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Raygun
I guess it depends on what you mean by "everyone". One set of armored clothing (and I'm assuming that means a pair of pants and a shirt) costs 500¥ and provides 3/0 (which is still too much, IMO) and weighs 2 kg (4.4 lbs; but if you're doing it right, you should half the weight like everything else in the game).

A) Could you afford that, and B) would you want to wear it all the time, C) can you imagine how uncomfortable it would get?

Now, outside of the game, it's a totally rediculous concept. Body armor cannot be worn "baggy" (the bullet would just drag the material right on into your body with it) in the casual style most of us are comfortable with. Otherwise it would have to be one hell of a miracle material to be worn as a single ply, as comfortably as, say, flannel at the very best.

In short, it ain't happening.
Austere Emancipator
Some of the body armor we have now might have been considered miraculous 60 years ago. Considering the research into shear-thickening fluids, I don't think too unlikely that it would be bearable for a civilian to wear, on a daily basis, light armored clothing capable of preventing major injury from low/medium-power pistol threats as well as providing protection against stabbing/cutting and blunt trauma. The price might be too hefty for many people, though.

But, like you said, it really comes down to what kind of game you're playing. It's not really about accuracy of predictions (as if we could tell whether they are accurate anyway) as much as it is about what kind of future would be most enjoyable to play in.

[Edit]Test results, neat kevlar and STF-impregnated kevlar vs. NATO standard fragment simulation projectiles.[/Edit]
Raygun
STF is a neat concept, and I sure would like to read more about it. Particularly things like the long term effects of the STF particles in friction with the Kevlar fibers. I'd bet it has a degraded lifespan compared to plain Kevlar. I also wonder, if it existed, how you'd to wash STF clothing. It seems like STF would be exactly the kind of stuff your laundry detergent would try to wash away.

STF offers no advantage in weight, but plenty in flexibility. So four layers of STF Kevlar weighs about the same as 10 layers of neat Kevlar, and provides almost the same level of ballistic protection. Doesn't seem like much of a bonus as far as everyday clothing is concerned. "Yay! My jacket can stop a .22. Dang, this shit is heavy."
Austere Emancipator
QUOTE (Raygun)
"Yay! My jacket can stop a .22. Dang, this shit is heavy."
Sorta. A concealable level II vest (size Large) weighs well under 2kg these days, some under 1.5kg. The test I linked implies perhaps a 20% drop in weight (~20-25% drop in penetration at almost the same area density, 10 layers of neat kevlar vs 4+2ml STF). Assuming 20% more dropping from better materials all around, we'd be looking at less than 1kg for the vest, 1.5-2kg for the whole jacket including arm guards.

Lifespan might be a problem. Still, current kevlar vests don't degrade too much in normal use over a year or three. Even if these need replacing once per year of normal wear, that doesn't seem too bad. Laundry shouldn't be a problem, the protective layer should be separable anyway.
Raygun
QUOTE (Austere Emancipator)
Sorta. A concealable level II vest (size Large) weighs well under 2kg these days, some under 1.5kg. The test I linked implies perhaps a 20% drop in weight (~20-25% drop in penetration at almost the same area density, 10 layers of neat kevlar vs 4+2ml STF).

What I see them saying is "The results showed that, in general, the composite and neat Kevlar targets exhibited similar mass efficiencies. Therefore, the composite does not provide significant weight advantages over the neat Kevlar for ballistic protection." A 20% drop in weight would be an advantage worth mentioning, I think.

Hell, we're basing this all on the impact of what amounts to a .22 Short load impacting a 2" square. 20% when you're talking about a difference in fractions of a millimeter may not (read: probably won't) add up the same on a larger scale. There really is not enough information here to do anything but guess at what might happen at this point. Please pardon me for not working out any math with you tonight. I'm just not in the mood.

QUOTE
Assuming 20% more dropping from better materials all around, we'd be looking at less than 1kg for the vest, 1.5-2kg for the whole jacket including arm guards.

Which, assuming you are correct, is still a pretty significant difference from the weight of the clothing I wear normally.

QUOTE
Lifespan might be a problem. Still, current kevlar vests don't degrade too much in normal use over a year or three. Even if these need replacing once per year of normal wear, that doesn't seem too bad. Laundry shouldn't be a problem, the protective layer should be separable anyway.

So there may be a significant increase in performance when you're talking about something like a concealable vest, which can be made somewhat more bulky than clothing because it isn't designed to be worn the same way.
Austere Emancipator
There is more detail of the test here (longer version of same document). This shows something about the graph that the earlier one didn't: the 4layer+2mlSTF was penetrated less because the projectile fired at it was slower. In other words, there really isn't any drop in weight based on this.

QUOTE (Raygun)
Which, assuming you are correct, is still a pretty significant difference from the weight of the clothing I wear normally.
It certainly is, but it would not be unbearable for many. It would probably be more often found as a lining for an overcoat or a suit jacket, I imagine. Wearing armored pants doesn't seem very likely even to me, nor is armoring clothes you are supposed to feel particularly comfortable in.
Kagetenshi
For reference, I wore a sportcoat that weighed about three-quarters of a kilo (from all the stuff I carried in it) to school every day through six years of high school and never had a problem with it.

~J
Raygun
QUOTE (Austere Emacipator)
It certainly is, but it would not be unbearable for many. It would probably be more often found as a lining for an overcoat or a suit jacket, I imagine. Wearing armored pants doesn't seem very likely even to me, nor is armoring clothes you are supposed to feel particularly comfortable in.

I would agree with you, but going on what the book says about armor clothing, we would both appear to be wrong. (Sorry. Playing devil's advocate here. I love you, man!)

QUOTE (SR3.283)
The prime choice for an everyday stroll along the streets of 2060. Fashion designers worldwide offer a variety of of styles in fabrics made from the decendants of Kevlar.

I mean, it's clothing. Meant to be warn casually. It should be pretty comfortable, I think.

Yeah. It's stupid.
Austere Emancipator
Agreed.
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