Could be that wireless tech exists, but is traceable and sets off intrusion alarms and such. Like the tech in Star Wars is advanced to the degree of making wireless access obsolete for any practical, story-impacting purposes. "It's just not worth the risk," unless there is no other option.

An alternative (and also totally realistic answer) is frequency. This is actually becoming a real world problem. There's so much wireless tech out there that it's all rapidly encroaching on itself, essentially it's all these devices are unintentionally jamming each other. In Star Wars there might just not be enough physical bandwidth for any "nonessential" wireless communications, with the ICC stomping down on anything beyond licensed comlinks and the like.

Though since with Star Wars we are also talking military, or military-grade systems it might just be a simple issue of the military not putting anything that sensitive on a wireless system at all. My RL employer is actually on the forefront of military commo and networking, and a huge part of what's going on is just keeping everything from jamming each other, keeping everything running when jamming is going on, and keeping the unclassified, the sensitive, and the secret from ever touching.

Third, I'm not sure sputnik is a good example of Star Wars technology, since it was launched in 1957 and was incredibly unsophisticated even by 1970's standards. It also communicated via radio waves, not in a near-instantaneous faster-than-light manner in which these Star Wars devices operate. It also only really had two functions: transmitting radio data and monitoring temperature.

Three functions. Radio beacon, temperature, and doing it first.

Anyone else notice how Computer, Streetwise, and Underworld Knowledge checks seem to be affected by what a player considers to be available to them in real life using a Google search? I mean, players just expect access to a computer to results in all the answers they ever wanted. I find it difficult to tell them that the information just isn't available.

For example, if players need to 'find' someone or make a contact, they just seem to say that, "I look someone up on the computer and find out where they live."

Players also want the Holonet to be just like our internet. They also buy into the movie crap about hacking into databases. My friend has a masters degree in such security and laughs at the way it is portrayed on TV and in movies. Players seem a little put off when it isn't a 5-10-second action.

Any suggestions for how to distinguish the Holonet and such things in gameplay from what we are familiar with on our smartphones & computers?

One thing I'll add is that when using Streetwise or Underworld Knolwedge or any other such skills I think it's good to encourage players to be involved with the narrative explanation for how they came to a knowledge of what the successful roll grants them.

Usually the roll success/failure determines if you know something or not (or to bridge the gap between character knowledge and player knowledge) or can come up with relevant information on how to approach something etc. There's lots of room for coming up with the explanation of how they know what they know.

So the issue I'd have with The Google Effect is that it doesn't really fit the Star Wars setting.

The point of the dice pool and skills is to help generate story and negating the need for them because, supposedly, most anything they will want to know can be googled or hacked from a database sidesteps this purpose.

It's like saying you don't really need combat rolls because I've got Ranged (light) and a blaster so I just shoot him in the face and so the encounter is over before it begins.

Even if Star Wars matched reality the skill check is still the skill check and whether google exists or not is mostly irrelevant because the skill roll determines success/failure (and complications).

If google did exist in Star Wars (or the Holonet parallels it) then that can be a reason you succeeded or even a reason for handing the player misinformation (Despair - apparently Yahoo Answers doesn't offer the best legal advice). The mere presence of google or the Holonet doesn't decide success/failure or any complications. It would simply be a tool. The dice pool roll and interpretation of the results determine what that tool accomplished - whether that's accurate information or not (or coming up with a good contact or not etc).

Take Streetwise. You want to find someone to buy the crate of spice you picked up. And your player wants to use the Holonet to just find a buyer. Ok, fine. They use the Holonet. But the roll determins how good that buyer is. And look, they rolled a Despair. The buyer is an imperial agent and the characters are now stuck in a sting operation!

And it seems very reasonable to grant boost dice if they players have access to a library or computer network or whatever that can help them out but this shouldn't be an ever present condition (like modern day access to the internet).

[...] R2-D2 doesn't connect to a wireless network to control the trash compactor, she plugs her gizmo into a terminal in the wall. That's SW tech.

My take-away from all this is Artoo is female

It's the hips.

A couple of sessions back my players purchased an astromech droid.

Its designation is R2-K8 or "Kate". It self-identifies as female.

The death star plans were beamed to Leia but she copied the plans to R2.

I honestly don't remember that in the movie. I suspect this is from some non-canon source?

Directly from script:

VADER: Where are those transmissions you intercepted?

*Vader lifts the Rebel off his feet by his throat.*

VADER: What have you done with those plans?

Hmmm. I never took that to actually mean that the plans were the transmissions? And I could have sworn remembering them being referred to as "stolen data tapes". I'm going to look this up and see what I can find.

First, I'm not arguing for space-Google. I'm just giving examples of the kinds of wireless communication that exists in the Star Wars universe. I was addressing Jedi Ronin's post directly, not the OP. Simple wireless communication and data transmission is a far cry in functionality from cell networks and Amazon.

