Show Tutorial

It’s not even an hour after lunch and you’re standing in front of the Silicon Graphics server.

Biting your thumb, you tap your foot nervously on the ground as you stare at the dark screen. Maybe you just misunderstood what you saw? Maybe on the hard drive there’s a text file that says “Hall, Jayne” and “Pritchard, Zachary - that’s the dude who’s moving into this office next week, remember to unplug this old-ass server and toss it in the cage before he starts”.

Maybe.

You’re still arguing with yourself when you hit the power button. You’re still unsure when Windows finishes loading. It’s the sight of the TAM shortcut icon that finally makes you stop and think. Logically, it’s just a program on an old computer. It can’t hurt you, it’s just creepy that’s all. And while sure you can just ignore it you still want to confirm what you saw.

You want to see Jayne’s score.

===WELCOME Zachary!===
1) SHOW Summary
2) EDIT PoI's
3) ADMIN PORTAL
4) SHOW Tutorial

5)EXIT

==CHANGES DETECTED! SHOW UPDATED SUMMARY? [Y/N]===

Well that makes it easy. However this program does… whatever it does it knew there was an update to show as soon as it loaded. Growing uneasy again, you hit Y.

===UPDATED SUMMARY===
PERSON OF INTEREST:
Hall, Jayne (AGE 29, SEX F)
AFFECTION SCORE: 60 (was: 55)
LOVE SCORE: 13 (was: 7)
LUST SCORE: 29 (was: 25)

===NO OTHER PoI!===
===IN ADMIN PORTAL, ADD PoI MANUALLY OR RUN "FULL SCAN"===

That seems like a healthy increase across the board, and you smile to see it, but you can’t be sure of the scale. You think it’s time to hit the tutorial and then see… oh wait. You realize with a shiver up your spine that you’re believing it. You’ve already started accepting that the crazy thing you are looking at is real and telling you that Jayne is falling for you. But maybe you’re believing the impossible so readily not because you’re witnessing it but because it’s showing you what you want to see?

It probably doesn’t matter why you’re convinced, you need to learn what this program is, what it’s doing and, more importantly, how. You hit X to close out the summary, and when you’re back on the main menu you hit 4. You see a large ASCII symbol of a stylized heart with what seems like a + inside it, then a long block of text.

===The Affection Multiplier Tutorial===

Welcome to The Affection Multiplier [TAM]! First and foremost, this program allows you to accurately gauge and track your relationships. Never again will you need to wonder if a smile is genuine or a kind word sincere! But that is not all, TAM will also cause your relationships with people to build between two to five times faster. The default increase is approximately 2x faster for most people in your life, but up to 5x faster for anyone you set as a Person of Interest (PoI) through the program. This effect is always present, and will affect every aspect of your social life depending on the settings you choose. Note that the maximum score is 100 for all three elements and that if they are a PoI moderate effort on your part will, over time, get them to that limit!

Affection Score: Gives a numerical value to the amount of platonic friendship a person has for you. It appears only when the person has been in close proximity with you at least once and is aware of you enough to know your name. For reference, a score of 0 indicates a person is essentially indifferent to you. 10-20 would be for an acquaintance you enjoy bumping into. 30-40 would be for a solid friend. Above 50 is a very good friend, with scores for so-called “best friends” normally being above 80 depending on the person’s social circle. Be aware negative scores are possible, anyone who is (-5) or below would not care for your company, and below (-25) would be someone who genuinely considers you an enemy. The maximum TAM assisted score for a non-PoI is roughly 40; please note that it is definitely possible to have scores well above 40 with people you do not have listed as a PoI, but that if they are not so listed the TAM will *only* be able to get their affection to that limit!

