...thanks, now I can vote.

Yeah, with the various threats in the 6th world & the fact the police are privatised, I'd constantly be looking over my shoulder even on the way down to the corner Stuffer Shack.

Don't know who you can trust.

There is such as thing as political ethics, but they are a far cry from traditional ethics. Political ethics would read something like: Do unto others before they do unto you, if it increases personal (and maybe party) power it is good, loudly accuse others of doing what you yourself are doing and hope no one notices, blackmail isn't a crime: it is a way of life, kick an opponent when he's down, etc.

Basically take standard ethics and turn them aroun 180 degrees and you have political ethics.

That would depend on where the shootouts happen. In the Barrens, no one would really care. If they happen in Downtown, then there would be a major outcry. Just look at the real world. As long as the violence stayed in the slums or certain crime ridden cities, no one cared. But once it started happening in the merchant districts, then there was a crack down, at least in the commercial areas. This would probably be even more true in SR given that there are slums there that are worse than anything currently in the US.

...it's not just gunplay.

...There's spellcasting (which is a lot more subtle, for instance, you could be doing something right now that the mage wants
...Terrorism and Sabotage via the Matrix (no longer do terrorists need to physically take over the flight deck of a plane to fly it into a building or the switch house to switch that express train to the wrong track)
...gangs and gang violence appear to be more prevalent in the future (unless you are one of the lucky ones who live in an A rated neighbourhood).
...and again, law enforcement is managed by a "for profit" corporation which only has to worry about the shareholders' interests (see the thread Shadowrun Police, there are some very interesting observations posted).

Given my current income level, I most likely would find myself living in a C rated neighbourhood at best. Only if something fairly big happened (like a gang rumble, a firefight, or some wacko peppering the area with grenades) would the Star even consider checking things out. The random mugging? not worth the trouble.

Now, make that a random mugging by a Troll against a human.

Yeah, you gotta watch your own back.

...

I have been waiting just for your response to that post. I was really expecting a bit more ...

Not keen on my cyncial take take on politics? Seems to me that is pretty much how they operate.

Of course it seems that way.

Given the random encounter rate in the Genesis/Megadrive SR game, I'd say two dozen a day throughout Seatle, give or take a few, with three deaths per shootout, give or take one or two.

That adds up to about 73 murders per day or 26,645 murders per year, which is pretty good for a city the size of Seattle.

And why not? I built the poll from the information about the election given in Runner Havens. If science fiction is supposed to be a reflection of our own times, I think RH does a pretty good job.

Are we talking about the same guy here?

Uhm... That seems a good bit over the top, even for a violent city like Seattle...

Not really.

HAHAHAHAHA

Unless they choose the corps to secure their independence, which tried their damndest to everything to stop the attack. Or unless they take refuge with the Salish-Shidhe Council and PCC - neither of which suffered such a physical attack. The former also was waging war against the country that was effectively providing refuge to Hel, the other Winternight base. I mean, dude, the UCAS was incapable of protecting its own capital from a nuclear attack, and then in a heightened state of emergency suffered a coup d'etat which culled half the people listed in the Presidential Succession Act.

At this point, being annexed by California looks more attractive than throwing their lot in with the UCAS.

...all the more.

in RL, cell phones have become a major distraction behind the wheel. According to the AAA a couple years ago, there were more accidents attributed to cell phone use than to drunk driving. Some countries have even banned phone use while driving.

Now, add simsense to the mix and stir...

As to City Hall coming down on the the Star to better police the neighbourhoods, in our group, the election has occurred. It will be business as usual for the next six years.

Even if KE did take over and things were get cleaned up at first, I give it a couple years at best before everything will be back to where it was. KE is the only other major provider of law enforcement services. Once complacency sets in again, who else would there be to go to?

While shadowrunners generally get more votes (one per SIN, in fact), I doubt that the shadowrunner vote is going to be particularly weighty. So, probably not a shadowrunner.

But I'll take either you transplanted, you as you imagine you'd be, you as you'd imagine you'd like to be, or something similar. You're a gamer; be creative.

Something tells me that that 100 nuyen/hour isn't covering the cost of materials for spell research, conjuring spirits/elementals, access to spell formulae, and ad nauseum.

And the problem with the mundane CAS solution is that such a response is the everyman's solution. If it is considered the rule that if you do it, other people will as well, we see the reason why the sprawl extends so far in 2070.

Actually, I'm a meat popsicle.

I'd vote, but if it's supposed to be me in 2070, none of those would be the top of my list.

If you worked 6 hours a day (includes travel time between jobs and a lunch break, assuming one is only paid while actually putting up the barriers), 5 days a week and 42 weeks of the year, that would be: 600 x 5 x 42 = 126,000 nuyen per year. That's not bad money. Runners might make more, but they also have more expenses like fake SINs, multiple residences, extra security and so on. Or more concern would be the slower accumulation of Karma, which would be more of a hinderance than the cashflow.

And the UCAS is just going to let its only remaining Pacific port sucede without using military force to bring it back to the fold. Right. Is the SSC going to help when that happens? After fighting a major war with and still occupying Tsimshian? I think not. They'll broker a nice little deal with the UCAS, get some perks out of it, and let the whole deal go down. And Seattle becomes another Baghdad under martial law until the UCAS feel like letting up.

Hell, odds are the New Revolution is fronting the money for the successionist movement to create just such a scenario so they can get more troops in place to eventually strike at the NAN.

"And the United States is just going to let Hawai'i secede, which is the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet and houses bases for all branches, without using military forces to bring it back to the fold? Right."

And yet that's exactly what they did. Although for good measure Ares reminded the Navy that it could kill a carrier battle group within a few seconds just to make sure this point was crystal clear: Hawai'i is seceding and fuck you if you think you can stop it.