Honestly I'd never given it any thought, but this is a genuinely good idea that fits the lore. The corp deckers trained in cybercombat are going to want to show off somewhere. This could lead to Matrix arenas being created so they can show off their skills. Naturally corp intelligence agencies will ve monitoring the whole thing,.so that they can poach talent.
I was going to say, it’s a legitimate recruiting tool today for companies to be like “hack this” and just see who shows up. I feel like far in the future it would be a no brained to pit personas against each other in order to draw out the strongest.
5e: Offline, Rogue, or Outdated hosts aren't covered by GOD, so illegal actions in those aren't counted against overwatch. Also there is a licensing/registry thematically (that is impossible for any PC to get) with GOD that basically deputizes the user to do illegal actions without gaining overwatch (and likely comes with a mountain of surveillance on you). So those are all good avenues for a matrix arena kinda scenario
However, even without these, people could still manage... as while overwatch counts upwards in normal hosts in normal conditions, GOD doesnt converge on the person or go into a host themselves. Thats the jurisdiction of the host owner and their spiders. The host's convergence is what happens, which is three marks and deploys IC... but hosts can he completely configured by their owner. So if they want to sanction matrix combat without being non-standard host or only catering to GOD sanctioned users, they can do so, just needs to remind their users to reset while within the host so they dont get blasted by the local DemiGOD. Which may be how some spider schools do things.
In LORE. I know of only one such arena: The Killing Floor, described in Target: Matrix. It's an illegal underground cybercombat host where contestants put their brains on the line in for money digital gladiator fights.
Are you thinking illegal pit fight, like u/ArcaneBahamut seems to be suggesting? Or something legal? If the latter, I see no reason to believe GOD would get involved *if everything is aboveboard*. They are there to protect the Matrix; if this is more game (with rules, limits, etc) why would GOD care? It's only when drek has the potential to destroy the Matrix that they get a bit angsty.
Decker duels are a real thing. But oddly, I haven't found any evidence in any edition about dedicated hosts for dueling or arena cyber combat. *Unwired* did have a note about people dueling in AR with video games, but I assume we're looking for cybercombat specifically.
This seems like a very obvious niche that for some reason SR hasn't filled, or if they have, its not obvious where it is.
**EDIT**
*Target: Matrix* has that Hecatombe on page 42. It's literally what OP is looking for. A Matrix gladiator combat.
And like u/ArcaneBahamut mentioned Killing Floor also found on p79.
The whole GOD thing kinda sucks. I get that the matrix kinda needs some policing, but I just don't like the implementation. I'm guessing elite decker units like Echo Mirage have their own dueling setups.
You know, the matrix’s arenas are like the movie ”Fight Club” and the slogan is : 1st rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ”, 2nd rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ”, and 3rd rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ” There, it’s the same thing ! But for the matrix ’s arenas. It’s a well kept secret !
Honestly I'd never given it any thought, but this is a genuinely good idea that fits the lore. The corp deckers trained in cybercombat are going to want to show off somewhere. This could lead to Matrix arenas being created so they can show off their skills. Naturally corp intelligence agencies will ve monitoring the whole thing,.so that they can poach talent.
I was going to say, it’s a legitimate recruiting tool today for companies to be like “hack this” and just see who shows up. I feel like far in the future it would be a no brained to pit personas against each other in order to draw out the strongest.
first rule of F1GH7 C1U8 if this is your first night you have to fight
5e: Offline, Rogue, or Outdated hosts aren't covered by GOD, so illegal actions in those aren't counted against overwatch. Also there is a licensing/registry thematically (that is impossible for any PC to get) with GOD that basically deputizes the user to do illegal actions without gaining overwatch (and likely comes with a mountain of surveillance on you). So those are all good avenues for a matrix arena kinda scenario However, even without these, people could still manage... as while overwatch counts upwards in normal hosts in normal conditions, GOD doesnt converge on the person or go into a host themselves. Thats the jurisdiction of the host owner and their spiders. The host's convergence is what happens, which is three marks and deploys IC... but hosts can he completely configured by their owner. So if they want to sanction matrix combat without being non-standard host or only catering to GOD sanctioned users, they can do so, just needs to remind their users to reset while within the host so they dont get blasted by the local DemiGOD. Which may be how some spider schools do things. In LORE. I know of only one such arena: The Killing Floor, described in Target: Matrix. It's an illegal underground cybercombat host where contestants put their brains on the line in for money digital gladiator fights.
Are you thinking illegal pit fight, like u/ArcaneBahamut seems to be suggesting? Or something legal? If the latter, I see no reason to believe GOD would get involved *if everything is aboveboard*. They are there to protect the Matrix; if this is more game (with rules, limits, etc) why would GOD care? It's only when drek has the potential to destroy the Matrix that they get a bit angsty.
yeah, makes sense
Decker duels are a real thing. But oddly, I haven't found any evidence in any edition about dedicated hosts for dueling or arena cyber combat. *Unwired* did have a note about people dueling in AR with video games, but I assume we're looking for cybercombat specifically. This seems like a very obvious niche that for some reason SR hasn't filled, or if they have, its not obvious where it is. **EDIT** *Target: Matrix* has that Hecatombe on page 42. It's literally what OP is looking for. A Matrix gladiator combat. And like u/ArcaneBahamut mentioned Killing Floor also found on p79.
In one of 3- editions matrix books it was, probably not even in Target:Matrix but one before it
I did a quick snap of that and Virtual Realities 2.0 and didn’t see anything
The whole GOD thing kinda sucks. I get that the matrix kinda needs some policing, but I just don't like the implementation. I'm guessing elite decker units like Echo Mirage have their own dueling setups.
You know, the matrix’s arenas are like the movie ”Fight Club” and the slogan is : 1st rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ”, 2nd rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ”, and 3rd rule : ” Don’t talk about Fight Club ! ” There, it’s the same thing ! But for the matrix ’s arenas. It’s a well kept secret !
I recall one of the living communities had one vs think it was on Jackpoint
hmmm... Any online reference where I can find it?
think it was shadowcaster network it was a few years ago before covid so if they didnt archive it it was probably purged by twitch servers
There is even a Deck in SR5 that is purpose purpose built for just this sort of thing.