Life Hacks/Mods Guide

This is a list of SOME OF the mods that are accessible in the story. Any mods that are mentioned in the story, or any that someone can think ought to be on the list somewhere, should go here for the sake of keeping people on the same page.

It is worth noting that the list of mods in the story is FAR longer than can easily be categorized in this manner. However, with some effort, it might be possible to turn this into something similar to what Xander might see in the story. For the sake of fellow writers or readers who might be curious, each adjustment should contain a write-up of what adjusting this feature would do. At minimum, every mod that is mentioned in the story should be on this list.

Selecting a Target

Most (but not all) interactions in mods are targeted. For these, you need to select a target. A target is individually selected by touching them, or even just make a motion like you are touching them from afar, while the UI is open. When they are selected they glow faintly. You can choose a group by putting the index fingers and thumbs of both hands together and drawing them out into a rectangle, which will select everyone in the field of view of the rectangle. "Touching" a selected target, selecting a new target, or group of targets will void a previous selection as will closing out the UI. If you want to modify a selection without changing the other targets that are selected, you hold one of your hands in a fist and "touch" the selected individual you want to add or remove from the selection with your other hand. You can select individuals that you have a relationship with in the relationships panel, even if they are not present in the location (note that doing this changes the selection from yourself to the new person, removing you as the target, and adding them, which will therefore change to their relationship panel and not yours. The relationship panel is entirely different when multiple people are selected).

Xander doesn't know any of this, and will have to experiment to discover these mechanisms, or be told by a player.

Memory Management

Most mods either alter the memories of lifies automatically, or give the player the option to modify the memories of the lifies to fit the new reality when making changes. This is a robust system, but it is not infallible. The edits to memories are just that. They do not change what actually happened. Luckily they also change "physical memories" like photographs, video, and written accounts like journals. Where ever possible any contradiction in memories is glossed over by the overwrite. For instance if a player changes their "parents" so that they are both the same sex, they will still acknowledge that they are the genetic parents of the player, but they will also know that two people of the same sex cannot reproduce together. If casually questioned about it they will respond with a non-committal reply like, "I'm not sure," or "I never thought about it," but the conflict will quickly pass from their mind. Similarly other lifies will not think to question them about the contradiction. If a player presses the issue, it can lead to a breakdown of the memory management system, usually leading to anything from a freak-out to realizing that something is not "right" about reality to a full mental breakdown. In this manner some lifies can become aware that their reality isn't quite what they thought that it was; and can even come to realize the true nature of the universe. Other lifies will see these people as mentally unstable if they try to convince others of their views.

Xander is unique as the modifications that Loki has done to his code makes the game Life treat him more like a player than a lifie; consequently he is ignored by the memory management system.

Life Controller

Lifie Mod(ule)

The Lifie Module of Life Controller allows the user to view and adjust the unconditional data (data that isn't tied to a specific condition) of lifies in the game.

Condition Mod(ule)

The Condition Module of Life Controller allows the user to view and adjust the conditional data (data that is tied to a specific condition) of lifies in the game. This covers the condition meters (Health, Focus, etc.) as well as conditions on cycles (like menstrual cycles), and other non-permanent conditions (like illnesses).

World Mod(ule)

Quick Settings
Adjust Universal Settings --Disabled on this Server
Adjust Galactic Settings --Disabled on this Server
Adjust Planetary Settings --Disabled on this Server
Adjust Local Settings

Population Mod(ule)

The Population Module of Life Controller is designed to edit the population makeup of the game. By the server settings the changes made with this module only affect a local area claimed by the user of the module through the World Module The main menu looks pretty much like the World Mod menu but without any Quick Settings. The settings under Local Settings are below:

Statistics Mod(ule)

The Statistics Module has a statistical display for just about everything. It is so exhaustive that trying to replicate it, even in a small way would be a waste of time. Just assume that with this module Xander can get statistics for just about anything about the universe of the game Life that he would like. Note that while this does cover things like changes to lifies and the like that results from player's actions, it doesn't track statistics on the player's actions themselves.

Infinity Pocket

The infinity pocket is a hack that lets you access an unlimited inventory "pocket dimension" from any opening. A pocket, a desk drawer, a crack in a wall, your mouth . . . basically anything that has the semblance of an opening. It uses the neural interface to ascertain what you want to pull out or put in so you don't have to rummage around to get what you want. It is memory managed automatically, so lifies will just ignore it's use whether one wants them to or not. There is no interface, settings, or options for this hack. It just is.

Black Hack

Black Hack is an illegal hack for the game Life. It was built by the hacker Black Rose, and at the beginning of the story Black Rose is the only one with access to the hack. It is severely overpowered compared to any other hack. The possessor of Black Hack is effectively more powerful than any other player of Life including gods and moderators. Only admins have more control of the environment of Life than a user of Black Hack.

Neural interpreter: Black Hack has a neural interpreter than converts neural interface commands to physical commands. This allows a user of Black Hack to control any aspect of their UI through thought alone.
User Spoofing: Black Hack was designed to infiltrate the game without a user account. It effectively spoofs a dummy user account, allowing the user of Black Hack to act as a player or moderator of the game Life in any way the game normally allows. This means that when spoofing a moderator account the user of Black Hack also has access to moderator tools. Admin accounts are hard wired, and cannot be spoofed (well they could if you hardwired your rig into the Life server . . . one should note that Xander IS PART of the Life server so theoretical he could spoof an Admin account and have access to the administration tools). This aspect of Black Hack is the only way that Xander would be able to interact with the normal game UI . . . also giving him access to player-only options like Privacy Mode and character AI.
Stealth Mode: With Stealth Mode active, the game Life completely ignores the existence of the user of Black Hack. The user's avatar is not rendered for others and there is very little digital footprint presented to find them with the game's moderation tools. This also eliminates the users ability to act upon game world in any way while active. Life becomes a spectator sport.
User Lockdown: This ability of Black Hack locks users out of their interface, effectively rendering them unable to access player controls. It effectively makes a player into a lifie. If the player has access to other hacks like Life Controller it also negates their ability to use those mods with a separate but tied in subroutine. Users locked out in this manner only have the option of removing their interface helmet in the real world and reporting the issue to get their account reset. Black Rose uses this infrequently as each use increases the chances that the administrator will apply a countermeasure to the hack.
Backup User Lockdown: Black Rose always has a backup hack that does the same thing as her current User Lockdown in a different way so that if she suddenly comes up against effective countermeasures she can still use User Lockdown.
User Boot: This hack allows the user of Black Hack to remotely log a user off and lock down their account until they report it and have their account reset. Black Rose uses this infrequently as each use increases the chances that the administrator will apply a countermeasure to the hack.
Backup User Boot: Black Rose always has a backup hack that does the same thing as her current User Boot in a different way so that if she suddenly comes up against effective countermeasures she can still use User Boot.
Black Ice: Black Hack has a destructive encrypted firewall. Attempts to hack the dummy account of a user of Black Hack results in automatic digital counterattacks to the originating machine. The encryption is nearly impenetrable, even with the best systems around, using 1,048,576 yottabyte encryption.
Q° Injector: Black Hack has an interface with a local copy of Q° (called Q-degree or Q-Ball), the programming language that Life is written in, that can inject code on-the-fly into the game.
Auxiliary Hacks: Black Rose doesn't believe in reinventing the wheel. If an ability already exists in the game or a different hack, she doesn't waste time adding it to Black Hack, instead just using the Neural Interpreter to access those abilities. Black Rose has an extensive collection of hacks.