[RPG] How prevalent is cyber/bioware use among the general population in Shadowrun

cyberwareshadowrunshadowrun-sr5

How prevalent is cyber/bioware use among the general population in Shadowrun?

What percentage (and what "classes") can afford cybernetic/bionic enhancement? What percentage of this percentage (of these "classes) does actually go for it? (The daughter of a billionaire could certainly buy cybernetic muscle enhancements – but would she? Why?) And what kinds of cyber/bioware do they buy?

The more recent the info, the better. (SR3 information is good, SR5 is better.) Also, the more comprehensive the info, the better. Obviously. 🙂

(Yes, this is the twin question of How prevalent is magic use among the general population? :))

Best Answer

I never saw something like an official answer, but the novels always gave me the impression that most of the middle class would have a datajack and a decent percentage would have a chipjack. Cosmetic surgery would also be fairly common.

Most of the other enhancements were probably much more rare. The rest were all the type of things that you would shell out for if you had a need (either to make up for some sort of physical defect, or for your occupation), but probably wouldn't get without a real need even if you could afford it.

As you point out, the upperclass can easily buy enhanced muscles, but why? Enhanced muscles means going through a major surgery as well as the monetary outlay, and that would largely enable you to do things that you would rather hire people for.