That is also what I'm arguing. I was just highlighting that a tracker beacon does not mean computer networking. To quote the Doctor "it's a box that goes 'ding'".

Second, "hacking" does not imply "user accounts." A hacker worth his salt will be able to function in the absence of such "user-level" interfaces. So of course sputnik did not have user accounts...but that doesn't mean that it didn't have functions.

You're swapping my argument around - I'm arguing that something that emits a traceable signal doesn't imply that it does have such functions. User accounts seems pretty sensible to me as a shorthand for saying requires authentication. Can you have the latter without the former in some way? Ultimately a user account is just a way of identifying yourself to the system as something to be trusted. In either case, what I'm saying is that a tracer beacon does not imply something complex enough to be "hacked". It need not have any real computer capabilities at all.

Third, I'm not sure sputnik is a good example of Star Wars technology, since it was launched in 1957 and was incredibly unsophisticated even by 1970's standards. It also communicated via radio waves, not in a near-instantaneous faster-than-light manner in which these Star Wars devices operate. It also only really had two functions: transmitting radio data and monitoring temperature.

I'm not using it as an example of Star Wars technology. I'm highlighting that it's a dumb device that sends a tracking signal "wirelessly" and its existence illustrates how a tracking beacon and a hackable device are not the same thing.

Three functions. Radio beacon, temperature, and doing it first.

"Liked" for the bit about doing it first.

Reminds me of this lovely old song:

I don't know if I could find it but there is some old black white interviews of Americans being canvassed for their reactions. I just remember a lady saying in disbelief "I don't know how they can do that. How can they have done that?"

It was an astonishing shock to US society at the time which I don't think many people realise today. The song above really encapsulates some of my feelings about it (and the general positivity about the whole thing).

Here we go:

Around 1min 35 - the Death Star plans were stolen data tapes. Honestly, I could have sworn that data tapes were referred to during the opening scene of Ep IV as well, but this is what I could find. I think the intercepted transmissions is ambiguous, tbh..

My guesses (with questions):

Data tapes were stolen, transmitted to the Princess (if so, were the original tapes destroyed?), stored by Leia in some way (they would have been found on the Tantive computers if they were not mobile... tapes again?), and then stored in R2 (maybe transmitted directly to him in the first place?)

In the absence of a clear story, I rather like the image of R2 interfacing with the Tantive during the transmission so while it passed through the Tantive, the information never truly rested there (not in keeping with real-world tech, exactly, but little in "Star Wars" does, consistently).

Is there any apocryphal info on how, exactly, Luke triggered the message?

I am not at home so I can't look it up, but after R2 was delivered to the Rebels they seem to start some sort of physical process with him that isn't as simple as having him transmit or interface, however. Perhaps droids are not normally capable of storing data the way that he did (for any number of likely reasons) and it was no easy task to extract it.

There are implications that R2 cannot just hand the data off while they are en route. The Empire is looking for droids, but not for some crazy old wizard. I prefer to think that passing the plans to General Kenobi and using the droids to lead a false trail was simply not an option.

This may also play a part into the life pod that doesn't get blasted when the droids escape (although that will NEVER truly sit right with me). No one thinks of droids as being able to carry the data that they are looking for (it was transmitted to the Tantive, but doesn't show as having been in their computer to be recorded to data tapes from (which anything with arms could carry), maybe?) so it is easier to dismiss the possibility (still, shoot the pod).

The former Anakin Skywalker, however, has a broader view of droid capabilities.

Now comes the part where someone more familiar with TCW than I trumps all of the above

Now where were we? Oh yeah... The important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...

Around 1min 35 - the Death Star plans were stolen data tapes. Honestly, I could have sworn that data tapes were referred to during the opening scene of Ep IV as well, but this is what I could find. I think the intercepted transmissions is ambiguous, tbh..

To be fair, the whole situation is (likely intentionally) ambiguous regarding the macguffin of "the plans." However, there are two things to consider:

1) Vader asks where the transmissions are -- and implies there that the "transmissions" are also the "plans."

2) We also have Vader talking to Leia: "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."

So it's really nor that ambiguous: the "transmissions" are something concrete, something that Vader wants. They are the macguffin. Transmissions = macguffin = plans = data tapes. In any case, it would seem readily apparent the the "plans" were, at some point, transmitted to the Tantive IV.

In the EU Leia's ship had to enter a no fly zone so the rebels on the blockaded planet could transmit the plans to her. My guess is the more complicated the data involved the harder it is to transmit long range. Voice or text could probably be transmitted between systems but not blueprints, certainly not ones for something as big and as complex as a Death Star.

They likely stole data tapes. Those data tapes were transmitted to the Tantive IV. We see Leia stick something into R2 when she gives R2 his instructions. Then R2 heads to the escape pod with C3P0 following.

What do you think credits are? They are a digital currency.

I never thought about it. So I guess Star Wars DOES have Bitcoin!

