Fallout 3 A cultural analysis

by Jimmy Sahlin

Introduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Table of ContentsIntroduction3About Fallout 34Our culture in Fallout 34Cultural rhetorics5Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of gender7Culture as part of meaningful play8Open culture and replay value8Conclusion9References11

2

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

IntroductionThe purpose of this analysis is to examine the cultural aspects of Fallout 3 What parts of our own culture its norms and ideals are represented in the game and what cultural rhetorics can we recognize And does the recognition of our culture increase the interest and motivation of the player and the overall replay-value of the game When analyzing Fallout 3 it is needed to compare certain aspects not only to itrsquos predecessors but to the developers earlier games aswell since they too affect the final game design

3

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

About Fallout 3Fallout 3 is a ldquopost-nuclearrdquo role-playing game set in a not so distant future taking place in the year 2277 200 years after a nuclear war between the US and China The game is developed by Bethesda Softworks creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series(Daggerfall Morrowind Oblivion to name a few) and is the sequel to Interplays Fallout 1 amp 2

Fallout 3 is a bit different compared to itrsquos predecessors The UI(User Interface) has changed and point-of-view is different As its predecessors had an isometric view Bethesda has chosen to do a 3D first person view basing it on the same engine as their flag ship Oblivion If one has played Oblivion the resemblances are very clear Many of the in-game characters (NPCs Non-Player Character) are very much similarto the Oblivion characters and the way the camera zooms in front-view on the NPCrsquos face during dialogue is exactly the same

The game mechanics such as the main attributes of the character or SPECIAL(Strength Perception Endurance Charisma Intelligence Agility and Luck) are the same as the earlier Fallouts but some skills have been merged together or removed completely As Fallout 1 and 2 was turn-based Fallout 3 is real-time with the ability to pause and enter VATS(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in order to target specific body-parts(Fallout Wikia 2009)

Our culture in Fallout 3The symbolism and cultural representation in Fallout 3 is very strong both when it comes to the environment and the quests you can undertake The game takes place in the ruins of Washington DC set 200 years into the future after ldquoThe Great Warrdquo between communist China and The US This setting is very classic and intentionally so aswell since the culture and environment of Fallout is inspired by the future-optimistic post-war era of the 1950s America and its idea of the future with its fusion cars monorails and slender lined sky-scrapes And with that the Communist paranoia typical of that era is included aswell

Fallout 3 is somewhat of a lesson in American history where the surviving inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland as the surrounding area is called try to rebuild a life just like settlers in the Wild West An example of how the American culture is represented is The Mall of Washington DC with the Lincoln Memorial and the war-torn Washington Monument One of the quests is to rid the Lincoln Memorial from slavers or if you play an evil character join the slavers The historical American Civil-War takes place yet again right on the footsteps of the memorial

Overall you get a very Western feeling when you roam the country side with the small shacks and temporary habitats among the ruins of the elevated high-ways There are burned down farm houses and amongst the ruins Brahmin (a two-headed mutated cow) roams around in the settlements The name Brahmin by the way is a cultural reference in itself Brahmin is the Indian caste of lecturers scholars and preachers It means ldquoa person who knows Brahmanrdquo where Brahman is the Absolute Reality of which everything is based upon(Brahmin wikipedia 2009) And since cows are treated as holy in the Hindu society of India it gives a new meaning to the phrase ldquoHoly Cowrdquo

4

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Cultural representations like these virtually ldquolitterrdquo Fallout 3 just like its predecessors In almost every quest in every area you can find some trivial information linking it often in an amusing and ironic way to our society Here are a few examples

bull In the Galaxy News Radio building theres a computer terminal making reference to the metal band Fear Factory by using a line from one of their songs in a log entry An entry made by BBell Burton Bell was the lead singer of that said group (Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the quest Blood Ties where a settlement is attacked by what seems to be Vampires you have to go search for a missing person In Bethesdarsquos Morrowind theres a quest with the same name where you have to search for a missing son of a Vampire The ldquovampiresrdquo of Fallout 3 calls themselves The Family which one can suspect is inspired from the movie ldquoThe Omega Manrdquo(1971) or the more recent movie ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(2007) who are based on the book ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(1954) by Richard Matheson Also a password in one of the computers at The Family is ldquoVespertilioldquo which is a strain of bats(Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the DLC(Downloadable Content) The Pitt the player travels to the remnants of Pittsburgh who have a problem with a disease that turns people into flesh eating ghouls Even here ldquoI am Legendrdquo is present which also contains the story of a disease turning people to a vampiric behavior In one of the quests ldquoMill Workerrdquo you are asked to aquire Steel Ingots littered around the Steel Yard of a factory The foreman Everett calls you ldquoone hell of a steelerrdquo where steeler is a common name for a worker in a steel yard and also the name of the American Football team Pittsburgh Steelers Another reference is when the Everett mentions Monroeville in a dialogue Monroeville Pennsylvania is the place where the horror-film ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo(1978) was filmed by George A Romero who just happens to be native to Pittsburgh(Fallout Wikia 2009)

