Not all the rules in The Sprawl have a direct effect on the dice or move mechanics. Some moves will give characters fictional positioning. That is, they give a character an option to undertake certain kinds of action. For example, The Sprawl does not have rules that directly cover climbing sheer surfaces. Whether a character can make a difficult climb is up to the fiction established by the table. If the character concept was a mountain climber or parkour specialist, perhaps they can. If they are anex-corporate wage-slave, they probably can’t… but when they strap on the climbing harness and jack-in that Hosaka CyberSports Everest 101 skillchip, up they’ll go.
Rules that give a character fictional positioning are as important as rules that give a dice modifier – more important, in fact. The fiction is where the story happens, the dice are there to add a random element to that story to make it more engaging for everyone.
This applies to the MC as well. If a character is +hunted, you have a fictional justification (actually a responsibility!) to have her pursuers appear in your story hot on her trail. If a character has +substandard cyberware, and the player rolls a miss, you have fictional positioning to have it glitch (among the many other moves you could make). When the player chooses these options, they’re saying that this is an interesting complication for my character. This is called a flag.
(The Sprawl, p. 17)