"Hollywood thinks that computers run on black magic and hackers are wizards."
"Quite exciting, this computer magic."
— Viv, This is Spın̈al Tap
Computers on TV often bear only superficial resemblance to their real life counterparts. In fact, they are often just a 21st-century substitute for magic. A Computer Wizard is a literal wizard. Evoking arcane words with their keyboard, they cast spells into the infinite (and physically real) realms of Cyberspace.
For computers which are literally magical see Magitek. See also Clarke's Third Law. If a computer is shoddy, and not magical in any way (except maybe magically terrible), it's The Alleged Computer.
Tropes:
- The Alternet
- Artificial Intelligence
- Beeping Computers
- Billions of Buttons
- Computer Equals Monitor
- Computer Equals Tapedrive
- The Computer Is Your Friend
- Computers Speak Binary
- Computer Virus
- Contagious A.I.
- Cool Code of Source
- The Cracker
- Cut the Juice
- Cyber Green
- Destruction Equals Off-Switch
- Deus Est Machina
- Digital Abomination
- Digitized Hacker
- Dueling Hackers
- Enhance Button
- Everything Is Online
- Everything Sensor
- Exact Progress Bar
- Expositron 9000
- Extreme Graphical Representation
- Facial Recognition Software
- The Genie in the Machine
- Googling the New Acquaintance
- Hack Your Enemy
- Hacked by a Pirate
- Hacker Cave
- Hacker Collective
- Hackette
- Hacking Minigame
- Hack the Traffic Lights
- Have You Tried Rebooting?
- Highly Visible Password
- Hollywood Encryption
- Hollywood Hacking
- Hollywood Web Cam
- Holographic Terminal
- Inside a Computer System
- Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!
- The Internet
- It's A Small Net After All
- Logic Bomb
- Magic Floppy Disk
- Master Computer
- Matrix Raining Code
- Mechanical Abomination
- murder.com
- Omniscient Database
- Online Alias
- Our Graphics Will Suck in the Future
- Password Slot Machine
- Piecemeal Funds Transfer
- Playful Hacker
- Plug 'n' Play Technology
- Rapid-Fire Typing
- School Grade Hacking
- Screens Are Cameras
- Sinister Surveillance
- Slow-Loading Internet Image
- Techno Dystopia
- Techno Wizard
- Thing-O-Meter
- Viewer-Friendly Interface
- Virtual-Reality Warper
- Wetware Body
- Weirdly Underpowered Admins
