Demographics in the 6th age, Help me make a random lifestyle generator Options

[James McMurray]

I'm making a random lifestyle generator and one of the options will be to pick a random level with percentages based on demographics, but I'm not sure what the demographics are like in the 6th age. Just off the top of my head I'm thinking:

10% - Street
10% - Squatter
35% - Low
25% - Middle
15% - High
05% - Luxury

While I'm not overly concerned with perfection, I'd at least like some believability. I'm not even sure what demographics are like today, much less in Shadowrun.

Also, anything you'd like to see on the lifestyle generator? I'm using the Runner's Companion rules for advanced lifestyles. It'll pick a lifestyle level and then go up or down on each category. finally some qualities get tossed on if needed to bring it back into range for the original lifestyle (or possibly even if not needed). I'll have the cost per month, cost per day, and total LP cost listed.

It'll be able to generate 1, 5, or 10 at a time. If you ask for 1 you get a lot of detail. Asking for more gives a table of results that just lists the levels and costs.

[sabs]

Luxury: 1%
High: 4%
Middle: 15%
Low: 45%
Squatter: 20%
Street: 15%

Is probably a much better representation.
Also, I suspect that squatter and low should probably be flipped.
Luxury: 1%
High: 4%
Middle: 15%
Low: 20%
Squatter: 45%
Street: 15%

[Pepsi Jedi]

I don't think, even in shadowrun 60% of the population is squatter or below. That's stupid.

[eyeBliss]

Luxury: 1%
High: 4%
Middle: 15%
Low: 45%
Squatter: 20%
Street: 15%

Is probably a much better representation.
Also, I suspect that squatter and low should probably be flipped.
Luxury: 1%
High: 4%
Middle: 15%
Low: 20%
Squatter: 45%
Street: 15%

Given that income equality tends to suffer as corporations gain more power (present day U.S. being a good example), I'm inclined to agree with the second option. Depending on the depth you want, you may want to add what category of employer the random person works for (goverment, private sector non-extraterritorial, private sector extraterritorial, etc.) as someone may enjoy a relatively high level of creature comforts with limited disposible income, particularly if they are a low-level employee living on corporate sovereign property and are paid in corp scrip.

[GrimWulf]

There's also no way that 1 in 100 people are living luxury. I'd be inclined to put that 1% marker at high, and something like ~0% Luxury. The number being so low that it shouldn't even factor in to demographics.

In addendum, if we're talking an actual census taking part then the majority should be in low and middle. Squatter/street 'citizens' aren't going to included.

[sabs]

Luxury - .01%
High - 1%
Middle - 14%
Low - 30%
Squatter - 40%
Street - 15%

I could see something more like that.
Think about how many people live in the Barrens.

In today's US:
Top 20% own over 80% of the wealth
Next 20% own 10%
Next 20% own 5%
Next 20% own 0.02%
Last 20% own 0.01%

So, having 40% of the population at squatter and bellow in Shadowrun is completely realistic.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

This would be my guess.

10% - Street
25% - Squatter
40% - Low
20% - Middle
5% - High
~00% - Luxury

[Pepsi Jedi]

Luxury - .01%
High - 1%
Middle - 14%
Low - 30%
Squatter - 40%
Street - 15%

I could see something more like that.
Think about how many people live in the Barrens.

In today's US:
Top 20% own over 80% of the wealth
Next 20% own 10%
Next 20% own 5%
Next 20% own 0.02%
Last 20% own 0.01%

So, having 40% of the population at squatter and bellow in Shadowrun is completely realistic.

You think that 4 out of 10 people. Almost half, have no homes and are squatting in places, eating out of dumpsters and stuff? That's silly. Sure the corps are big and wadge slaves are paramount but the homeless population isn't HALF guys. Come on. That would put the industrialized first world nations behind like, Hati or war torn and ravaged African nations.

[sabs]

Have you been in the Barrens?
Most anyone living in the Barrens falls under the Squatter lifestyle.