All these references show that cultural phenomenons all over the world are a great inspiration to the contents of the game And by implementing these cultural references even though they are modified to fit in to the context of the game we get a more plausible and immersive universe that possible attracts players attention It gives a player a sort of ldquoahardquo feeling and sense of recognition And the references are not only to real-life culture but to the developers previous games aswell

Another aspect that can be derived from the characteristics of the references is that many of the references requires a deeper knowledge of the subject in order to recognize it As with the example of Monroeville it is not common knowledge that ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo was filmed on that location We can suspect that these references are targeted towards an audience more delved in these topics And that is the case in most of these sublime references It requires a pre-knowledge to be recognized and enjoyed So one target audience of this game are the enthusiasts in the different sub-cultures within our own culture

Cultural rhetoricsThroughout the game we are reminded about the threat from the Chinese communists We can sense an underlying rhetoric of American culture with the classic conflict between capitalism and communism In the final moments of the game the giant US made robot Liberty Prime lashes out patriotic propaganda often using the word ldquodemocracyrdquo while crushing the enemy Something we can relate to our real life current events where as with the war in Iraq often being motivated by

5

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Table of ContentsIntroduction3About Fallout 34Our culture in Fallout 34Cultural rhetorics5Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of gender7Culture as part of meaningful play8Open culture and replay value8Conclusion9References11

2

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

IntroductionThe purpose of this analysis is to examine the cultural aspects of Fallout 3 What parts of our own culture its norms and ideals are represented in the game and what cultural rhetorics can we recognize And does the recognition of our culture increase the interest and motivation of the player and the overall replay-value of the game When analyzing Fallout 3 it is needed to compare certain aspects not only to itrsquos predecessors but to the developers earlier games aswell since they too affect the final game design

3

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

About Fallout 3Fallout 3 is a ldquopost-nuclearrdquo role-playing game set in a not so distant future taking place in the year 2277 200 years after a nuclear war between the US and China The game is developed by Bethesda Softworks creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series(Daggerfall Morrowind Oblivion to name a few) and is the sequel to Interplays Fallout 1 amp 2

Fallout 3 is a bit different compared to itrsquos predecessors The UI(User Interface) has changed and point-of-view is different As its predecessors had an isometric view Bethesda has chosen to do a 3D first person view basing it on the same engine as their flag ship Oblivion If one has played Oblivion the resemblances are very clear Many of the in-game characters (NPCs Non-Player Character) are very much similarto the Oblivion characters and the way the camera zooms in front-view on the NPCrsquos face during dialogue is exactly the same

The game mechanics such as the main attributes of the character or SPECIAL(Strength Perception Endurance Charisma Intelligence Agility and Luck) are the same as the earlier Fallouts but some skills have been merged together or removed completely As Fallout 1 and 2 was turn-based Fallout 3 is real-time with the ability to pause and enter VATS(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in order to target specific body-parts(Fallout Wikia 2009)

Our culture in Fallout 3The symbolism and cultural representation in Fallout 3 is very strong both when it comes to the environment and the quests you can undertake The game takes place in the ruins of Washington DC set 200 years into the future after ldquoThe Great Warrdquo between communist China and The US This setting is very classic and intentionally so aswell since the culture and environment of Fallout is inspired by the future-optimistic post-war era of the 1950s America and its idea of the future with its fusion cars monorails and slender lined sky-scrapes And with that the Communist paranoia typical of that era is included aswell

Fallout 3 is somewhat of a lesson in American history where the surviving inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland as the surrounding area is called try to rebuild a life just like settlers in the Wild West An example of how the American culture is represented is The Mall of Washington DC with the Lincoln Memorial and the war-torn Washington Monument One of the quests is to rid the Lincoln Memorial from slavers or if you play an evil character join the slavers The historical American Civil-War takes place yet again right on the footsteps of the memorial

Overall you get a very Western feeling when you roam the country side with the small shacks and temporary habitats among the ruins of the elevated high-ways There are burned down farm houses and amongst the ruins Brahmin (a two-headed mutated cow) roams around in the settlements The name Brahmin by the way is a cultural reference in itself Brahmin is the Indian caste of lecturers scholars and preachers It means ldquoa person who knows Brahmanrdquo where Brahman is the Absolute Reality of which everything is based upon(Brahmin wikipedia 2009) And since cows are treated as holy in the Hindu society of India it gives a new meaning to the phrase ldquoHoly Cowrdquo

