Station VR

[Midaychi]

This is a suggestion for a station based VR.

How might it work?

- Player enters vr pod, vr pod checks id access, then spawns a fake vr mob near the VR pod. This mob is inaudible and invisible to anyone not in VR, and can't interact with things outside of VR.

- Space tiles, and any areas the mob doesn't have id access to will be overlayed with static and un-enterable/passable. If the mob has no id, they only gain access to general areas.

- Uneffected by singularity directly, but if they ever end up on a static tile they'll get teleported back to their start, or the nearest non-static place.

- Mobs outside of VR show up with drone overlay to mobs in VR, and are inaudible.

- If possible, make non-VR turfs and objects slightly blurry, or have a client underlay that fades them out slightly. Whatever looks good.

- VR objects are about the station that they can interact with. Things like stacks of holopaper and pens, gokarts, VR nerf guns, etc. They can also use holopads to appear visible and speak through the holopad.

- VR mobs can appear visible and audible while inside the holodeck, and interact with holographic objects. They cannot interact with non-holographic objects directly, but they can disarm/hit/hug mobs inside it per holographic room rules and get hit/disarm/etc in return. (IE, if it's thunderdome or basketball or whatever.)

- AI can toggle the ability to see and hear VR mobs on/off at will. Ctrl clicking on a VR mob will eject it from VR. Shift clicking a VR mob will attempt to private message it instead. VR mobs are considered human, for purposes of laws, but ejecting does not cause them harm. Ejecting them can, however, conflict with law 2 asimov under certain situations.

- AI can alt+click a VR mob to get a yes/no prompt of "Summon Auth Bots?" This ability is on a 120 second cooldown (or whatever's most balanced)
If Yes is clicked, a few simple mob drones will spawn near the target and attack it. If a mob is damaged enough, it'll be force ejected from VR.
The drones despawn after a few minutes, or after all aggressors are gone.

- New id levels. VR-EXEC makes the ai unable to directly eject them from VR. VR-ADMIN gives them access to a VR tool button. VR-MAINTAINER gives them access to a gimped version of the VR tool button that only contains maintenance and construction tools.
VR tools are mostly program actions. Things like ejecting others from VR, fixing damaged parts of VR, a countermeasures weapon, ICE spawner/despawner, and some tools to construct VR objects.

- VR-EXEC and VR-ADMIN are usually only given to heads. VR-MAINTAINER can be more widely available. VR-ADMIN allows you to use some realspace equipment within areas you have access to. (like apcs, terminals, computers, machines, buttons, etc. Everything you do to realspace is notified to the AI and logged, however.

- Ai can be damaged by VR-ADMINs in VR, but they can also easily fight back. (unlike in meatspace, where they're just a big defenseless block surrounded by turrets, they can directly execute defensive programs at things near its core.)

- New traitor implant that gives you access to SYNDI tools. Allows you to do things like change your identity (inside VR) and mimic crew members, go invisible for short periods of time, break into areas that are normally static, avoid logging/notifications, spoof VR-EXEC and VR-ADMIN access levels, etc.

- New Malf abilities, like taking over the minds of people in VR or causing direct harm to them through dumpshock. Etc.


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Additional possible suggestions:

- VR goggles. Works like going into VR pods but statics everything that's not the current area you're in.
Example: Bartender pops on VR goggles and can communicate/do stuff with people in the VR part of the bar.


- NPCS: Ghosts can spawn in as a VR NPC mob, which is like a normal VR mob but speaks/writes NPCGLISH. Effectively, all NPCS would be able to communicate/emote/write to eachother, but non-NPCs would just see gibberish. Npcs would also only have access to basic areas, and be unable to eject non NPCS out of VR through any means. Normal VR mobs can eject NPCS at will by harm-smacking them a few times on the gob.

[Jacquerel]

This sounds like a big system that achieves almost nothing

[callanrockslol]

It shouldn't be station wide, make it smaller rooms that you can choose to go to or something.

Also we have to have VR goggles so I can suicide and put them on and be stuck in VR as a spooky ghost. Also a traitor objective to upload yourself into hacked VR and become a malf-like entity.

[Screemonster]

I have a feeling that it'd be more useful if you could GO anywhere (as per ai-eye) but only interact with devices/doors to which you have access. Expect the AI to punt you out if you start shocking doors.

Of course, while you're off causing trouble elsewhere on the station someone could be siphoning the VR-pod room...

[Atticat]

I feel like this idea has a ton of potential. Maybe if you are killed in the VR world you die in real life? Assassinating targets in virtual land could be fun.

[Ricotez]

I tried to write up a cyberspace design document for SS13 once, but I quit once I realized that it was essentially adding a completely new, very complicated game on top of an existing game, requiring maximal effort for minimal gain. Space Station 13 was never designed as a cyberspace game like Dystopia, and turning it into one is, in my opinion, a bad idea.