I thought I was just tossing around coins, tbh.

lol. All I meant was that it's a big black void in the lore. If you want to run a game where the rebels had their own network, there's really no reason to say they couldn't have it.

Oh! I missed that. I know that's how a GM should do it. I'm a new blood Star Wars fan and was really cutious so I was asking for a more official thing. But that's good advice.

Might make for good adventures. EotE characters could be stealing and smuggling hyperspace transceivers, replacement parts, etc. AoR characters could be building, maintaining, repairing or protecting the network. F&D characters... ummm.... Well, they're always good to have around.

Why did no one try to establish some kind of rebel holonet to avoid the Empire's naughtiness?

Most likely because the Holonet requires a lot of really really expensive satellites. They instead hack the holonet and broadcast what they want over the news. We see this in Rebels.

I'm kinda annoyed that there's no Descriptive Audio for Rebels. Disney Channel has it for some shows but not for Rebels. It isn't there for any of the channels the show is on. So it isn't really a show I can enjoy. There's an actual talent to it. Asking family or friends to try to do it never works.

Around 1min 35 - the Death Star plans were stolen data tapes. Honestly, I could have sworn that data tapes were referred to during the opening scene of Ep IV as well, but this is what I could find. I think the intercepted transmissions is ambiguous, tbh..

Edit: other people said it first...

FWIW, I'm dealing with clock change triggered Non 24 issues... so that's why there's so many messages from me in a row.

Around 1min 35 - the Death Star plans were stolen data tapes. Honestly, I could have sworn that data tapes were referred to during the opening scene of Ep IV as well, but this is what I could find. I think the intercepted transmissions is ambiguous, tbh..

Or tapes were stolen (tapes?) and the data on them was transmitted.

At the time of the movies tapes were a way to star a lot of computer data...doesn't survive time well

Why did no one try to establish some kind of rebel holonet to avoid the Empire's naughtiness?

Most likely because the Holonet requires a lot of really really expensive satellites. They instead hack the holonet and broadcast what they want over the news. We see this in Rebels.

I'm kinda annoyed that there's no Descriptive Audio for Rebels. Disney Channel has it for some shows but not for Rebels. It isn't there for any of the channels the show is on. So it isn't really a show I can enjoy. There's an actual talent to it. Asking family or friends to try to do it never works.

basically turning a tv show back into its script and then into an audio book right?

basically turning a tv show back into its script and then into an audio book right?

I'm not actually sure. They might use a script for reference but it's generally more narrative and includes more subtlety thsn scripts do. If you have many blu-ray movies, you're bound to have one that has it available so you can maybe watch a movie with your eyes closed to check it out.

At the time of the movies tapes were a way to star a lot of computer data...doesn't survive time well

I didn't know that. I mean, i knew they used tapes but I thought that was before then. Star Wars was almost 1980. Hard to imagine tapes were still being used.

Tapes still survive on backup servers for the simple reason that a stack of tapes can store 5TB of data for about $100 and an equivalent NAS with Hard drives and server is much more expensive if you're looking at equivalents with redundancy.

Its sort of a dirty relic of IT, but they do ok enough in low-access requirements for most.

Tapes survived in the consumer environment until the late 80s. But one hard drives became cheaper floppies took over then CDs in the 90s and then DVD. I used to have a tape drive for my commodore 64 in the early 80s.

Tapes survived in the consumer environment until the late 80s. But one hard drives became cheaper floppies took over then CDs in the 90s and then DVD. I used to have a tape drive for my commodore 64 in the early 80s.

We were using tape backups well into the mid-2000s at a graphic design place I used to work at. Never underestimate the power of inertia!

So basically, the Empire's design goals for the "new and improved" HoloNet are the extreme opposite of net neutrality.

I imagine Palpatine established a tight grip on it "for war reasons" way back in the Clone Wars.

Tapes survived in the consumer environment until the late 80s. But one hard drives became cheaper floppies took over then CDs in the 90s and then DVD. I used to have a tape drive for my commodore 64 in the early 80s.

We were using tape backups well into the mid-2000s at a graphic design place I used to work at. Never underestimate the power of inertia!

I believe most nuclear weapons systems still use floppy discs...

So basically, the Empire's design goals for the "new and improved" HoloNet are the extreme opposite of net neutrality.

I imagine Palpatine established a tight grip on it "for war reasons" way back in the Clone Wars.

Yes he did then after Order 66 he locked the holonet up tight. But over time some slicers figured out how to slice it.

Tapes survived in the consumer environment until the late 80s. But one hard drives became cheaper floppies took over then CDs in the 90s and then DVD. I used to have a tape drive for my commodore 64 in the early 80s.

We were using tape backups well into the mid-2000s at a graphic design place I used to work at. Never underestimate the power of inertia!

I believe most nuclear weapons systems still use floppy discs...

Well that's me not sleeping tonight. Thanks!