4

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Cultural representations like these virtually ldquolitterrdquo Fallout 3 just like its predecessors In almost every quest in every area you can find some trivial information linking it often in an amusing and ironic way to our society Here are a few examples

bull In the Galaxy News Radio building theres a computer terminal making reference to the metal band Fear Factory by using a line from one of their songs in a log entry An entry made by BBell Burton Bell was the lead singer of that said group (Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the quest Blood Ties where a settlement is attacked by what seems to be Vampires you have to go search for a missing person In Bethesdarsquos Morrowind theres a quest with the same name where you have to search for a missing son of a Vampire The ldquovampiresrdquo of Fallout 3 calls themselves The Family which one can suspect is inspired from the movie ldquoThe Omega Manrdquo(1971) or the more recent movie ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(2007) who are based on the book ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(1954) by Richard Matheson Also a password in one of the computers at The Family is ldquoVespertilioldquo which is a strain of bats(Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the DLC(Downloadable Content) The Pitt the player travels to the remnants of Pittsburgh who have a problem with a disease that turns people into flesh eating ghouls Even here ldquoI am Legendrdquo is present which also contains the story of a disease turning people to a vampiric behavior In one of the quests ldquoMill Workerrdquo you are asked to aquire Steel Ingots littered around the Steel Yard of a factory The foreman Everett calls you ldquoone hell of a steelerrdquo where steeler is a common name for a worker in a steel yard and also the name of the American Football team Pittsburgh Steelers Another reference is when the Everett mentions Monroeville in a dialogue Monroeville Pennsylvania is the place where the horror-film ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo(1978) was filmed by George A Romero who just happens to be native to Pittsburgh(Fallout Wikia 2009)

All these references show that cultural phenomenons all over the world are a great inspiration to the contents of the game And by implementing these cultural references even though they are modified to fit in to the context of the game we get a more plausible and immersive universe that possible attracts players attention It gives a player a sort of ldquoahardquo feeling and sense of recognition And the references are not only to real-life culture but to the developers previous games aswell

Another aspect that can be derived from the characteristics of the references is that many of the references requires a deeper knowledge of the subject in order to recognize it As with the example of Monroeville it is not common knowledge that ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo was filmed on that location We can suspect that these references are targeted towards an audience more delved in these topics And that is the case in most of these sublime references It requires a pre-knowledge to be recognized and enjoyed So one target audience of this game are the enthusiasts in the different sub-cultures within our own culture

Cultural rhetoricsThroughout the game we are reminded about the threat from the Chinese communists We can sense an underlying rhetoric of American culture with the classic conflict between capitalism and communism In the final moments of the game the giant US made robot Liberty Prime lashes out patriotic propaganda often using the word ldquodemocracyrdquo while crushing the enemy Something we can relate to our real life current events where as with the war in Iraq often being motivated by

5

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

IntroductionThe purpose of this analysis is to examine the cultural aspects of Fallout 3 What parts of our own culture its norms and ideals are represented in the game and what cultural rhetorics can we recognize And does the recognition of our culture increase the interest and motivation of the player and the overall replay-value of the game When analyzing Fallout 3 it is needed to compare certain aspects not only to itrsquos predecessors but to the developers earlier games aswell since they too affect the final game design

3

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

About Fallout 3Fallout 3 is a ldquopost-nuclearrdquo role-playing game set in a not so distant future taking place in the year 2277 200 years after a nuclear war between the US and China The game is developed by Bethesda Softworks creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series(Daggerfall Morrowind Oblivion to name a few) and is the sequel to Interplays Fallout 1 amp 2

Fallout 3 is a bit different compared to itrsquos predecessors The UI(User Interface) has changed and point-of-view is different As its predecessors had an isometric view Bethesda has chosen to do a 3D first person view basing it on the same engine as their flag ship Oblivion If one has played Oblivion the resemblances are very clear Many of the in-game characters (NPCs Non-Player Character) are very much similarto the Oblivion characters and the way the camera zooms in front-view on the NPCrsquos face during dialogue is exactly the same

The game mechanics such as the main attributes of the character or SPECIAL(Strength Perception Endurance Charisma Intelligence Agility and Luck) are the same as the earlier Fallouts but some skills have been merged together or removed completely As Fallout 1 and 2 was turn-based Fallout 3 is real-time with the ability to pause and enter VATS(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in order to target specific body-parts(Fallout Wikia 2009)

Our culture in Fallout 3The symbolism and cultural representation in Fallout 3 is very strong both when it comes to the environment and the quests you can undertake The game takes place in the ruins of Washington DC set 200 years into the future after ldquoThe Great Warrdquo between communist China and The US This setting is very classic and intentionally so aswell since the culture and environment of Fallout is inspired by the future-optimistic post-war era of the 1950s America and its idea of the future with its fusion cars monorails and slender lined sky-scrapes And with that the Communist paranoia typical of that era is included aswell

