Brain Relay

I'm playing a Brainer and have taken brain relay as one of my pieces of my brainer gear. For ease, it reads:

brain relay (area close hi-tech)
For purposes of brainer moves, if someone can see your brain relay, they can see you.

I want to make sure I use this properly and don't stretch any rules. In Session 0 we decided we were playing in an apocalyptic flooded London, and I randomly suggested partway through the session that my brain relay be Big Ben. Now, does this mean that people have to be looking directly at it, or that they can just see it in their field of vision? Also, does the close tag mean that even if they could see it from far away, its effect still wouldn't work unless they were nearby?

I'd like as many opinions as possible on this because it does seem to an extent to be something interpretive.

The definitive interpretation is going to be one that you and your MC agree on.

For me personally, if it's in someone's field of vision, they can see it. It's see not looking at. The up side to some tall, huge relay like Big Ben is that anyone outside within a mile or two who is facing the right direction can see it. The down side is that you can't toss it around the corner in the London Underground or tie it to the back of your car.

Do people know it's your brain relay, even indirectly? Do the people of London avert their eyes from Big Ben because they're afraid of the voice of Big Brother whispering commands in their head?

I think this is such an unusual choice that it's basically going to come down to what you and your MC agree upon, like nomadzophiel said. You have taken a giant, immobile building as a piece of equipment -- one which, in my experience, is usually portrayed as small, destructible and portable, or at least movable.

In my usual reading, the 'close' tag would apply either to the proximity of the Brainer or the proximity of the target, or both. What 'close' means is highly variable, and I would say this is particularly true when you are talking about a several hundred foot tall structure. In the case of Big Ben, both readings could provide interesting limitations, but 'close' could easily be an entire neighbourhood's worth of distance.

Personally, I like the idea of 'line of sight to Big Ben' combined with the Brainer needing to actually be very close to Big Ben (like, inside it or touching it) -- this combines a more powerful than usual range of effect with an unusual territorial requirement. If it results in the Brainer just camping out at Big Ben that could be pretty lame, but since you are the player you can hopefully avoid that crutch.

That said, there are a lot of ways it could work, and see above about it coming down to a conversation between you and the MC -- and the other players.

I don't know about unusual. My first thought every time I consider playing a Brainer is "can I tie my relay to the top of a tower in the center of town?" The close tag is a bit trickier. It never occurred to me that it might apply to the Brainer, not the target but that makes a lot of sense. However, since Direct-brain whisper projection is also close and is one of the two moves that the relay would work with, I think the intent for both is more "they must be able to see you/the relay and be within conversation range."

But hell, the Big Ben idea is so creepy and cool, I'd let you do it.  Big Brothers knows your thoughts. Big Brother can plant ideas in your head. We love Big  Brother.