'Ware is badass. seriously, for just a little bit of your metahumanity you can be faster, stronger, smarter, better. For little more than a runner's pocket change you can be beautiful, and for a little bit more you can be anything you could possibly dream of... right?

There's a catch that we gamers don't tend to think of but which is likely on the minds of our characters: to get all that 'ware you have to get bits of yourself cut off and replaced, your eyes gouged out, your brain cut open. To the player, who doesn't experience any of this, it's easy to think of this as just numbers.

So... how many people have made characters who're distrustful or afraid of 'ware? Not counting the awakened and technomancers, of course.

Well. People do get boob jobs, organ transplants and prostheses (metal, ceramic, plastic) today. Yes, there's usually a medical reason nowadays, but from a runner's point of view staying alive, because I can now dodge bullets is kind of a medical reason.
I haven't yet made a char who's distrustful against 'ware, because just from the setting, it's as common as watching trid.

To me, a nearsighted geek I would most likely LOVE the option of getting cybernetic eyes for that 20/20 vision and additional perks.

The best cybereye for a legal citizen at only 8,3% [the 0,5E rating 4] of your soul...

-20/20 vision
-Low Light vision (no more stumbling in the dark)
-Thermographic (my cats cannot hide from me)
-Vision Magnification (I have no need of binoculars)
-Microscopic Vision (Painting 5mm sized pewter miniatures have never been so easy)
-Eye Light System (built in flashlight)
-Free internal full HD camera with 3D ability and recorder
-Free Image Link (I have no NEED of a TV, its in my head)
-Protective Covers (no more sand in my eyes that can irritate me)
-Vision Enhancement (ENHANCE! MORE, ENHANCE MORE! MORE I SAY)

And with a trode net I can connect to my commlink and NO-ONE can see me surfing porn.

The question is what kind of SERVICE COST such gear cost in terms of lifestyle.

After all, all mechanical parts require maintenance and that is really not included in your basic lifestyle.

@The Jopp

After the rules the don't. There are optional rules for that but after the basic once....
The issue with that is always the same. It is hard to tell, how much the need. I have seen computers working for over 10 years while beeing treated like crap. And I have seen others break down after one.

Anyhow: I think the combination of cybereyes and datajack is quite common. The datajack provides storage space for your videos, pictures and a direct access. True, you can do it with a trode net too. But sometimes yout just do not have it at hand.

..i would say surgery- fee would include after-surgery check-outs, maybe 1/mnt..

Yea, and possible breakdowns, yearly check-ups and firmware upgrades.

I'm just having this image of me playing simulator games where i actually SIT in the 3D cockpit instead of looking at screens.

Dat image link...

I've never heard of medical reasons for boob jobs..... I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

isn't low self-esteem a psychological disorder?

That's why I got mine!

Disclaimer: This is a joke. Just to prevent any possible misunderstandings.

Reconstructive surgery after breast cancer is one.

Tig ol' bitties are their own reason.

There are actually some women that get a breast reduction surgery to prevent them developing back problems.

and personally if ware worked like SR I would stay the hell away from it.
Especially the eyes!
There's a type of schizophrenia where you constantly feel as if you were perceiving yourself from a third person perspective, I imagine that's pretty close to what cyber eyes feels like, no matter how good they are it's still cameras transmitting digital data. It's gonna feel artificial one way or the other.
With every piece of ware making you feel more and more detached from yourself and reality it's not a very endearing proposition. However reality suggest that's not how it works... but leave the eyes alone!

I suspect you might feel differently if the eyes you had were seriously defective. I mean, even just considering myopia (all I have experience with), better a slightly artificial feeling vision (which your brain will learn to adjust to) than continuously blurred vision, the incomparable headache of glasses and contacts, and the constant knowledge that the tech aids you're wearing still doesn't give you the ability to focus through your entire natural range.

To be honest, I doubt the continual artificial feeling of cyber eyes is going to be any worse than the continual artificial feeling of glasses; either way, you're reminded several times a day that you're using augmentation. Either way, you're relying on tech to get the vision you need. The main difference is you can't lose/bend/break cyber eyes.

But perhaps some people adjust to where glasses don't bother them, and I'm a bit odd...

Well, you can...but your usual non-runner (i.e. us) will probably not ever have to worry about it.

I'm near sighted (best eye at -2.86) with a 90 degree correction for astagmatism, I've worn glasses since I was four years old. I don't notice the glasses and uncomfortable contacts is only an issue under prolonged exposure.
So I would never replace my eyes with cameras, there's a difference between "slightly artificial" and learning your brain to interpret digital signals.

I've worn glasses since I was a child, and would totally trade them in for safe, reliable cybereyes... especially if I could get all the nifty add-ons available in the Sixth World: low-light and thermographic vision, vision enhancement, magnification, microscopic vision... all those would be awesome.

Might I suggest corrective surgery and lenses with all the gizmos mentioned above?

Yeah, Cyber-Eyes for me too please!
I am pretty sensitive to all kinds of light, so flare compensation goes in as a standard for me . .
And if i wanna sleep, i have an actual LIGHTS OUT SWITCH!
That and the Jolt-Alert would make my life much better already.

The one reason why i would not go for implanted computers . . imagine having to get an upgrade x.x

What advantage would that offer?

Cheaper money/essence-wise.
Otherwise none whatsoever. . .

Keeping your eyes

Also eye tool lasers (because lasers are awesome), and of course one can't forget ocular drones

i don't like mine all that much.

Medically Necessary: Procedures are considered medically necessary if there is a significant physical functional impairment, AND the procedure can be reasonably expected to improve the physical functional impairment.