Fallout 3 is somewhat of a lesson in American history where the surviving inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland as the surrounding area is called try to rebuild a life just like settlers in the Wild West An example of how the American culture is represented is The Mall of Washington DC with the Lincoln Memorial and the war-torn Washington Monument One of the quests is to rid the Lincoln Memorial from slavers or if you play an evil character join the slavers The historical American Civil-War takes place yet again right on the footsteps of the memorial

Overall you get a very Western feeling when you roam the country side with the small shacks and temporary habitats among the ruins of the elevated high-ways There are burned down farm houses and amongst the ruins Brahmin (a two-headed mutated cow) roams around in the settlements The name Brahmin by the way is a cultural reference in itself Brahmin is the Indian caste of lecturers scholars and preachers It means ldquoa person who knows Brahmanrdquo where Brahman is the Absolute Reality of which everything is based upon(Brahmin wikipedia 2009) And since cows are treated as holy in the Hindu society of India it gives a new meaning to the phrase ldquoHoly Cowrdquo

4

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Cultural representations like these virtually ldquolitterrdquo Fallout 3 just like its predecessors In almost every quest in every area you can find some trivial information linking it often in an amusing and ironic way to our society Here are a few examples

bull In the Galaxy News Radio building theres a computer terminal making reference to the metal band Fear Factory by using a line from one of their songs in a log entry An entry made by BBell Burton Bell was the lead singer of that said group (Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the quest Blood Ties where a settlement is attacked by what seems to be Vampires you have to go search for a missing person In Bethesdarsquos Morrowind theres a quest with the same name where you have to search for a missing son of a Vampire The ldquovampiresrdquo of Fallout 3 calls themselves The Family which one can suspect is inspired from the movie ldquoThe Omega Manrdquo(1971) or the more recent movie ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(2007) who are based on the book ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(1954) by Richard Matheson Also a password in one of the computers at The Family is ldquoVespertilioldquo which is a strain of bats(Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the DLC(Downloadable Content) The Pitt the player travels to the remnants of Pittsburgh who have a problem with a disease that turns people into flesh eating ghouls Even here ldquoI am Legendrdquo is present which also contains the story of a disease turning people to a vampiric behavior In one of the quests ldquoMill Workerrdquo you are asked to aquire Steel Ingots littered around the Steel Yard of a factory The foreman Everett calls you ldquoone hell of a steelerrdquo where steeler is a common name for a worker in a steel yard and also the name of the American Football team Pittsburgh Steelers Another reference is when the Everett mentions Monroeville in a dialogue Monroeville Pennsylvania is the place where the horror-film ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo(1978) was filmed by George A Romero who just happens to be native to Pittsburgh(Fallout Wikia 2009)

All these references show that cultural phenomenons all over the world are a great inspiration to the contents of the game And by implementing these cultural references even though they are modified to fit in to the context of the game we get a more plausible and immersive universe that possible attracts players attention It gives a player a sort of ldquoahardquo feeling and sense of recognition And the references are not only to real-life culture but to the developers previous games aswell

Another aspect that can be derived from the characteristics of the references is that many of the references requires a deeper knowledge of the subject in order to recognize it As with the example of Monroeville it is not common knowledge that ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo was filmed on that location We can suspect that these references are targeted towards an audience more delved in these topics And that is the case in most of these sublime references It requires a pre-knowledge to be recognized and enjoyed So one target audience of this game are the enthusiasts in the different sub-cultures within our own culture

Cultural rhetoricsThroughout the game we are reminded about the threat from the Chinese communists We can sense an underlying rhetoric of American culture with the classic conflict between capitalism and communism In the final moments of the game the giant US made robot Liberty Prime lashes out patriotic propaganda often using the word ldquodemocracyrdquo while crushing the enemy Something we can relate to our real life current events where as with the war in Iraq often being motivated by

5

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

About Fallout 3Fallout 3 is a ldquopost-nuclearrdquo role-playing game set in a not so distant future taking place in the year 2277 200 years after a nuclear war between the US and China The game is developed by Bethesda Softworks creators of the popular Elder Scrolls series(Daggerfall Morrowind Oblivion to name a few) and is the sequel to Interplays Fallout 1 amp 2

Fallout 3 is a bit different compared to itrsquos predecessors The UI(User Interface) has changed and point-of-view is different As its predecessors had an isometric view Bethesda has chosen to do a 3D first person view basing it on the same engine as their flag ship Oblivion If one has played Oblivion the resemblances are very clear Many of the in-game characters (NPCs Non-Player Character) are very much similarto the Oblivion characters and the way the camera zooms in front-view on the NPCrsquos face during dialogue is exactly the same

The game mechanics such as the main attributes of the character or SPECIAL(Strength Perception Endurance Charisma Intelligence Agility and Luck) are the same as the earlier Fallouts but some skills have been merged together or removed completely As Fallout 1 and 2 was turn-based Fallout 3 is real-time with the ability to pause and enter VATS(Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) in order to target specific body-parts(Fallout Wikia 2009)

