Net

What is the Net
The Net is the name given to the vast telecommunications network of the Cyberpunk world. It is analogous to the real world internet (which was still in it's infancy at the time Cyberpunk 2020 came out), but much more extensive, including things like appliances and even cybernetic limbs. The Net is made of up of hard lines, radio links, cell networks, microwave transmitters and anything else that can transmit information from one computer to another.

Access to the Net requires a modem of some kind. It is possible to use the Net the way we use the Internet in real life; with a computer or terminal, keyboard, and video display (also called Vidboards). But the professionals experience the Net in 3 dimensions, using a complex cybernetic interface called a cybermodem. People who use cybermodems are called Netrunners. A cybermodem provides an experience that is much more immersive and intuitive than the traditional keyboard/computer interface. This allows Netrunners ro react far faster than would ever be possible with a keyboard.

Using the Net in anything more than the most rudimentary ways requires a cybermodem (sometimes called Cyberdecks) You do not necessarily need interface plugs installed in your head to use a cybermodem though. There are also options for electrodes or even 2D displays with a keyboard. But actual netrunners will always use plugs, because actual cybernetic connections wired to your brain ensure the very fastest reaction times. And in the Net, speed matters. A lot.

Icons
An icon is basically a 3D avatar you control to interact with other stuff (people, programs ect) in the Net. Icons can be as simple as a flat 2D monochrome shape, to a complex photorealistic human form. Everything in the Net is represented with icons...Data Fortresses, other Netrunners, individual programs, whatever.

Everything in the Net is rendered in three dimensions. The interface program in the cybermodem will interpret the Net for the Netrunner. Most of the Net environment is similar to the movie Tron, but the quality of the rendering depends on available bandwidth and memory. It is possible to render a completely realistic environment, similar to the movie The Matrix. More complex icons require more memory. For this reason, the bulk of the Net uses lower quality icons (think Tron, or present day video games). Things like long distance links (LDLs) will also have icons associated with them.

Programs in the Net have their own icons, and can be customized like anything else. They interact with other icons in intuitive ways that allow almost anyone to become a hacker. For example, a worm program may show an icon like a stylized worm burrow into a data wall and form itself into a doorway allowing access inside the data fort. All people and programs in the Net interact in ways like this.

The 3D interface in the Net is common to all cybermodems. So what you see, is what everyone else sees too. The Net originally had multiple interfaces that people could choose from. The three most popular were Megacity (where everything was rendered to look like 1930s Film Noire), A dungeons and dragons motif, and one that looked like Tron. Eventually the UIs were all consolidated into one, and it is now the standard for everyone. The Tron-like interface is now the default for the Net.

Ihara-Grubb Transformation Algorithms
The IG Transformation Algorithms are a core part of the Net experience. They allow the Net to be rendered as an analog to the real world. They extrapolate distances to look similar to realspace. So if a computer is sitting in an office building on the 30th floor running a BBS, and another BBS is 3 blocks away on the ground floor, you will "see" the other BBS, in the Net, as being about 3 blocks distance and 30 floors lower in elevation. Movement in the Net is programmed to feel similar to movement in the real world, and therefore moving around becomes a lot more intuitive. Netrunning is far less cumbersome than the conventional Internet in the real world.

IG Transformation Algorithms govern the way the Net looks in other ways as well. They control how the environment is rendered in real time. For example, if the connection is unstable or there is interference, you may see the landscape morph into mountains that are harder to cross (and if it is bad enough, maybe impossible to cross). Areas of low resistance may be rendered as smooth grid lines. The exact details of the environment will depend on the region (more on that below), but will be similar almost anywhere.

As in the real world, the Net extends to wherever there are computers connected to it.

Data Fortresses
A Data Fortress is simply a computer system. It is a 3D representation of that computer within the Net. The specific form the fortress takes depends on the the system it is hosted in...as with icons, more realistic environments will require more resources (memory). The default rendering for data fortresses looks like something similar to Tron. But they can be as elaborate and photo-realistically detailed as The Matrix. You could make your data fortress look like a castle, or a cruise ship or a space station. Within the data fortress, the sysop (System Operator...the person in control of the Data Fort) determines what it looks like. The only limitations are the system's own resources.

Data Fortresses have data walls. These represent how hard it is to enter the system. Data wall strength will depend on the amount and quality of resources of the system. There are programs that can penetrate data walls and allow a Netrunner to move through them. All Data Fortresses have code gates

Programs and AIs
All programs are represented by icons, just like people. And many programs are almost as complex as real people. There are far too many programs to list here. They span everything from common utilities to quasi-sentient AI assassins.

AIs (artificial intelligences) do exist in the Cyberpunk world, and the Net is their natural environment. There are many types of AIs. Some are deliberately created by corporations or governments, some by accident, and some are emergent properties of the Net itself. There is a great deal of debate as to whether AIs are actually sapient, or merely give the appearance of sapience. But in outward appearance, AIs can be completely indistinguishable from real people.

Types of AIs:

Dedicated Heuristic Controllers (DHC AIs) Symbolic Analysis AIs (SAD AIs) Human AIs Transcendental Sentience AIs (TS AIs) Critical Pathway Plateau AIs (CPP AIs)
 * The most basic form of AI, they are barely sapient. They are designed to perform specific functions, and their focus does not often stray from those functions. Most Droids from Star Wars would fit this model of AI. An Assassin Droid does not ponder the nature of the universe or dream of becoming a chef...it's focus is on assassinating, and all of it's thoughts will be focused on that. DHC AIs in Cyberpunk are similar. They are capable of interacting like a person, and learning and improving themselves, but their focus is narrowed to the specific function(s) they were designed for.
 * Originally called Symbolic Analysis and Deduction (SAD) AIs. These are AIs deliberately designed to emulate human behavior. Think Data from Star Trek. The scope of their thoughts are much broader than DHC AIs. Although they can obsess over specific subjects just like humans do. They are most often used as artificial assistants of some kind (online help or secretaries for example).
 * These are AIs that were originally actual people, but have had their consciousness digitized and now exist only on computers in the Net. The process of often not voluntary...soulkiller programs can produce this type of AI for example. They are otherwise indistinguishable from Symbolic Analysis AIs.
 * The mere existence of these is highly debatable. There is no consensus on whether they are actually real. TS AIs are an emergent property of the various regions of the Net. Meaning the structure of the Net itself (the IG Transformation Algorithms) provides a network that allows these AIs to come into being. They were not programmed or created by anyone...in the same way that birds and schools of fish do not deliberately form the ordered patterns they create. But by their nature, TS AIs are so large that most people cannot interact with them. Even when they can, conventional communication is not really possible, because the AIs are incapable of understanding any existence outside of themselves. The shape their consciousness takes depends on the nature of the region they occupy. The Sovspace AI is far more chaotic and fragmented than the Pacifica AI, because it is using much more outdated and unreliable infrastructure.
 * These are similar to TS AIs, but on a much smaller scale. They are AIs that came into existence by some accident. A company may be trying to create a very complex program that, by coincidence, becomes sapient. Skynet from the Terminator movies is a good example of a CPP AI. These can only emerge in specific types of hardware (holographic crystal processing networks), so there is no way to create them on your home computer. Though, presumably, they can move to conventional systems after their creation, just like any other AI. Their personalities can vary widely...they may appear indistinguishable from people, or they may behave in completely alien ways. Because they are not deliberately programmed from the start to be AIs, the final form their personality takes is impossible to predict.

Reference
FISK, C. Cyberpunk, Version 2.0, 1st ed. Berkeley CA: R.Talsorian Games, 1990