Tying into SR Player Education Level:

Being me, I can't help but wonder why the breakdown is as it is.

I'm suddenly remembering when I read introductory economic theory, very shortly after having read the second edition Corporate and Neoanarchist sourcebooks, and thinking how very much of that class was review.

Has playing Shadowrun and/or reading the sourcebooks actively influenced you toward higher education? Has it influenced your choice of major?

Can't help but notice just how many of us Dumpshockers are scientists/mathematicians/staticians of one ilk or another Does playing Shadowrun -- in the most general sense -- tend to attract math-friendly problem-solvers; or, if you happen to fall on the other side of that fence, bring out latent mathematical and analytical problem solving ability in its adherents?

(And yes: I have a postgraduate paper gathering dust in the closet too.)

I wrote a paper for an English class in college on what became almost exclusively Shadowrun since the whole theme of the class was technology and society.

But generally, no. My academic career and interest have influenced my playing of SR.

I'm a history major and a computer technician. Math and I are not friends. I am a devoted fan of Ancient History and dig ED/SR crossovers. I don't think one influenced the other though. I think they are just two aspects of the same personality trrait or interest or whatever.

I have never, ever, in eleven years run a decker.

I play SR because it's so well done (and the people from FASA get a little TOO close on some things. Quebec anyone?). I'm a physics/Computer Science major. And, everything they wrote about, would/does actually work. And, i think that's why i like it so much. Because, though it's fantasy (read: cyberpunk) it's also very real.

Psychology/Creative Writing double major.

It's all about the setting.

I have a friend who turned in some Shadowrun character journal entries for a creative writing assignment and got an A on them back in High School. I'm not sure what that says about my friend or my High School, but there ya go.

I was well past any schooling before the inception of Shadowrun. In general, RPGs did not in any way affect my education or career choices.

SR has had very little influence on my educational choices as those were mostly made by the time I really got into SR.

But my interest in IR/Europe certainly has its outlet in SR, not so much in how or what I play, (though I'd love to play a military campaign in Europe ) but in the metaplot and future condition of various states etc.

I loved SoE, especially how it caught a lot of the overarching themes and currents present in Europe, especially from a historical perspective. The parallels with earlier history in a lot of cases were terribly interesting to me.

So, I've rambled a bit, but that's the kinda stuff that I really get into.

Actually Shadowrun makes me want to do anything I can to make this world a better place for my Niece, Nephew, and eventually after I meet and marry the right girl my own children to grow up in, and eventually inheret. Being that the hobby is so Fraggin cheap it kinda helps me in that, so I've got more money to spend on my education and whatnot.

RPGs in general have greatly improved my mental maths skills.

Other than that, not really.

Edward

Ive also had several instances when SR/rpgs have trivialized some classes. But theyve not influenced my choice of educational goals in any serious manner. The amount of reading done because of an interest in rpgs in general certainly helped overall, and statistics was seriously easy after repeatedly living and dying in one game or another based on the odds of a roll, but I wasnt more likley to take metalshop because I wanted to be more like my gunsmith contact =)

I dropped out of university shortly after I started playing this game (early nineties, I was studying engineering) to spend more time acting, particularily improv.
I used the pittance I was making to pay for training in martial arts/self defense, wilderness survival, and tons of other stuff, like explosives detection, whenever it was available.
Now I work with addicts and street people and occasionally do contracts as a security consultant/trainor or fighting on film.
Shadowrun probably didn't convince me to do all this stuff. Probably all the G.I. Joe comics I read as a kid convinced me to do this stuff and to play Shadowrun.
Thanks, Marvel comics! I coulda been making $200,000 a year as an engineer by now!

As a side note: my brother studies anthropology and archeology, and specializes in Central America. He's updated my Aztechnology stuff for me in very interesting ways.

I was born without a math brain, I'm afraid. It's like kryptonite to Superman. I'm a Psych major, English minor and a pretty bright guy, if all the IQ tests are to be believed. I think SR just attracts smarter-than-average players. (Generally. I've seen a few things here on Dumpshock that have made me doubt my hypothesis once or twice...)

Well, for the most part you take a rule set in shadowrun, like say magic. It has about 20-30 pages of rules that explain how magic works then you have spells that for the most part let you plug in the blanks. All spells tend to work within the same rules. this a lot like the decking, combat and rigging rules.

So it maybe harder to learn the rules at first,but once you do everything else falls into place. Unlike say D&D, witch has different rules for just about everything.

Voorhees: I don't think people from California realize just how strange California is.

Anyway, I'm a ex-Navy fine arts major with just a few semesters of college under his belt. My group is pretty diverse. We have just about every level of education people in hour age group could, from Bachelor's Degrees down to Wal-mart OTJ, with a number of completely unrelated interests.

I'm a Microbiology major. Shadowrun or RPGs in general really had no effect on my choice. In fact, sometimes, even accounting for the advanced technology, they're pretty off-base when it comes to some of the stuff relating to microbiology / biology. Nevertheless, aside from the occasional rant, it hasn't interfered with my enjoyment of the game.

Booh Yah, Happiness and Joy, I have found somebody who's selling the Carcass of a motorcycle for 75 dollars, gonna go take a look at it over the weekend.

Sorry bout that, just in too good of a mood not to spread the news around. I can almost feel the wind behind my eyeballs...

Ouch... I would really hate to know what kind of mishap would be required in order to feel the wind _behind_ your eyeballs when riding a motorcycle.

All you have to do is forget the goggles.

Were, what kind?

Oh yeah, topic.....

I was already a math and science geek well before D&D was introduced. How is that for dating myself? (No one else will! rimshot!)

I was a programmer, but now I do systems integration (read: mostly troubleshooting).

I played SR before all of that, but it didn't set my feet on the path or anything. I just liked computers (and for a rural boy in Arkansas, that's pretty rare).

Sometimes I get puzzled at certain rules (regarding decking), but hey, if I wanted realism, I'd become an elite hacker or something and stop bathing.

I'm a programmer at a government office building. Pretty boring, but it's lead me to think a lot on how I'd break in, and think very little about how crazy shadowrun decking rules. (Still has as of yet to play a decker.)

I don't think that shadowrun has changed my choice in MAJOR, but it has caused those regular wet dreams about cyberlimbs (only arms! Nothing below the waist. Some equipment is simply too valuable to risk with cyber mods.) I've agreed to let my wife get a tattoo when I get my cyberarm.

It's also lead me to spend hours and hours reading up on firearms (who could think firearms could actually get boring after a point!) tactics, laws, Babylonian mythology, blah blah blah. When I was visiting Tikal, the single largest Mayan religious center in the world, the whole time I was thinking 'blood spirits... blood spirits...'

Shadowrun, together with everything else that´s actually fun and free of heavy demands, influence my education towards not giving it the time it needs. It makes me think "I´d much rather read this new source book and plan my next game session than read some stupid book by some stupid professor just because of this stupid exam next week". So if anything it has stoped me from choosing the most demanding routes. On the other hand, playing RPG´s at an early age did help give me a free ride through school, right up to high school graduation. RPG´s do teach you a lot, but unfortunatly they don´t help you through university.