Our culture in Fallout 3The symbolism and cultural representation in Fallout 3 is very strong both when it comes to the environment and the quests you can undertake The game takes place in the ruins of Washington DC set 200 years into the future after ldquoThe Great Warrdquo between communist China and The US This setting is very classic and intentionally so aswell since the culture and environment of Fallout is inspired by the future-optimistic post-war era of the 1950s America and its idea of the future with its fusion cars monorails and slender lined sky-scrapes And with that the Communist paranoia typical of that era is included aswell

Fallout 3 is somewhat of a lesson in American history where the surviving inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland as the surrounding area is called try to rebuild a life just like settlers in the Wild West An example of how the American culture is represented is The Mall of Washington DC with the Lincoln Memorial and the war-torn Washington Monument One of the quests is to rid the Lincoln Memorial from slavers or if you play an evil character join the slavers The historical American Civil-War takes place yet again right on the footsteps of the memorial

Overall you get a very Western feeling when you roam the country side with the small shacks and temporary habitats among the ruins of the elevated high-ways There are burned down farm houses and amongst the ruins Brahmin (a two-headed mutated cow) roams around in the settlements The name Brahmin by the way is a cultural reference in itself Brahmin is the Indian caste of lecturers scholars and preachers It means ldquoa person who knows Brahmanrdquo where Brahman is the Absolute Reality of which everything is based upon(Brahmin wikipedia 2009) And since cows are treated as holy in the Hindu society of India it gives a new meaning to the phrase ldquoHoly Cowrdquo

4

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Cultural representations like these virtually ldquolitterrdquo Fallout 3 just like its predecessors In almost every quest in every area you can find some trivial information linking it often in an amusing and ironic way to our society Here are a few examples

bull In the Galaxy News Radio building theres a computer terminal making reference to the metal band Fear Factory by using a line from one of their songs in a log entry An entry made by BBell Burton Bell was the lead singer of that said group (Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the quest Blood Ties where a settlement is attacked by what seems to be Vampires you have to go search for a missing person In Bethesdarsquos Morrowind theres a quest with the same name where you have to search for a missing son of a Vampire The ldquovampiresrdquo of Fallout 3 calls themselves The Family which one can suspect is inspired from the movie ldquoThe Omega Manrdquo(1971) or the more recent movie ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(2007) who are based on the book ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(1954) by Richard Matheson Also a password in one of the computers at The Family is ldquoVespertilioldquo which is a strain of bats(Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the DLC(Downloadable Content) The Pitt the player travels to the remnants of Pittsburgh who have a problem with a disease that turns people into flesh eating ghouls Even here ldquoI am Legendrdquo is present which also contains the story of a disease turning people to a vampiric behavior In one of the quests ldquoMill Workerrdquo you are asked to aquire Steel Ingots littered around the Steel Yard of a factory The foreman Everett calls you ldquoone hell of a steelerrdquo where steeler is a common name for a worker in a steel yard and also the name of the American Football team Pittsburgh Steelers Another reference is when the Everett mentions Monroeville in a dialogue Monroeville Pennsylvania is the place where the horror-film ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo(1978) was filmed by George A Romero who just happens to be native to Pittsburgh(Fallout Wikia 2009)

All these references show that cultural phenomenons all over the world are a great inspiration to the contents of the game And by implementing these cultural references even though they are modified to fit in to the context of the game we get a more plausible and immersive universe that possible attracts players attention It gives a player a sort of ldquoahardquo feeling and sense of recognition And the references are not only to real-life culture but to the developers previous games aswell

Another aspect that can be derived from the characteristics of the references is that many of the references requires a deeper knowledge of the subject in order to recognize it As with the example of Monroeville it is not common knowledge that ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo was filmed on that location We can suspect that these references are targeted towards an audience more delved in these topics And that is the case in most of these sublime references It requires a pre-knowledge to be recognized and enjoyed So one target audience of this game are the enthusiasts in the different sub-cultures within our own culture

Cultural rhetoricsThroughout the game we are reminded about the threat from the Chinese communists We can sense an underlying rhetoric of American culture with the classic conflict between capitalism and communism In the final moments of the game the giant US made robot Liberty Prime lashes out patriotic propaganda often using the word ldquodemocracyrdquo while crushing the enemy Something we can relate to our real life current events where as with the war in Iraq often being motivated by

