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� Intro This article tries to look at the acceptance level of cyber and bioware implants (hereafter shortened to cyber) to people living in the Shadowrun world of 2060. It is all very well that the average non-magical PC walks around with some cyber, but what about Joe and Jane Average, and for that matter who �s to tell that shadowrunners do use the level of cyber their players give them? In short how accepted is cyber in 2060; is it something for the rich, only for psychotic maniacs, or does it get more and more common? � Analysis of cyber Shadowrun differentiates its cyber only into head- and bodyware. For the purpose of analysing acceptance it is however necessary to make a more detailed classification by differentiating between combat-oriented and civilian cyber. The difference between these two classes is not absolute; a lot of civilian cyber can be use in combat situations and indeed does give bonuses, but they will be classified under civilian cyber nevertheless. The reason for this is, and the whole extra category, is that pure combat-oriented cyber has a completely different acceptance level. It is one thing to view your relation with a friend as unchanged when he gets a datajack, but if instead he gets retractable razors you might view him differently and, maybe subconsciously, tread more carefully around him. Likewise people will be more likely to go for a non-combat cyber implant than the pure combat options. A special category within cyber is the highly specialistic pieces sometimes with a relative high essence cost. Items like a vehicle control rig, chemical analyser, a simrig and basically any one piece of cyber with a high essence cost and/or a very narrow field of usage would only have an appeal to a very specific small group of specialists. While the implant itself might not have much noticeable effect on the person�s character, nor are these implants viewed with general disapproval, the average person will not consider these items when going for cyber. See the following section for a more in depth analysis of the personal side. � Analysis of people Now we have all these neat gadgets ready to be put in your body, but do people really want them, or is it forced upon them by managers demanding ever-increasing results? First lets look at the current situation. Today the only items that could qualify as cyber are artificial organ and bone replacement. The problem with these is that they are not necessary better than the natural ones, and people only get them when there�s no alternative. We do have however an ever increasing market for cosmetic surgery. 60 years ago it would be unthinkable even considered suicidal to voluntary go for surgery. Now the world in 2060 has more than 60 years in which people got more and more used to operations for the sake of cosmetics or improvement. Generations grew up with the cyber available. The cyber ever and ever improving till it surpassed the natural organs. Items appearing that enhanced the human body. At first it might have been something like the dawn of the computer age; kids or a select few opting for implants, and the majority generally loathe trying it. After that first generation the next grew up with the idea of cyber being more common, and the acceptance grew with every generation till we get in 2060. Don�t forget most, if not all, cyber improves the user and while a cerebral booster for example gives a dry bonus on intelligence stat-wise, it must an exhilarating experience to actually feel it in person. Another big factor is the big mega-corporation that likes their employees to work efficiently and effective. If a secretary can manage to "type" at the speed of thought with a datajack, how quickly do you get a return of investment on that jack? Would you still hire someone without one, or unwilling to get one? Cyber improves performance, and while that can be an excellent reason for someone to desire it, it makes even more sense for a corporation to have a cybered workforce. In general I see 7 classes of behaviour in 2060 ranging from very anti to pro (if any of the terms sounds offensive, it's not meant that way, it's for lack of a better word).
Note that your fully cybered sammie might have a group 3 attitude, but the pressure from the competition might make him believe that he's forced to go further than he wants to. Bioware might be regarded as more acceptable (group +1) or similar in effect, depending on the person's reasons. Likewise the corporation someone is working for might put pressure on a person to get an implant. This might already have proceeded so far that, for example, it is impossible to find a job as a secretary without a datajack. Judging the time difference and guestimating the sociological effects, most people will fall in groups 2 to 4, having had time to get used to the idea of cyber implants, seeing them work. And the negative effects are not really well documented or rather vague. Also note that the negative modifier on social skills (as in the Shadowrun Companion) only applies to obvious combat oriented cyber (apart from the eyes, who might be considered combat oriented in most cases anyway). Datajacks are so common that no one really notices them anymore, and there's no talk about bioware (although the same would apply there as for obvious combat oriented cyber). The cyber that scares people most is the combat oriented items, in effect it is like walking around with a loaded gun, except it's in your body. Younger generations will likely have an even more positive attitude and pieces of cyber might be a status symbol like expensive sport shoes are nowadays. � Analysis of economy It�s all very good and well to want cyber, but who can afford it? A quick check of the lists of cyber in any of the rulebooks will quickly show that a fair amount of items is simply not affordable for Joe Common, and not cost-effective for a company. There are however a lot of small items, mostly headware, that are relatively inexpensive and have very clear benefits. A few examples are datajack, memory, softlink, math-SPU, commlink, telephone, recorders, and cameras. These items will be readily available to anymore and fairly common amongst the middle- and higher-class workforce. Somewhat more expensive items are cerebral boosters, mnemonic enhancers (in fact most bioware is fairly expensive), skill wires, and the encephalon. These items would be rare, purely because of their high price so would normally only be found in the higher levels of society and corporations. Finally the specialistic items like a toxic extractor, nephritic screen and chemical analyser for the top chemists, or the whole load of SPU�s and high level encephalon for the top programmers, etc. etc. Corporations are likely to have programmes for financing or stimulating the use of cyber for their employees. In some cases they might even pay for the whole implant. Outside corporate environment parents might be saving money for their children�s first piece of cyber to help them with their studies. The child gets used to working with cyber fairly early which makes it likely that he or she will go for more cyber at a later stage in their lives without much thought. Plus a young person can get to grips with the functions of the piece much easier than an older one. And most pieces of cyber do give the user a definite edge in studies. Getting a competitive edge from cyber can be seen in multiple ways by the subject. The first person who gets it shows of his gadget, as a way of silencing his cognitive dissonance or just to impress them, the others who watch him crunching out number like mad (as an example) will get worried and jealous. Jealousy is one of the most powerful motives to buy something (and one that the buyer never admits to). So Mrs Colleague suddenly feels the need to get one too, and rationalises it by writing it off as competitive edge. Once Mrs C. gets her first piece installed, she realises that it is a pretty neat piece of machinery and does make her live a lot easier, so the step for the next piece gets a lot easier (depending on how heavy it hit her bank account of course). In a week or so Mrs C. will be using her Math SPU to crunch out how long it would take her to pay off an encephalon and how jealous it would make her colleagues (rationalised way to say it: how the implant would give her a truly competitive edge, and the costs will be returned once I get that promotion). Then there's of course a whole group of techno-gadgeteers whose cybermania is only stopped by their credsticks. Deckers who spend most of their time out of their body already in VR are the first group that comes to mind. They will hardly care what happened to their bodies, so will have less qualms of stashing it out with mods, specifically the ones that make their VR-trips so more wizzer (read effective). � Conclusions Cyber has to be fairly common in 2060 amongst the numerous workers of the mega-corps if only for economic and competitive reasons. Next to that it is also a social factor in which cyber is just another way to show that you have a bigger car than the guy next door does. Finally it is the constant urge to become better, faster and smarter that will make it hard to ignore cyber implants as an option. As a side effect the difference between rich and poor will become even more pronounced as today as cyber creates another barrier for the poor to be able to compete with the rich and climb up the social ladder. � � � � Shadowrun is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. � � Mail to [email protected] � |
