I also was wondering if anyone knew what a Dedicated Chipjack was. I read it in a book somewhere, can't remember percisely, but what is it dedicated to. I understand what a chipjack is, would a dedicated chipjack be any different.

dedicated chipjack is a chipjack with a permanently-installed chip. i don't remember what the advantage is--i think maybe it's cheaper than a normal chipjack? details are in M&M, i believe.

I wanted to vote 50% or more, but really, it depends on the population being studied. I see far less than half of the global population sporting datajacks, but somewhere between 50-75% of the corporate wage-slave population sporting the chrome.

You really think so low of the populace would have datajacks.

I imagine most normal people too have a datajack. This doesn't include the down and outs in the sprawl, but I see a lot of people having the item.

This is why I'm asking the question though. I was reading one of the first books out there for Shadowrun, Never Deal with a Dragon. It seems like datajacks are an oddity, by how the book was written. Though in other stuff it would seem like Datajacks are the norm. I think it was in the entry for the item in one of the Shadowrun core books.

I like a cyberpunk world where (like today) most of the world's population cannot get enough to eat, les alone get amazing DNI cyber devices.

I see datajacks as being a classic example of the difference between the "haves" and the "have nots" in the SR world.

I'd like to see a canon community where datajacks are the norm, but folks are still shy about them (keeping them in fingertips, etc.) Nothing says monetary success like hypocrisy.

/cynical

saying that 50% of the world has datajacks assumes an unimaginably vast increase in the global standard of living. most of the world population today splits their time between building mud huts, having sex, and cleaning their AK-47s; i don't see that improving by 2064, what with VITAS, the crash of '29, and all the other crazy changes the world has gone through. those who have the money, in shadowrun, are keeping it, not spreading it to third-world populations who will probably just use it to buy guns and kill each other.

now, 50% of the first-world population? closer to possible. there's still a lot of poor people that won't be able to afford one, though; i'd put it at 25% or less.

Maybe all those poor people are finally dead from the plauges and not eating.

The populations grew back. Those people breed like rabbits you know.

Not if you sterilize them, they don't.

I went with 10%, because I assumed you meant the global population as a whole. I doubt a large fraction of the population in Third World nations has datajacks, balancing out the much higher incidence of datajacks in First World nations.

Im gonna go this route. 75% of people. But since those with out a SIN arnt really people anyway, whos counting. Figure ya get a datajack about 18ish, and of course the magical active dont have them, so around 65-75.

I believe even in the first world they would only be common amongst college educated people. The factor here being that I am assuming age of first implantation to be when entering college. I could see students adding datajacks to there tuition on student loans/grants. Though this makes wonder if financiers are developing tax-free savings plans similar to a 529 for the bio-medical improvement of your child.

I.E. : Mr. & Mrs. Wageslave squirrel away bits of there monthly wages into Novatech's Corporate sponsored 2044 Child Improvement Mutual Fund Plan. Junior Wageslave grows up and wants a bio-tattoo but mom and dad control the purse strings to his trust fund. Junior hires a few gangers to thug over control of his trust. Corp hires shadowrunners to get the Wageslaves back for an important _special_ project report they were working on.

Gee, I hope none of my players log-on before next week.

I can't imagine the question is for the entirety of the globe.

You set many of your SR games in the poorest stretches of non developed third world areas?

I see the datajack as being the equivalent of the modern pc. Perhaps a bit less common than that, maybe about the same as laptops. The datajack is just too darn handy and what's more, it LOOKS handy and hi tech. I'd bet they would sell fake jacks as novelty items.

Getting a DJ in 2060 might be like a mobile phone contract now. The DJ would be free to anyone who signed up for high speed matrix access for 12 to 24 months. This would get the numbers up.

so the question boils down to this, its it the entire world that coverd by the % in the poll or just the developed world?

for the sake of my own sanity, i'm going to assume that everyone who voted 50% is referring to the latter.

Well, only the latter are counted as people anyway. The rest are just statistics. I assumed the poll meant Seattle SINers. *Shrug*

Developed world (Europe, America, Japan, Canada, N. Africa, parts of Asia): I'd wonder when I didn't see a datajack. Some of the novels point out that it's darned normal to get a data jack, like in Burning Bright. 2060. I'd imagine there'd be fewer Dirk Montgumery types who are cyberphobes.

Whole world: probably less than 10%. What use is it and how do you get it implanted when your world is a sand dune or something of that nature? Or if you shut yourself off from the developed world, intentionally or due to actions they frown upon?

Don