Gameplay Journal #7
Most mainstream analysis of values within video games take a critical stance, but there is an increasing awareness of values-based design as a means of affirming, exploring, or questioning values regarding politics, culture, and morals (Belman and Flanagan). These designs typically either convey ideals of their designers or radically depart from mainstream game mechanics and devices (Belman and Flanagan).
Fallout: New Vegas gets sort of placed on a pedestal in the larger gaming community, but I think it’s interesting to look at it from the perspective of analyzing value-based design (taking into account positives and negatives). The game begins similar to its predecessors with a simple quote, “War. War Never Changes.” New Vegas takes place hundreds of years after a nuclear war that obliterates the planet yet people continue to engage in fundamentally similar conflicts over power and resources. This premise can be interpreted as a bleak take on human nature and mankind’s inability to break cycles of history repeating itself, but also presents the idea of conflict as an unwavering constant with no outcome necessarily worse than another. This idea is supported by the game’s multiple endings, each outcome depending on the player’s choices throughout the course of the game and no ending resulting in a loss state. Relating back to common themes of values-conscious games, this strategy is a departure from the typical win or loss state of conventional game paths.
While I think New Vegas has many areas of potential for the discussion of values, I think the game structurally fails to push the player in any particular direction (though one might argue the disproportionate amount of content for the NCR faction may sway players to their side) because of its open endings. To derive meaningful commentary from this game, I believe the player really has to spend time interacting with characters from all factions to truly contrast and weigh their values against one another. This is important because there are no hard lines between good and bad within factions; ideals are presented somewhat objectively to the player in the form of gray areas. However, the player can just as easily declare faction loyalty within the first hour of gameplay and complete all tasks as instructed without ever considering another side. I also feel the player is given far too much control over the outcome of events to make much of a realistic statement about politics, so I think the narratives told through NPC’s stories offer the most for value design in this game through highlighting a spectrum of widely varying viewpoints on war and conflicts. Fallout: New Vegas isn’t a perfect example of quality value design and may even contradict itself in some ways (high level of player control over supposedly unchanging external conflict), but there are some takeaways to be found regarding its effectiveness on the overall game experience.
References
Belman, Jonathan, and Mary Flanagan. “Exploring the Creative Potential of Values Conscious Design: Students’ Experiences with the Values at Play Curriculum.” Journal for Computer Game Culture, 2010, pp. 57–67.
