Using the "Computer Operation" skill
Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 8:31 pm
The last time we were playing DC, we came up with the question how to handle computers in the 21st century. When DC was first published, computers became more and more common. Today it is impossible to imagine the industiralised world without them. It is somewhat difficult to gain the "Computer Operation" skill. Attorneys, Bureaucrats or Bounty Hunters for example will have a hard time learning how to use their smart phones to browse the web. There is also a separate "Research" skill for off-line research. However, accessing an archive or library today is impossible without knowing how to use electronic catalogs.
This lead to the strange situation that one of the PC could use his phone to communicate with his fellow hunters but when he tried to use the same phone for online research we learned that the PC did not have the "Computer Operation" skill. It did not cause any problems, all the gamer are seasoned veterans, however it lead to the discussion of how up to date our 1990s games are. I mean we don't need any skills to use phones or even fax machines but to write an e-mail we need a computer skill. This might have been appropriate two decades ago but today's machines are so sophisticated that even children use them regularly. I personally think that every character from an industrialised region can use a smart phone, write e-mails or use online maps and things like that without the need for a specific skill. I am not even sure if EDU is needed for this. So, what are your ideas on the computer age? How do you handle these affairs?
This lead to the strange situation that one of the PC could use his phone to communicate with his fellow hunters but when he tried to use the same phone for online research we learned that the PC did not have the "Computer Operation" skill. It did not cause any problems, all the gamer are seasoned veterans, however it lead to the discussion of how up to date our 1990s games are. I mean we don't need any skills to use phones or even fax machines but to write an e-mail we need a computer skill. This might have been appropriate two decades ago but today's machines are so sophisticated that even children use them regularly. I personally think that every character from an industrialised region can use a smart phone, write e-mails or use online maps and things like that without the need for a specific skill. I am not even sure if EDU is needed for this. So, what are your ideas on the computer age? How do you handle these affairs?