[CanRay]

Don't forget that most Squatters and Street-Level people are SINless. Which means they're not counted in things such as these.

That skews the numbers quite a bit.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Have you been in the Barrens?
Most anyone living in the Barrens falls under the Squatter lifestyle.

It's still not half the frigging population.

"low" Sure.

Squatter or street? No.

I understand that shadowrun is dark. The darks are darker and the brights brighter but nothing in the books hints at anything remotely like HALF the population of the civilized world being homeless. I don't think people are thinking that out. Are the numbers worse than we have now? Sure. Are they HALF or MORE of the civilized population homeless? Of course not. That's absurd.

[eyeBliss]

Luxury - .01%
High - 1%
Middle - 14%
Low - 30%
Squatter - 40%
Street - 15%

I could see something more like that.
Think about how many people live in the Barrens.

In today's US:
Top 20% own over 80% of the wealth
Next 20% own 10%
Next 20% own 5%
Next 20% own 0.02%
Last 20% own 0.01%

So, having 40% of the population at squatter and bellow in Shadowrun is completely realistic.

Given that the net worth of most families has decreased substantially since 2007 (which is where I think you're taking your numbers from) as a result of the devaluation of primary residences, the top 20% probably own somehwere around 90% of the net worth and 95% of the total wealth. We have banana republic levels of income and wealth inequality. I would imagine those levels would only increase when corporations become their own countries (they're already people).

[Dakka Dakka]

Don't forget that a street lifestyle is having NOTHING not even a cardboard box or a favorite spot.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Don't forget that a street lifestyle is having NOTHING not even a cardboard box or a favorite spot.

That's exactly what street level is.

Taken from the Runner's Companion:

Comforts
Comfort?
Examples: Hopefully, you have a coat, shoes, and a hat. Gang graffiti art decorates your alley.

Entertainment
Entertainment is whatever amuses you, is accessible, and free.
Examples: You watch devil rats fight and read SPAM.

Necessities
Hey, devil rat is free! At the street level, you scavenge garbage or hunt rats for food, you drink water from polluted puddles or streams, and you steal your clothing from other homeless people. Your shelter is a spot under a bridge, a doorway, or a dumpster. You might use public restrooms, but most neighborhoods with those amenities won’t let you in with the way you smell… You generally go cold and hungry.
Examples: You live under an overpass, eat a dead rat, and wear stolen clothes—what more could anyone want?

Neighborhood
The streets—or the sewers, almost uninhabitable condemned buildings, rusted-out car frames, or the ever popular underside of a bridge—are a miserable, dangerous place to live. The down and out you call neighbors consist of other homeless, drug addicts, criminals, transients, and street gangs. There is little to no police presence. For the most part, the gangs provide security to those who can afford it (and prey on the rest).
Limitations: You cannot choose higher than Low for Comforts.
Examples: San Bernardino (LA), Most of Redmond Barrens (Seattle), Downtown Chi-Town (Chicago)

Security
Security is what you can provide with your own fists. If you stop looking at your stuff, it’s likely to disappear.
Device Rating: 0
Professional Rating: 0
Examples: Carry a gun. Don’t sleep.

Taking Recife as an example: Street is literally people who in live in the streets. Squatter are people who live in cheap wooden houses by the river or swamps. Low are people who live in favelas. Medium is most people. High lifestyle are the people who live in the best neighborhoods and Luxury is the Brennand Family and one or other guy.

[James McMurray]

According to the Seattle sourcebook ~1/3 of the people in the city live in Redmond or Puyallup. The average income in those areas is 6,000:nuyen:+ per year, so the majority of them are definitely on the streets or squatting, but the idea that 50% of the population is homeless just can't be true (at least not in Seattle).

[James McMurray]

This would be my guess.

10% - Street
25% - Squatter
40% - Low
20% - Middle
5% - High
~00% - Luxury

I think I'll go with these, though I'll bump Luxury up to 1% at the expense of Low. It might not be 100% realistic, but luxury should have a chance of popping up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[James McMurray]

The generator is up. Lemme know if you find any problems.

