This review was originally written in November 1999 for a site of mine that's been defunct for a while - I thought it might as well join the archives here.
I bought this as a direct result of reading the first edition of Digital Web, which I found intriguing but very unsatisfying (also reviewed here). It's good. Not perfect, but very good. At 133 pages it's slightly longer than the old one, and addresses most of my complaints. It's a complete rebuild rather than a revision - obviously White Wolf thought there was so much to change that it wasn't worth messing around, plus of course supplement styles have changed - though the basis of the material is much the same.
One of the major changes is that it actually talks about the Internet, whereas v1 only got as far as bulletin boards - things have really changed in the last few years! The writing is clearer and more consistent, though still left me a bit confused occasionally. It's definitely a Mage 2nd edition book now. There are a few bits of the older book which had a certain charm and might usefully have been kept in (e.g. Umbra-Web connections, crossovers with Vampire and Werewolf, data having a weight). There's no index - the book's short enough that you can often remember where stuff is, but an index would have helped. In a few places terms and names are used without being explained first, and in a couple of places it feels like you should have read v1 first. But these are minor gripes.
Why 2.0?
Well, it is a second edition of the book - but the main reason is part of White Wolf's evolving metaplot. On 10th November 1997 the whole Digital Web crashed. A massive wave of Whiteout (the form Paradox backlash takes here) triggered by the destruction of Doissetep damaged or destroyed most sectors of the Web and the people who were in them at the time. The Web community was hurt badly - pretty much everybody had friends who were traumatised, killed or just lost as a result, not to mention the work that had gone into crafting the sectors. (This seems not to be linked to any real-life Internet event, as far as I can see from Net timelines, but in the WoD it certainly had repercussions in the material world.)
So, is this likely to cause problems for you if you don't want to use the metaplot? No. People who've been playing Mage for years may welcome the changes in the setting as a source of new story ideas, but for many of us it's an extra complication we don't need. It's pretty easy to just ignore the relevant bits in DW2 if you want to - the main changes are in the online culture, not in the way things work.
Another major change from v1 is a logical consequence of the growth of the Internet and boom in computer use since the earlier book. More people are online, doing a wider range of things, and this is reflected in a wider range of people accessing the Digital Web - including Sleepers. They can't appreciate it fully yet, but they can have a presence even if they don't realise what they're doing. The mages have realised that they won't control this playground for much longer, which provokes varying responses.
Sections
The Prelude is the usual short story, told by a practiced webspinner and covering the shocking experience of White Wednesday. It helps give a feel for the experience of using the Web. The Introduction is mostly a glossary of Webspeak - and you certainly need it to understand what comes next.
Site 1: Uncle Toad's Net Tour is an in-character introduction to the Digital Web by a seasoned Virtual Adept. It starts with the Web's history, and goes on to talk about the kind of places to be found and the mages that visit them, finishing with sections on how to get into the Web and the sort of things you can spend time on once there. It's 25 pages packed with a lot of information. You could use it as a primer to give a player a pretty good grounding in Netology. I was a bit put off by the amount of swearing, though it does fit with the in-character viewpoint.
Site 2: Life Online is about the Web community - who they are and what they do. The existing factions (Traditions, Conventions, etc.) have spawned a wide range of sub-groups - partly in response to the crash and partly as a result of the evolution of the Web. There's enough information here to base stories on Web politics, which are significantly different from those in the Earth Realm. There are weirdoes, perverts, powermongers and rebuilders. There are also tensions between those who've been in the Web for a few years and the younger webspinners (and in this context, 30 is old). There's also an in-character guide to formatting a sector of Virgin Web, should you be lucky enough to find one.
Site 3: Sectors and Avatars starts off with a large section about the Spy's Demise and some of the people you might meet there. The Demise is the Web's most famous (and most "central") sector - an ever-open bar and meeting place where neutrality is strictly enforced and Traditionalists rub shoulders with Technocrats and others. There are a couple fewer pages on it than in v1, but probably more useful information. One of the reasons for this is that the characters have roleplaying guidelines but no stats except Arete and Spheres. The v1 Demise had all themes within it but none overall - this one has a slight tendency towards film noir - it looks like an interest of one of the authors. It's followed by three other vaguely interesting places, and some other characters (Dante's one of them. Collect him now!). I would have liked more sector descriptions, to give characters some ready-made places to visit.
Site 4: Administration is all about storytelling in the Web. In fact a good chunk of it is wonderful common sense stuff about storytelling in general that most of us know but might not remember and apply. It also includes some major themes for Web-based stories, and at 15 pages is well worth digesting.
Site 5: Programming Systems - The Bit in the Back With the Rules. These 23 pages cover how to get there, how to get around, different kinds of sectors and how to get into them, combat (including different degrees of being booted off the Web, from headache to death and worse), magick, foci, sector formatting and Whiteout (Paradox). There's a handy 1-page rules summary. There are also sections on rotes, talismans and some of the program creatures you could meet (or create). It describes magick according to the differences from the usual systems, which are significant. I would have liked a short description of what each Sphere can do here, which would have helped in understanding the sphere levels given for the rotes. (Forces is used as Matter on the basis that everything's made out of electricity, but I still think Correspondence would be more appropriate - perhaps it would then have been too powerful, as it's also used for travel. It's unclear what Entropy's doing; it's used a lot in the rotes.) I would also have liked a more detailed section on programming - creating objects and "creatures", and changing the parameters of sectors. What's here feels to be squeezed in at the end.
Site 6: Running in the Real Web is an unusual section, but a useful one. It covers using the Internet to run games, through email, chat rooms, etc. It's short but has the essentials for those of us who can't (or don't want to!) meet in person.
Do you want more cool places to send your PC's? Are any of them interested in computers? Buy the book!
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