I had this thought experiment.

Let's say a fantasy world goes through the industrial revolution. Invents computers. Invents the internet.

What would the internet in a fantasy world look like?

Now, here's the big problem. The countries that invented the internet are Western countries. And Western countries have went through a long chain of happy little accidents that made them what they are. The modern day West is a massive outlier in terms of human history. First, the spread of the God of Israel and the associated values, then the industrial revolution, then the death of the God of Israel, then the rise of birth control. I'm leaving out many things. The point is, most people who make 'a fantasy world but with internet' ignore this, and make essentially a 21st century western world but with elves and magic.

Let's say you wanted to avoid this. How would one go about this?

Like Cryptomancer? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/186678/cryptomancer

There is a system that sort of did this.
It is a science fantasy system in a recovering post apoc world where the internet is so pervasive that you can get attacked by viruses anti viruses and other digital constructs. There was a whole section about being attacked by porn. I was a free system on its own web site I cant recall the name though.

Quote from: bat on May 02, 2025, 01:41:54 PMLike Cryptomancer? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/186678/cryptomancer

til will be checking it out

It's been a long time since I looked at it, but there was a D20 game called Etherscope that might cover down on what you're looking for.

In my game world, I have magic mirrors somewhat acting somewhat like this. However, the mirrors are somewhat temperamental and not always correct, somewhat presaging ChatGPT and its ilk

Hot take. Porn halts all magical progress? But everyone becomes low-level magic users as "arcane secrets" stop being secret. It starts resembling what modern WotC 5e pushes but dumber.

A fantasy world could use shared dreams as a stand-in for the internet. Depending on the setting, it could be accessed through special training/talent or perhaps a magical item (permanent/reusable or expendable).