for the Boring History Professor model) to two or three thousand (for the Zarkonian Love God/Goddess model).

Offensive/Defensive Programs: Not all the "inhabitants" of a virtual reality are simple minded conversation pieces. Any offensive or defensive program can, for a few extra Difficulty points, be outfitted with an interactive option, conversational ability and pseudo-intellect. This allows the program to have a decorative function as well as a protective one; you can come home to your virtual castle, put your feet up in your virtual chair, have your virtual servant pour you a virtual drink and relax while petting your virtual (and deadly) Hellhound on it's shaggy metal head.