Direct Link

Main page for all my online tools

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

I think I'll go with these, though I'll bump Luxury up to 1% at the expense of Low. It might not be 100% realistic, but luxury should have a chance of popping up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Luxury should never fall in the randomness of a character generator. It should pop up deliberately.

[Doc Chase]

Luxury should never fall in the randomness of a character generator. It should pop up deliberately.

Yeah, Luxury is the type of lifestyle that shows up strictly by 'once in a blue moon' frequency for a 'runner. That's the type of time when they hit it big, real big, and motherfucking party. Hell, most of the time they'd get that out of a temporary High lifestyle for a month.

[James McMurray]

It's not a character generator. It's a lifestyle generator, as in it generates lifestyles. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Pepsi Jedi]

Just a note. The "ultra rich" class in the US is currently about 2%, with more and more millionaires being added every year, and more and more ways for hose that have money to keep it.

Granted after VITAS and all the world's population was knocked down by about 50% (( after the two outbreaks)) but that number was probably a lot more slanted to the poor and indigent than the rich and powerful.

I'd be surprised if the luxury class fell below current standards. There's just more money out there to be had. Yes your ultra rich are going to be that much richer but still.

[Sengir]

Various wars and the Crash Virus (which loved to munge encrypted data) should have ruined quite a few people. But still, 50% on street level sounds too much - IMO most people should be barracked in their corporate settlements, or in derelict Eastern Bloc-style apartment towers where the landlord does not care shit as long as you pay.

@James: I'd like to see more qualities, because IMO stuff like "This ain't Big Bob's Autos" is the best part of the lifestyle rules (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[James McMurray]

I'd like to see more too. Do you know of any home brew sources?

[Runner Smurf]

I don't think there's a right answer on this, though it does serve as an interesting way to define just what sort of Shadowrun game you are playing in or running.

My own take is something like this:
Luxury: <0.1%. >1M a year cost of living.
High: 20%. At 120k a year, I'd say this is what the typical corporate knowledge worker for a mega is making.
Middle: 15%. 60k a year. This is what somebody working for a smaller business, or a standard employee of a mega.
Low: 35%. 24k a year. Service workers, manual labor. High school education or below.
Squatter: 20%. 12k a year. Part time service workers, day laborer.
Street: 10%. The truly destitute.

It's also setting dependent.

The old setting sourcebooks used to give a breakdown of corp affiliation, average income level, poverty level and educational stats. My own take is squatter and street are poverty-level. Fortune Active Trader is luxury and the upper end of High.

• Denver: 1% Fortune Active Traders (High end of high to luxury), 44% corp affiliation, 29% below poverty line. 21k average income. That more or less matches the above.
• Salish Sidhe (NaN 1): 31% below poverty, 10% corp affiliation.
• Sioux (NaN 1): 20% below poverty, 31% corp affiliation, 55% high school equivalency or below.
• PCC (NaN 1): 2% Fortune active traders, 58% corp affiliation, 33% high school equivalency or below (so the numbers would skew to the higher end.
• Seattle Downtown (Seattle Sourcebook): 26% below poverty level, 1% active traders, 70% high school or below. 89% corp affiliation 130k average income. So a lot more high end.
• Tacoma (Seattle Sourcebook): 73% high school or below, 59k average income. 26% below poverty line.
• Aztlan: 21% below poverty, 33% high school, 57% corp affiliation, 31k average income
• Atlanta (NAGTNA): 26% below poverty line, 26.5k income, 56% corp affiliation, 73% high-school or below.

If I were going to put something together like this, I'd take the key figures from those old sourcebooks, and come up with a quick algorithm that would give the appropriate weights that hit those numbers. Then the user can select the country/city, and have it generate a lifestyle. You don't have to be too precise - after all, it's no like you'll be generating thousands of samples with somebody checking that the distribution is right...