Personal Computer Terminal (DX)

Personal Computer Terminals, also known simply as computers, are interactable objects in Deus Ex. Computers typically contain emails that reveal story-related information.

Overview
Accessing a computer requires either correctly entering the login information (username and password) or hacking the computer using JC Denton's computer skill, which must be at "trained" or better in order to unlock the ability to hack computers. Once the computer is logged in or hacked, the player will be able to access emails on the computer.

Some computers provide a menu of special functions in addition to viewable emails. These computers are typically tied to specific mission objectives.

User accounts and emails
Each computer has a set of user accounts that can be accessed on the computer. Each user account is tied to a set of emails. Thus, if the same user account is accessible from two computers, the set of emails that can be read for that user account will be the same on both computers. Since user accounts are not necessarily unique to specific computers, emails that can be read in-game are, strictly speaking, tied to specific user accounts rather than specific computers.

Many computers have multiple accessible accounts. The full set of accessible accounts is usually not apparent to the player unless the computer is hack. For example, JC Denton's office computer in the UNATCO headquarters in the first mission can open five emails accounts, although the player is only given the login to JC Denton's account when first arriving at the office.

Hacking a computer will provide a side menu that enables selection of all accounts accessible on that computer. However, a hacked computer is only viewable for a limited duration of time before the player is booted off, depending on the current level of the player's computer skill. This timer does not apply if the player logs into the computer by entering the correct username and password for a particular account.

User accounts for a computer and the set of emails associated with each user account are separately defined for each mission, even if the computer appears in the same location across different missions. Therefore, in some cases, the "same" computer across different missions may have different accounts, logins, and/or associated emails.