5

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Cultural representations like these virtually ldquolitterrdquo Fallout 3 just like its predecessors In almost every quest in every area you can find some trivial information linking it often in an amusing and ironic way to our society Here are a few examples

bull In the Galaxy News Radio building theres a computer terminal making reference to the metal band Fear Factory by using a line from one of their songs in a log entry An entry made by BBell Burton Bell was the lead singer of that said group (Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the quest Blood Ties where a settlement is attacked by what seems to be Vampires you have to go search for a missing person In Bethesdarsquos Morrowind theres a quest with the same name where you have to search for a missing son of a Vampire The ldquovampiresrdquo of Fallout 3 calls themselves The Family which one can suspect is inspired from the movie ldquoThe Omega Manrdquo(1971) or the more recent movie ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(2007) who are based on the book ldquoI Am Legendrdquo(1954) by Richard Matheson Also a password in one of the computers at The Family is ldquoVespertilioldquo which is a strain of bats(Fallout Wikia 2009)

bull In the DLC(Downloadable Content) The Pitt the player travels to the remnants of Pittsburgh who have a problem with a disease that turns people into flesh eating ghouls Even here ldquoI am Legendrdquo is present which also contains the story of a disease turning people to a vampiric behavior In one of the quests ldquoMill Workerrdquo you are asked to aquire Steel Ingots littered around the Steel Yard of a factory The foreman Everett calls you ldquoone hell of a steelerrdquo where steeler is a common name for a worker in a steel yard and also the name of the American Football team Pittsburgh Steelers Another reference is when the Everett mentions Monroeville in a dialogue Monroeville Pennsylvania is the place where the horror-film ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo(1978) was filmed by George A Romero who just happens to be native to Pittsburgh(Fallout Wikia 2009)

All these references show that cultural phenomenons all over the world are a great inspiration to the contents of the game And by implementing these cultural references even though they are modified to fit in to the context of the game we get a more plausible and immersive universe that possible attracts players attention It gives a player a sort of ldquoahardquo feeling and sense of recognition And the references are not only to real-life culture but to the developers previous games aswell

Another aspect that can be derived from the characteristics of the references is that many of the references requires a deeper knowledge of the subject in order to recognize it As with the example of Monroeville it is not common knowledge that ldquoDawn of the Deadrdquo was filmed on that location We can suspect that these references are targeted towards an audience more delved in these topics And that is the case in most of these sublime references It requires a pre-knowledge to be recognized and enjoyed So one target audience of this game are the enthusiasts in the different sub-cultures within our own culture

Cultural rhetoricsThroughout the game we are reminded about the threat from the Chinese communists We can sense an underlying rhetoric of American culture with the classic conflict between capitalism and communism In the final moments of the game the giant US made robot Liberty Prime lashes out patriotic propaganda often using the word ldquodemocracyrdquo while crushing the enemy Something we can relate to our real life current events where as with the war in Iraq often being motivated by

5

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ldquobringing democracyrdquo Even though these in-game cultural references are a parody of historical and contemporary phenomenons of American culture one can still ask the question if the developers opinions are embedded within these references

In the DLC Broken Steel the story continues where the main story ends thus prolonging the game play(the game ended when the main quest was finished) As the main quest basically revolved around how to create clean water the Brotherhood of Steel(the ldquogoodrdquo faction of the game) are now in charge of the water supply handing it out in a fair but bureaucratic way to the people of Capital Wasteland As the story goes on the player are handed dialogue options that are questioning the way of distribution and asks why the water isnt sold on the market instead Here we can see a reference to the American culture and the privatization of basic resources One can suspect which the developers point of view are as you can only choose to question the current state and only offer the market solution in the dialogue options as the only solution

Further politically colored cultural rhetorics emerge if we look where the story begins The narrative character creation process starts when you enter the world as a baby raised inside an advanced bomb shelter called a Vault All of the Vaults you encounter have a hidden agenda where the Vault inhabitants are lab-rats basically commanded by an Overseer The inhabitants themselves donrsquot know about this of course as they are being deluded by misinformation and warnings about the dangerous environment and itrsquos inhabitants outside the Vault The cultural rhetorics are there and we can even sense a ideological criticism in them which may well be a representation of our own cultures current debate about security and surveillance as well as xenophobia When you determine your skills during the narrative character creation you take a GOAT test (General Occupational Aptitude Test) which suggests a very elitist and class separated society Later in the game you can enter several factories from which several tells through notes and detailed surroundings about harsh working conditions being watched constantly or replaced by robots etc The opposing faction The Enclave that you eventually fight are the remnants of the old government and is directed by as it turns out an Artificial Intelligence Is it a critique towards the current government

Cultural rhetorics can be traced around the topic of racism aswell where the conflict between ghouls and ldquosmoothskinsrdquo non-mutated humans are the two sides of the conflict For example as part of the main quest you are confronted with the option to plant a virus in the water processing plant which will eventually kill all mutated creatures Needless to say doing this will have a negative impact on your Karma which also shows the ethic values of the developers During game play you often get to make choices in how to react towards ghouls as they are accused of being violent and unreliable

