Home | About | Tournament Winning Decklists | Forums

[Theme] What is a click?

Netrunner General
#1

I don’t have an idea of what the ‘click’ action in Android:Netrunner is, thematically speaking.

I originally thought it was the thematic equivalent of actually clicking a GUI of some sort. Later, when I was reading a bio-insert of Exile, I came to understand that click could also signify distance; come to think of it, does the US military use the word ‘click’ to denote a certain fixed distance?

Any thoughts or ideas? Feel free to comment.

P.s. The Android Universe wiki didn’t have anything. I don’t think ANCUR has anything either.

#2

I think the usual theory is that it’s time. In Why I Run, clicks are treated as equivalent to about four hours, if I recall correctly.

“Click” or “klick” is sometimes used as a short form of “kilometre.” I assume that’s how the US military uses it. I suspect there’s no connection to Netrunner’s clicks, but I don’t recall seeing the Exile insert you mention, so perhaps I’m missing something.

6 Likes
#3

Makes sense. How is Why I run related to A:NR? Just that both are in cyber punk setting, or is there something else I am missing?

I think this theory still makes sense even with Exile’s example; If I recall correctly, he thinks something about ‘she being a few clicks away’.

#4

I’ve always assumed it represented time/ effort. Translates quite perfectly into the concept of the game. The corp spends time, and resources (credits) to advance their agendas. The runner spends time to run their servers. I think it’s just a nice cyber-noir word for “action.”

I will say definitively that it is not related to the military’s shorthand for kilometer. It’s spelled wrong for that and I can’t imagine how you would spend distance to install hardware/ice or take actions.

1 Like
#5

Why I Run is a fan-made game that is based on Android: Netrunner. Once you get a little ways into it, it basically turns into a game of Netrunner.

3 Likes
#6

To perform an action on a computer, you normally have to click on something. I assume that click in the world of Android, which has direct brain/computer interfaces, just became a generic word for action. Plus, it sounds better to the ear.

2 Likes
#7

An arbitrary in-game currency with no particular real world equivalent, much like a credit.

(Less snarkily - I’m fairly confident it is meant to represent a unit of time.)

2 Likes
#8

Hyperdriver doesn’t actually bend time, though. It just feels like it.

(Anyways, yeah, the number of actions you can perform generally corresponds to how much time you have, but can be modified by things like all-nighters, stims, genetic or cybernetic enhancements, or bounty hunters.)

1 Like