Shadowrun the original Matrix
Remember Shadowrun? The RPG that allowed you to create a futuristic world set in the year 2050 where you could be a Street Samurai loaded with Cyberware or a weakling that uses a datajack in your head to dock into the MATRIX (tm)? The Matrix? Wasn't that a movie? Yes it was but back in 1989 FASA games first coined the word the MATRIX and they trademarked it to refer to the inner workings of a collection of telecom systems that were connected globally. I person in the RPG game Shadowrun could be what is called a CyberDecker and go into the Matrix virtually as if being there. The actions in that world would affect him in his external physical body if he was not careful. So the question still remains "What is the MATRIX?"
The funny thing about old cyber punk worlds written before the Internet took off uses Modems and telephone systems to explain all the connections. Each system had a phone number. We all know that the Internet or once referred to the World Wide Web (thats where we got our www for our hosted domains), does use telecom switches and fiber lines to get around but the data network uses TCPIP protocols. Each Network Card (NIC) has its unique MAC (like a social securuty number) but that NIC using TCPIP requests an IP address on the internet. Hackers will scan the internet for IP address that respond and then the hacker will search over 60000 ports on that IP address to find what ports are open. Once they find a few open ports they see if they can take advantage of them with their hack tools. Once a system is compromised the hacker will decide either to just get information or use the system as a hijacked device for processing whatever criminal activity they wish to use it for.
Knowing how this all works makes it hard to even think about playing a futuristic game that still relies on telephone numbers for hacking. However the concept of the virtual cyber world is easier to follow now that I know a bit about levels of firewalls and ICE(intrusion counter measures).
Now there is a Shadowrun game for the PC (VISTA) and XBOX 360. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_(2007_video_game)
The funny thing about old cyber punk worlds written before the Internet took off uses Modems and telephone systems to explain all the connections. Each system had a phone number. We all know that the Internet or once referred to the World Wide Web (thats where we got our www for our hosted domains), does use telecom switches and fiber lines to get around but the data network uses TCPIP protocols. Each Network Card (NIC) has its unique MAC (like a social securuty number) but that NIC using TCPIP requests an IP address on the internet. Hackers will scan the internet for IP address that respond and then the hacker will search over 60000 ports on that IP address to find what ports are open. Once they find a few open ports they see if they can take advantage of them with their hack tools. Once a system is compromised the hacker will decide either to just get information or use the system as a hijacked device for processing whatever criminal activity they wish to use it for.
Knowing how this all works makes it hard to even think about playing a futuristic game that still relies on telephone numbers for hacking. However the concept of the virtual cyber world is easier to follow now that I know a bit about levels of firewalls and ICE(intrusion counter measures).
Now there is a Shadowrun game for the PC (VISTA) and XBOX 360. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_(2007_video_game)
I remember travel during the game while in the "net" was insantenious. You had to stop at a "node" where you fought a craeture that was a firewall or a protector of the node. Your right, It makes a lot more sense now that we have this as part of our daily lives. Still, The image in the shawdowrun book of a guy wasting away on a keyboard while his avatar rules the "net". Just like those south Koreans who forget to eat while playing WoW.
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