Love Score: Gives a numerical value to the amount of romantic affection a person holds for you. It appears only when the person starts developing these feelings for you and TAM will *not* cause a zero score to increase latently. Therefore, someone who is simply not at least slightly interested in you romantically will not be impacted by TAM (dependent on Traits). For reference, most teenage couples who are dating will have scores of 25 to 35 and most happily married couples have scores ranging from 55 to 70 points. Should a person reach 100 points, they’ll be completely devoted to you. Love scores are possible for non-PoI but the rate gain from TAM is limited to negligible amounts, with 10 as a typical upper limit. This would result in what most people would consider a mild crush.

Lust score: Gives a numerical value to the amount of sexual desire a person feels towards you. A person does not necessarily need to have developed romantic feelings for them to feel lust. For reference, most sexually active individuals vary from 40 to 60 points of Lust for the person they are sexually interested in. This score is the most prone to heavily fluctuate, as sexual desire raises or drops depending on the person’s recent sexual encounters, mood, health, etc. Lust scores are possible for non-PoI but the rate gain from TAM is limited to moderate amounts as sexual desire can change rapidly even for situations without TAM influence. A Lust score of 10 is a typical upper limit for non-PoI, which means that even non-PoI who interact regularly with you when TAM is active may develop noticeable Lust scores if there is basic sexual compatibility! So if you are naturally of some physical attractiveness to a non-PoI then TAM *will* increase their Lust for you, although only to a level that would make them somewhat aware of their physical desire for you. Be aware!

===ADMIN PORTAL:===
The Admin Portal allows commands to be entered. At any point, use ? to show this help menu.

==FULL SCAN:== This command can be used to easily add numerous people in your vicinity to TAM for tracking and relationship gain. When selecting FULL SCAN use a modifier to control the scan distance. By default, a FULL SCAN will consist of a hemisphere roughly 60 yards in diameter. This includes vertical distance, so people on floors above and below the machine housing TAM will be scanned. In general, scans are indoors only, so neighboring buildings or people outside the building housing TAM will not be scanned.

Usage: full scan
Options:
/? Display this help message
/all Maximum scan range (Approximately 0.5 miles radius from location of TAM housing, not recommended!)
/local Scan consists of current building (Approximately 85 feet radius from location of TAM housing, will ignore outdoor locations)
/room Scan consists of current room (Approximately 15 feet radius from location of TAM housing)
Example:
full scan /local

When the SCAN is complete the admin will have option to place all, none or some resulting persons into the Person of Interest category. Preference is given to persons who have existing A/L/L scores.

==MANUAL ADD:== This command allows the Administrator to add a PoI via their full name, to a range of approximately 20 miles. Same limitations apply to basic TAM functionality, so the person added must be aware of the Administrator to possess valid A/L/L scores, so adding someone manually who does not know the Administrator will result in an error. For non-unique names within range proximity will be considered by TAM and preference given to persons with higher existing A/L/L scores. For common names add a middle initial (not required).

Usage: add poi <lastname, firstname middle initial>
Example: add poi smith, jane e

==DORMANT:== This command can be used to place people in your circle into a state that mimics being a non-PoI. This state also suspends all score rate gains through passive effect and Traits, but still allows you to easily track them through TAM. Consider using it for people you interact with frequently who you do not want to generate more A/L/L gains with, even the modest latent gains all people will accrue in your presence. This can be done in the ADMIN PORTAL, simply add the person as a PoI manually (or run a FULL SCAN) and then use the command DORMANT <lastname, firstname>

==DISABLE:== sets all PoI to dormant status and suspends all TAM score gains.

==RESET:== removes all PoI, active and dormant, and suspends all TAM score gains. Use RESET /FACTORY to also remove, over time, previous gains back to pre-TAM levels.

==ADMINISTRATOR:== this command opens a submenu to set Administrator role. Multiple users can be Administrators, but tracking A/L/L score gains is difficult and only one PoI list is possible.

The tutorial will expand when new capabilities are unlocked. Try to get a person’s score to 100 and check back to learn about Traits!

===END TUTORIAL===

Well, that's a lot to take in. You look around your office and see the old half broken chair that sits in the corner by the asset disposal cage. You grab it and move it in front of the server rack, then angle the screen downward so you can read it in comfort while you try to decide what to do.