The quests revolving around Tenpenny Tower (Fallout Wikia 2009) not only brings up questions about racism and prejudices but also about class often playing on the classic upper-class stereotypes The player gets to choose whether to help a group of ghouls into the Tenpenny Tower helping them to a new home This can be done either by persuading the current inhabitants to let them in or by simply killing the inhabitants Or you can join side with the tower people and just kill the ghouls

Also social problems like drug abuse is not only represented by addicted in game characters but embedded in the game mechanics as well just like Fallout 3s predecessors When the character is using stimulants there a chance of becoming addicted resulting in lower attributes when not under

6

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

the influence of the drug In Rivet City a small city situated on a hangar ship theres even an addicted character whom the player have the option to help acquire more drugs By doing this the player receives negative Karma and eventually the character dies (Fallout Wikia 2009) Yet another example on the moral views of the developers

Fallout 3 and the rhetorics of genderIts hard to determine if Fallout 3 is directed towards men or women or both To make any such assumption we have to admit the difference between men and women in our own culture and the difference between the games we choose based on gender But that would also mean relying on gender stereotypes as rulers Traditionally action games have been considered boys games while relationship games has been considered girl games However does this mean that boys and girls wouldnt cross the line that distinct girl games from boy games And who have created this distinction if not our own ideas and prejudices regarding gender related interests In Rules of Play the authors refer to gender researchers like Judith Butler who claims gender to be a social construct If that is the case making an distinction between the games girls and boys play would further cement the stereotypes as we are then reconstructing them yet again through our distinction However since these distinctions do exist because of the current stereotypes in our culture and the developers are part of the same culture one can assume the game will follow the unwritten rules that follows such a culture

But even if we would recognize the difference Fallout 3 is not very gender specific It is an action game so if we would rely on the stereotypes it would tell us its for boys However would we ignore these stereotypes theres not much that tells us what target group the developers had in mind

If we take a look on how characters are depicted the bodies are slim but within reason They also have very natural proportions in comparison with other popular game titles like World of Warcraft for instance The women in Fallout 3 are depicted as brutal and dirty like the men are They carry Mini-Guns and deliver nasty one-liners without playing on the sexual stereotypes that exists Theres hardly any objectification of the sex at all Bethesdarsquos earlier games have more or less the same characteristics It seems they try not to emphasize on difference between gender Armor and clothes are adapted to the sex however but in a plausible way In Fallout 3 the Power Armor is the same no matter which gender you play lighter armor is a bit modified to follow the curves of the body When it comes to regular clothing the entire clothing can be exchanged sometime For instance the cloth Sexy Sleepwear is totally different from each other depending on which sex you are playing which makes cross dressing not possible The plot is gender neutral as well Many games tells the tale of the men (The Witcher and the Grand Theft Auto games are good example on that) with women as bystanders

By analyzing the depicted sexuality we can see how our own cultural norms and prejudices affects the level of emergence in a game In the start of the game you have the option of choosing gender The choice doesnrsquot affect the attributes The difference comes later in dialogues and NPC approaches though only in minor changes The only perk that is gender specific is the Black WidowLady Killer perk that creates unique dialogue options with some NPCs with the opposite sex The dialogue options are often of a sexual nature which leads to the assumption that any relationships in the game are of a heterosexual nature In fact the only place where a homosexual relationship is possible is in the town of Megaton at Moriartys Bar where you can talk a girl named

7

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

Nova into go to bed with you regardless the sex yoursquore playing I have yet to see any male counterpart in the game doing this

There are little to none games where you can play openly gay or transsexual since it is at least in the United States where Bethesda Softworks are located still controversial So the controversy gets embedded within the game However since Fallout 3 with the GECK editor opens up for an open culture such ldquocontroversialrdquo content can easily be made by the players themselves which may well stretch the rigid cultural context making sexuality less controversial The editor opens up for a transformative play (Salen and Zimmerman 2004)

Culture as part of meaningful playSo does the presence of our culture increase the players will to play the game A successful game design creates an experience that have meaning (Rules of Play Salen and Zimmerman 2004) To follow the evaluative definition of meaningful play stated in the book action and outcome have to be both discernable (ie an action yields a response which is perceivable by the player) and integrated(the action affects the larger context of the game) In Fallout 3 almost every dialogue or action you do yields a response either immediate or later on in the game So by this definition Fallout 3 has a meaningful play design

So how can we connect this with the culture that resides in the game Salen and Zimmerman writes that a game designers purpose of a cultural game analysis is to create a meaningful play We can assume that if we find a representation of our culture in a game it creates an emotional connection thus increasing a meaningful play It dont necessary have to be a good side of our culture Using the topic of slavery creates a distinct good and bad side situation And together with the Karma system you can successfully play either side If we recognize bits of our culture within the game arent we more inclined to take a deeper look at them If we take map exploring as an example much of the motivation lies in curiosity What lies around that corner If we can see the pillar of the Washington Monument against the horizon that would probably motivate us into taking a closer look on how it and its surrounding area would look like after the third world war

