Total Immersion Grid Jacks
Jack in, drop out, get burned.

GridSight is, without a doubt, very cool. However, a fundamental part of decking, neterunning, whatever you want to call it in most cyberpunk media is hackers really throwing their whole selves into the network.

For this reason (and also because I just personally love the idea) I think it'd be great to have cyberware that would allow a decker to enter a 'full immersion' version of the Grid. It could provide bonuses to their decking, maybe provide access to an extra, abstracted version of the Grid with nodes appearing as physical spaces that the node owner or ACL members can design, with links to other nodes appearing as physical exits, and so on. All this would be at the expense of a decker being jacked in this way being left entirely unconscious in meatspace, and also vulnerable to ICE or programs that can cause them actual, physical harm. Gridrunners at risk of frying to death on their couch after fucking with the wrong node or Gridworks operative.

It would allow deckers to have much more style and personality in how they go about things. A BBS node could exist for deckers to actually *visit* in this more immersed Grid layer, and converse with each other as if they were standing in the same room. They could run programs to change what their 'avatar' looks like, their programs could have abstracted representations, like a program to break a node's ICE appearing as the decker physically attacking it with something.

This is really just the Cliff Notes of what I think would be cool about this. I understand that something like this would be quite the undertaking on the development side of things, but I sincerely think it's at least worth consideration and discussion. Even if it doesn't provide any significant benefits or drawbacks (although I sincerely think it should), it would just be insanely cool to have.

Exactly. And your weapons are the BlackICE combat programs you write. When you land a hit on another runner, maybe their physical body jolts/spasms/smokes/sizzles a little so their buddies in the room with them know they're getting fucked up.

Also, just the idea of setting up a node and being able to visit it physically is incredibly cool. You could set up entire BBS nodes that look like a nightclub or bar or whatever the fuck you want. Hubs with links to other nodes modelled after airports. Whatever you can think of. The same goes for a decker's actual 'appearance' in the Grid. Their object name (whatever it's called, you know what I mean, the thing you use to target people with commands) could just be their Grid username (whichi may also be seen hovering above their head, or obscured using the software equivalent to wearing a poncho), and they could look like whatever the fuck they want (within reason).

Maybe instead of the regular @sleep_place message, it could use a different message that indicates they're plugged in to the Grid, like "%N is unconscious, subtle mechanical clicks and beeps emanating from %p body as %p eyes roll in their sockets."

Isn't this just the matrix?

The matrix would be cool.

This would fundamentally alter gameplay in a way that I feel has very little benefit. It would split up the player base and BBS nodes would discourage people from going out to bars. If they could only be harmed by a decker, investment in combat skills and associated items would be negated.

I think that a fee would either still split the player base or result in it being so underused that it's pointless. It would be hard to balance.
Having a way to jack into the Grid as it is and get bonuses would be cool, though. As would taking the risk of non-lethal damage from doing so. You shouldn't be able to kill someone fully remotely.

Bypassing a security system usually requires you to go to a very public place to attempt it, cracking a node or device doesn't.
If that non-lethal damage caused some small amount of chrome damage as well, it would make it more of a downside and give cybertechs more biz. Maybe if it has a high enough score, it could also transmit the names of the keys the attacker is in.

Transmitting key names would be horrible for the data/espionage parts of the game with no way to defend against it. Leave it to the one object that does that in a private manner.

(Edited by svetlana at 12:47 pm on 7/3/2026)

…Also, hang on, I don't quite understand the point about deckers being able to use their skills for combat somehow negating other combat skills. That's like saying there's no point learning brawling or martial arts because it could be "negated" by some guy ten blocks over with a sniper rifle.

I'm not a fan of sniping either. I think that combat should force real confrontation, hopefully with a real chance for other people to jump into it, whether to aid, hinder, or pick off the last one standing to vulture their stuff.
I feel that having an element of the game where only one type of skill can do damage is unbalanced. And my point about the vehicle security was that you can potentially be stopped non-lethally mid-action (I assume), it is very easy to tell if it will be lethal, and there is a larger chance of your stuff being stolen, thereby stimulating the economy. It also runs the risk of real confrontation and real impact. I don't think the Grid can or should have that level of impact.