Brainers theoreticals

I agree that the violation glove is an extremely appealing choice... for me personally.  I think that the name itself is sufficient warning as to exactly what that gear choice entails:  It says you want to rape someone's brain with a mere touch.  Whatever form the violation glove takes, everybody who sees it (in action, if not at first glance) knows exactly what that does, and then might understandably keep the brainer at arm's length.  Compare and contrast with, say, unnatural lust transfixion; I think it'd be very possible to have an extremely social brainer rather than an extremely manipulative brainer, and I think that different types of players would choose different types of gear and moves according to their preference.  The pain-wave projector, for me, seems like a terrible choice because it doesn't say anything about not affecting your friends...

The fact that it gets everyone except you is what makes it *awesome*.

I too play up the "violation" aspect of the violation glove. Sure, it's very powerful and lets you skip all the work and niceties involved with getting intimate with someone. On the other hand (har har) it lacks subtlety. I describe victims going into seizures, watching the brainer with eyes full of pain and fright as their brains are raped. Nobody walks away from glove use none the wiser.

To further separate the two options I play up non-glove uses of moves like puppet strings. An NPC may very well go on believing that killing that preacher was the only right choice if the move was pulled off with finesse.

The only Brainer I've ever played was one who took a brain relay and the two brain relay-compatible moves, specifically because I knew every other Brainer I had seen went with a violation glove. It became a pretty important artefact in the game, but this isn't really the space for any "my character" stories.

When I MC'd a game with a Brainer who had the glove, I did the same as Neurook, playing up the "violation" aspect of the word with as much intensity as possible. By itself, without flavour, the glove is arguably the most potent piece of brainer-specific gear in the book. Once you start adding stuff to it, like seizures, the ramifications of mind-rape, it changes in its use and style throughout the game.

The brainer I played last had the brain relay and the receptivity drugs, I think. She introduced herself as the Angel, that was fun.
The brainer in the group I'm currently MCing in took the pain-wave projector and the brain relay. He really wanted the glove, but realised he liked the other moves more than the ones that actually let him use the glove.

I'm in a campaign that happens to include the brainer, and two things that have been noted as common came up: one, she was a little detached from the rest of the group whereas the rest of the group had a very thick web going (admittedly, the brainer kind of lends itself to that), and two, she took the violation glove. She's not still detached--she put herself out there, took risks, acted on and spoke about what she's passionate about--and she's getting closer to the other characters as a consequence of these things.

That said, I don't think the brainer is there for people who want to be detached from their own characters. Hell, you could do that with any of'em--and the brainer is not necessarily that hard to relate to, but I speak as someone who, if asked to generate myself in Apoc World, would go brainer. They're unusual, sure, but if you look past the creepy psychic powers, they represent someone who's really out there: someone who's introverted, who maybe didn't have the best social skills on the surface when they were growing up or perhaps even today, but these days, even watching and learning from the outside, they've come to understand people. Their distance lets them see the things that people who are closer would miss due to emotional attachment or because the person being observed shows closer people some other side of themselves. Their ability to step back and see people as they are rather than as they want to see them gives them understanding that the more emotionally invested would not want to have. Also the words "GET OUT OF MY HEAD" are the funnest words to hear, no shit; that moment when someone realizes that you're telling them exactly what they're thinking is a blast. Of course in real life I can only torment my inner circle with it, but hey.

Or maybe some people just want to play the creepy psychic stalker weirdo who watches people sleep. To each their own.

The player who played a brainer in my first game didn't take a violation glove because he thought it would make his character less creepy.

edit for clarification: he thought *having a violation glove* would make his character less creepy.