Fallout (computer game)

The Fallout Community

Most of the English-speaking Fallout fan community is focused on three oldest functioning Fallout fansites - No Mutants Allowed, founded as early as in 1997, Duck and Cover, founded in 1998 and The Radiated Society, founded in 2000. The game is also popular in Central and Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Germany, as well as in Russia. One of the fans from these countries,

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the polish artist Adam EFC TurcZack, made a tribute to Fallout in the form of a song.

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The fanbase of the Fallout series is infamous in gaming circles because of their strong reactions to arguably every Fallout game since Fallout 2. The Fallout community has often reacted angrily to announcements about the games development and has been said to be overly argumentative regarding future titles. These fans themselves say that this anger is because of Interplay's treatment of the franchise in the 6 years it has existed.

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The turbulent history surrounding the third Fallout game, the fans argue, is a good example of what they consider to be poor treatment of the Fallout series. Once in development, the prototype Fallout 3 "Van Buren" was cancelled long before release. Further angering hardcore fans, the later Fallout titles that were released were not seen as "serious" role playing games—they were tactical combat and third-person shooter games. Both of them contained many contradictions to the original Fallout setting and were not considered canon by the developers of Fallout 3 (in both the Black Isle and Bethesda incarnations).

Related Topics:
Van Buren - Role playing games

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While the later game was unarguably a flop, the tactical combat Fallout game Fallout: Tactics was moderately well received by both gaming critics and the general community. Some have argued that Tactics moderate success, based on concepts the Fallout community is not fond of, has been a major aspect of how the Fallout community is considered by general gamers.

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This sense of communal isolation again became apparent when Bethesda Softworks was given the rights to not only make Fallout 3, but also Fallout 4 and 5. The news that Fallout 3 would again be in production (after a previous incarnation had been cancelled), was generally well received by the gaming community.

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In contrast, the move was met with anger and disappointment in the Fallout communities. Denigrating Bethesda's Morrowind as a role-playing game (and the Elder Scrolls series in general), the Fallout community was most offended that companies founded by the developers of Fallout and Fallout 2 who left Interplay (Troika and Obsidian) did not gain the rights.

Related Topics:
Morrowind - Elder Scrolls - Troika - Obsidian

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Only one of those companies, they argued, could truly make a proper Fallout 3. The anger became greater when it was revealed that Troika had made an offer for Fallouts rights, but was soundly out-bid by Bethesda. In 2005 Troika indicated that it would cease operations due to lack of funding for new projects.

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Arguing that they are not "dismissing" the game series, some in the Fallout community fear Bethesda will make a Fallout 3 that has little connection to the original Fallouts— perhaps making it a "Morrowind with guns". For example, some hardcore fans of the series consider isometric view and turn-based combat to be essential to a Fallout game, however these concepts have become rare in major game releases since the release of the first two Fallouts. Other fans have argued that Fallout was successful for other reasons and that these concepts are not entirely essential.

Related Topics:
Bethesda - Morrowind - Isometric view - Turn-based combat

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A positive aspect of Bethesda's acquisition of Fallout is that the Fallout games, like Morrowind, were lauded for allowing a great deal of freedom within the game world and allowing the character to reach virtually every location in the game in any order, save for the endgame areas.

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There are two major references to the Fallout fan community in the Fallout games themselves. One is a special encounter with Unwashed Villagers, an early fan community, in Fallout 2. They are depicted as a group of people attacking a spammer. In Fallout Tactics, there is a senile old man who urinates into other people's drinks, named "Roshambo"; this is the name of a No Mutants Allowed admin, well-known for his distaste of the Fallout spin-offs and those that enjoy them.

Related Topics:
Unwashed Villagers - Spammer

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