The world is bigger than what you see and there are eyes everywhere. This is the cyberpunk future after all, and it's a panopticon.
Just because you kill someone on a street with no players or NPCs around does not mean that there were no ambient people that witnessed the crime.
Just because no one was present at the bank when you deposited that huge amount of flash, doesn't mean deckers running data skimmers on the Grid didn't flag the transaction as meaningful.
Any number of actions in the game could be witnessed or monitored by any number of people. This is the premise of the Chatter System.
There are a variety of NPCs in the world that have access to paydata, and if asked, they will provide you with some of it. This information is often gated behind a specific set of criteria you must meet before they will give you access to any information.
INFORMATION GATING
Most information is gated behind the kind of checks that might be run in real life. Do you have a skill that might be useful in bartering information or one that helps you find or find items & information? They'll probably talk to you. There could be additional criteria you must meet, however.
Some examples of who might have information, and how it could be gated (above and beyond what was mentioned above):
- Bartenders know the general gossip, like who's gotten ghosted Topside or in the Mix. They'll probably talk to you if you've got a drink in your hand and are not as ugly as sin.
- A decker might have knowledge of large bank deposits, transfers, or withdrawals. They'll probably charge you for that kind of information.
- Taxi drivers have general gossip but are only going to give it when you're actually on your way to your destination. (in a taxi you need to use 'Driver, what's the chatter').
- Faction NPCs might have paydata on who's joined a rival faction. They'll probably talk to you if you've got a good standing with them or are a member of their faction.
- A scavenger NPC may know information about recent big market purchases or sales, but may not talk to you if you haven't done enough work for them yet.
- A hiring manager at a topside business may talk to you about who's been hired/fired at their company and others... if you're attractive enough.
USING CHATTER
All you need to do to see if an NPC has chatter is ask them something like 'What's the chatter?'. They'll give you a response that should help you figure out if they do/what you might need to do to get access to it. Sometimes this response is not specific, meaning you'll need to figure it out ICly, perhaps by asking others ICly.
WHERE DOES THE INFO COME FROM?
This system is smart enough to ignore information about things like murders, that happened in private or low traffic areas. However, no street, market, park, shop, or bar, is ever 'empty'. There are ALWAYS eyes on you in those areas, even if no players are around. So don't think just because no players or NPCs are visibly around, no one saw you ghost that chummer on a public street. That's small world thinking.
SEE ALSO: help skills help speaking help npcs *Last Updated: 09/04/19 by Mench*