Also action and violence being part of our culture is being used as a key game mechanic and we can recognize many of the weapons that are being represented For example if we find a striking-bat on a field we immediately know it can be used as a weapon If we see a green truck with a white star painted on it we know its a military vehicle probably containing weapons and supplies This gives us a goal Had it been a more anonymous truck we might have overseen it as scenery and missed it We can wonder if had Fallout 3s world been anonymous with fictive cities and locations had it been as immersive

Open culture and replay valueWhich are the factors in Fallout 3 that increases the replayability Fallout 3 is like its predecessors filled with multiple choices in each quest and have multiple endings This is not new for Bethesda who have had the same outline for their earlier games though this time itrsquos a definite increase in options And the choices also have a more dramatic effect on the game world It gives the player a sense of control over the game world And at each level gained you are allowed to choose a perk The number of perks are more than the number of levels available which encourage the player to

8

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

replay the game in order to try out new combinations Another important attribute is Karma which not only increase the immersion and role-play capabilities You can either have Good Neutral or Evil karma which dramatically affects the dialogue options and NPC reactions towards you aswell as the plot in the game Since the combinations are many and the game gives a concrete feedback of your choices it gives a motivation for the player to try out the different paths thus increasing the replay value

But what if this isnt enough What if the options and the contents of the game doesnt suit the player Releasing the ldquoconstruction kitrdquo for Fallout 3 the GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit also an important in-game item in the main quest) opens up for players to add their own content and modify the game It gives the game an open culture (Salen and Zimmerman 2004) allowing people to express themselves through the game by uploading and sharing their mods on communities which adds further to the expanded game experience Not only can people discuss and share their experience from the game but also materialize their ideas on how the game should be like This increases the longevity of the game By downloading new content to the game you have yet another reason to continue playing

There is also a practical reason By releasing a construction kit resourceful players can fix many bugs that was overlooked by the developers As in the case of Oblivion it had many critical bugs which the player community repaired long before the official patches was released One can suspect that Bethesda found this very useful

ConclusionThere are cultural references in abundance throughout the game As the world of Fallout 3 is a future world of our own references to art literature film history social issues politics gender and sexuality occurs frequently

Cultural references in Fallout 3 is crucial for the game in order to maintain the humour and the satiric world that was created by its predecessors A role-playing game needs to have a culture fictive or real in order to be immersive and as with Fallout 3 without our culture being represented in it the game may not have been as immersive as it is now By using a culture we can recognize it raises the motivation of exploring the game world in a deeper extent perhaps just to see how our world might look in a post-apocalyptic state

Not only are the cultural phenomenons of the American culture being represented but its values and norms as well Intentionally or unintentionally Racism and prejudice is depicted in the conflict between the humans and the ghouls Patriotism in the aftermath of war between US and Communist China Class distinction and social problems are being represented in several places like the Tenpenny Tower and Rivet City

In regards of gender representation it is more neutral than other games The character models are very plausible without the sexist stereotypes so often being used in other games However as the 1950s era in America stands as a base of inspiration its ideas of sexuality follows accordingly Theres no room for sexual expression other than the heterosexual one It would be interesting to see if anyone makes use of the Construction Kit for more gender bending mods

Bethesda has with Fallout 3 done a good job taking the stereotypes of American culture and putting them in a post-nuclear war context Both the good and bad sides of the culture are represented as

9

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

well as the rhetorics around them Now if all of the rhetorics are there intentionally or unintentionally we can only ask the developers about

10

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11

Jimmy SahlinIntroduction to Game Design

Lulearing Tekniska Universitet09-05-24

ReferencesKatie Salen Eric Zimmerman Rules of Play (2004)

Interview with Emil Pagliarulo NowGamercom 2009 httpwwwnowgamercomfeatures262fallout-3-retrospectiveo=0listing (2009)

Wikipedia Replay value httpenwikipediaorgwikiReplay_value (2009)

Wikipedia Fallout (series) httpenwikipediaorgwikiFallout_(series ) ( 2009)

Wikipedia Brahmin httpenwikipediaorgwikiBrahmin (2009)

Fallout Wikia Galaxy News Radio httpfalloutwikiacomwikiGalaxy_News_Radio_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Blood Ties httpfalloutwikiacomwikiBlood_Ties (2009)

Fallout Wikia Mill Worker httpfalloutwikiacomwikiMill_Worker (2009)

Fallout Wikia Tenpenny Tower httpfalloutwikiacomwikiTenpenny_Tower_(quest) (2009)

Fallout Wikia Overdose httpfalloutwikiacomwikiOverdose_(quest) (2009)

11