Reconstructive: Procedures are considered reconstructive when intended to address a significant variation from normal related to accidental injury, disease, trauma, treatment of a disease or congenital defect.

Cosmetic: Procedures are considered cosmetic when intended to change a physical appearance that would be considered within normal human anatomic variation. Cosmetic services are often described as those that are primarily intended to preserve or improve appearance.

I would say something needs to fall under the medically necessary definition to be a medical reason.

From what I've seen the reason for the post-mastectomy implants isn't so much medically necessary but rather psychological and/or social reasons. It may not ride at the level of replacing a soldier's arm after it gets blown away by an IED, but restoring some sense of normalcy to a person after undergoing months of chemo/radiation therapy and surgery isn't something I'd put at the level of a tummy tuck, y'know?

Then get someone elses (bio)

The whole thing is something of a philosophical matter for me.
We interact with the world through our senses.
An artificial sense, however sophisticated will still be different, optical nerves simply process information in a different way then a computer does. Making the sense inherently "false". You're not perceiving reality, you're perceiving a computers interpretation of reality.
You may argue whether you're really a brain in a jar and the world presented to you is really an illusion... With cybereyes you know it is, taking you one step closer to being undeniably a brain in a jar.

If i can get eyes, then why NOT chose the cheaper version that i can have fit with many usefull items?

Because one of them are eyes, the other cameras fitted in your skull

doesn't mean that cams are worse. . .

No it just means they're inherently different. You wouldn't get the same sensation of sight as you get with biological eyes.
Although considering that your brain is trained to perceive information differently I'm not sure whether it would give you that good vision...

then I'm glad you aren't a claims adjuster with my medical insurance provider...

I've got 20/20 and I'd scoop my eyes out in a heartbeat for multispectrum, internal maginification and recording capabilities. I also wouldn't mind the sleep regulator; I love my sleep, but I'm not always able to log 8 hours every night.

as far as my characters, I usually approach 'ware as a nescesity (unless the character is specifically a bodymod freak). For example, my Bug-City surviving engineer/rigger has just enough hardware to interact with his machines, plus a replacement for his lower arm (he had to settle for a cyberarm that was customized for an Orc); he might have the essence and nuyen to install an internal airtank, but thats not something he feels he needs.

My current rigger has less than 1% of his essence left, but I like the more man than machine for a character who actually (kind of) becomes a machine when he does his job. The dissociation from metahumanity is already there.

I could also see making characters who cared about their humanity, and tried to keep it intact.

You're assuming there's digital processing involved. A CCD will send a video signal down a coax cable to a CRT, no computer needed. Moreover, even with your natural eyes you're not perceiving reality, but a computer's interpretation of reality, specifically the wetware CPU inside your skull. Do a little research into optical illusions and so forth; what we think of as "reality" is very much a synthetic construct.

Trouble is, the sensation of a visual or auditory (or haptic or olfactory or...) hallucination can be indistinguishable from the sensation of "real" visual or auditory (et al.) phenomena. There's really no way of knowing that you aren't a brain in a jar already - just that you know that you exist (since Some Thing is doing Something, the 'Some Thing' being 'Self' and the 'Something' being Being (or perhaps Observing some Second Thing Being, though this still necessitates the First Thing Being, as the First Thing (Self) is Observing) and you're experiencing these phenomena. You can't tell if the sensations of phenomena correspond to actual ("real") phenomena external to yourself (that is, you cannot tell if the phenomena are external to yourself). And that's before we get into the filtering and filling in that your brain does to your senses before you experience them.

And, frankly, the Cybereyes don't need digital processing between the optic and the optic nerve, as Tanegar noted. They would for memory storage and Augmented Reality and such, but they could work like a Single Lens Reflex camera - the recorder isn't what you see through, it just records the same thing.

Without additional research in actual neural linked replacement I have to agree with the above. We do have some devices that have been used on primates but its hard to ask them how they feel about the interface and yes their brainwave patterns do show up differently then normal visual activity but that could be the crudeness of the device.

The brain is incredibly adaptive to alternative input. I'm a chemist by trade so most of what my experience is with drug interaction in the brain. That being said most the papers I have read regarding brain interaction with purely mechanical devices (ie. not neurally linked prosthetic devices, buddy lost part of an arm in Iraq) suggest that the brain adapts to even to perceived connections such as purely mechanical prosthetic devices. I am not saying that your brain thinks it is the same or that he does, but after a while your brain adapts to it.

Now imagine how that would translate when your nerves are seamlessly connected to a device that while mechanical translates the electrical signals of the machine into electro-chemical signals into your brain. Yes it would be different but in the SR realm the integration of man and machine has gone on for some time and perhaps their signal translation software (or hardware) is perfected so your brain really can't tell the difference.

If, however, I was wrong and it was like starring at cameras all day I would not have it done, even with the bells and whistles.

I'm very well aware of the shorthands the brain takes with interpretating visual data. I'm similarly aware that you're absolutely unable to deduce if you're just a brain in a jar. Philosophy establish that the only one true statement you can ever deduce from reasoning is "cognito ergo sum".
However given that we lack the ability to explore whether we're just getting fed sensory data I choose to believe that we're not. Not because I discard the possibility but because we got no choice but to live in the world presented to us and without any other options the perceived world has merit.

As for cybereyes my judgements are purely based on assumption, I'm not sure how well we will be able to trick the brain. It's far off into the future with the current progress atleast.
As for SR I found out casually reading Augmentation yesterday, that the fluff supports my intepretation of it (p.28-29 if you're interested)