In Shadowrun, megacorporations seem to hover in the no-man's land between nationalistic police state and corporation. Some of the companies are really ideology-driven and their people will die for their company, others seem to be cobbled together from random smaller raided corporations the way real conglomerates are, with company loyalty being tied to their paychecks.

In your games, will wageslaves run for the alarms if they know they'll get shot? Do the guards take big risks when fighting your PC's? And how does it manifest in your games?

It depends on the corp, like you said. The level of dedication varies, though the Japanacorps tend to institutionalise "Corp is Father, Corp is Mother" ideologies.

However, I don't think many wagesalves would actually sound the alarm if they are sure to get killed. If they foolishly think they won't get killed, that's another matter. Higher ups have more to lose, and in some extreme cases may figure they are better off getting honourably killed in the line of duty than to be alive but having betrayed the corp.

As for guards, I admit I sometimes have them act a little too much like D&D orcs or something. They take massive casualties and don't really care. In reality I think that as soon as they see the runners are packing enough firepower to kill some guards, security would drop into a defend-and-contain pattern and wait for overwhelming backup.

I play '80s-style "the company is your life" with most main-avenue wageslaves, but with volatile fringe subsidiaries where loyalty is cheap.

~J

Well, in my Shadowrun, most wageslaves are keenly aware of the fact that there is a minigun next to the water cooler. Depending on corp, security level, and evil factor, the minigun may or may not be concealed.

All in all, it depends on the corp. A wage slave won't risk his life for the corp unless he is:

a: 100% certain that not risking his life will result in his death
b: 100% certain that risking his life will result in Good Things happening for him from the grateful corp, and at least 67% assured of success.

Additionally, wageslaves and such tend only to be loyal to the company as long as their continued existance is dependant on said company. If they get a chance to jump ship to a better deal, with a high probability that they and that which they care for will make there in one piece, and remain out of the old company's reach, they'll jump ship in a heartbeat. But as long as the corp has someone by the throat (or balls, or family, whatever), they won't go willingly.

Which could lead to some 'interesting' situations for Runners. That high-powered research scientist? He'll go completely willingly, and even add additional finance to the extraction, if you also rescue his daughter from the corporation's "Camp for Youth Employees".

I tend to try to keep it varied from company to company. Renraku in my games has fiercely loyal/patriotic employees where as Aztechnology's rank and file tend towards lazy and conniving. It will be different office to office too, because local management has a big influence on employee morale and behavior.

I'd say it depends on the employee's job. Sure, for the (relatively few) middle-management or professional jobs, its standard Zaibetsu (sp?) in spirit - you get hired for life, you live in a corp apartment, you buy at corp stores, you could get mostly corp channels on the 'trid, you eat corp food - its a "family", in a way similar to how the Mob is a "family". You get indoctrinated, you got attached to the corp in so many strings, they control every moment of your life and squeeze every point of your ability to work for their gains.

But for the masses, those who hold temp jobs at horrible conditions, have a Walmart style of employment, that is constant surveilance and opression on the job, but no real loyality exists - only fear, usually the fear of being fired from the job but sometimes the fear of being fired at...

In general, I imagine that many folks are raised in the company, by the company, for the company. Their loyalty is that of a battered spouse, more afraid to leave because they lack the skills or self-esteem to be independent. Employees are more likely to perpetuate the facade of happiness than they are to feel genuinely appreciative. Very Orwellian.

I've been toying with the idea of wageslaves from Fuchi who required serious grief counselling when that megacorp went down:

Therapist: (Gently) "See, these pretty new Novatech overalls? Wouldn't you like to try them on? Just try it for a minute."

Wageslave: (Clutching battered Fuchi overalls like a security blanket.) "NOOOO!!!!"