Fallout 4

About the Game

Fallout 4 is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Fallout 4 is part of the Fallout series with 6 games and several spin-offs. However, each game has its own story, they are all characterized by nuclear catastrophes. The player controls a male or female avatar, whose appearance can be generated at the beginning of the game.

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Story and Gameplay

Narrative

The character, who previously lived with his spouse and child, is the sole survivor of Vault 111. Vault 111 is an underground research station. In the illusion of fleeing from a war, he was put into a cold sleep capsule with a few others. From there he had to watch his partner murdered and his child kidnapped. After the character has fallen back into sleep, he woke up later and saw his cold capsule was broken. After that he can free himself from the capsule and break out of the laboratory.
 Now the player is on the way to look for his child. Up to this point in the game the plot is predetermined. Now, after 210 years in the sleep capsule, the figure has returned to the earth's surface. Now the player can freely choose between main and secondary squeezing and explore the world of "Fallout 4.
The main squeeze, in Fallout 4, consists of a prologue that briefly outlines the current situation and allows for the visual generation of the character. The prologue ends with a journey through time, which the player experiences in the cryogenic capsule. 
The prologue is followed by three further acts of the game, in which the plot of the last survivor from the Valt station is continued. 
In the third act the player can choose between 4 factions. The 4 factions are communities in which people have come together. Certain actions and events the Player is taking or choosing will cause that one or more fractions will be hostile to him. With the respective decisions the player makes, some quests are closed or opened. In the course of the game, the player cannot deny every upcoming quest. However, he does not have to make a final decision for a faction. However, the upcoming quests are related to one of the fractions. By accepting a quest, he decides based on his own moral which one is the most sympathetic one. Depending on which faction and related quests the player chooses, the game ends. 
 A special feature is that the main story ends halfway through the game. The rest of the game is about the player himself, who decides in which direction the story should go. The machinations of the factions are in the foreground. The player joins these “intrigues” or not. Apart from the main plot in Fallout 4, the game offers numerous ways to play side quests. These side quests have no effect on the course of the game. They do not change the storyline or the way how you end the game. The side quests become apparent as the game progresses, but some are only found after searching for something.

Individual Freedoms of the Player

Action-Independent

At the beginning of the game the player can choose whether to play a male or female character. In the next step, facial features and other visual characteristics such as height, body shape and skin colour can be selected.
 For this purpose, the player has a number of pre-selections at his choice. The external appearance can still be changed in the further course of the game.
 The player can assign a limited number of points to his skills. With this he can increase his respective skills. One of the abilities for example is strength, which has an effect on his capabilities to fight with enemies. Furthermore he can enhance the perception with these points, which helps to become aware of certain things faster. Another attribute the player can enhance is endurance, which is noticeable during long sprints. Especially in the beginning, when the player has not yet unlocked certain speed travel points, this is valuable for his survive. The attribute “Charisma” causes good communication. The remaining attributes are intelligence, agility and luck. 
In the course of the game and with advancing knowledge, the player can unlock more points, which he can allocate to his characteristics above as he decides.
 During the game it often happens that the player interacts with Non Player Characters, short NPC’s. This interaction is mostly a communication, which supports the storyline and sometimes gives additional information which are essential for the further game.
 In these communications with the NPCs,the game allows four response options from which the player has to choose. This is similar to most other role-play games. Often the answers the player selectsin these conversations have no further influence on different events. In such moments, the player may have the impression that he has a choice. In some of the cases the conversations go round and round and the story stagnates.
However, conversations can also become decision-making situations.

Action-Dependent

Throughout the story, the player can always decide to join one of the four existing factions. Which tasks he accepts and which not is his own decision. 
With these decisions the player indirectly sympathizes for a faction - which is a morale question.The player decides for whose ideals he goes to war. Because all factions woo him. It is not necessary to decide, but some options are mutually exclusive due to hostilities. Out of the four factions one plays a special role. This faction is called “The Institute” and all other factions are fighting against them. “The Institute” is their great enemy. The encounter with the faction called “Minutemen” is the first in the game. It is a largely peaceful organization, whose main target is the protection of the people. Quests in regards to the Minutemen usually involve building new settlements, providing supplies and helping settlers.
The advantage of this faction is the possibility to expand settlements.
 The “Brotherhood of Steel” stands for progress and technology. Their goal is to get better military equipment and to create better military fleets through clear missions. Here, not the individual, but progress has priority. They use airships and helicopters, so called Vertibirds for transport. Brotherhood has no love for some of the creatures in the game and tries to kill them. These other creatures are artificially created beings, partly hostile. For example man-machine androids, the so-called Synth. The advantages of this faction are technical tools that can be available to the player.
 “The Railroad” faction is an organization that works in secret. Their existence is a rumor, they act quietly and in secret. Their speciality is riddles. The Railroad, unlike the Brotherhood of Steel, fights for the rights of synths and makes the Brotherhood its enemy.
 The Institute is the common enemy of all other factions. It is an organization of scientists who, for example, created the Synth to kill people and take their place.
In the course of the action, the task is given to penetrate the Institute, but it is also possible to join it. The player makes the decision according to his morale.

Control System

There are two different perspectives to control the Avatar. The player can choose between the 1st-person as well as the 3rd-person perspective. Both options are equal in terms of the game options means there is no specific advantage in the way the Avatar is controlled. It’s just a matter of the player's preferences. 
In combat scenes the avatar is controlled in a shooter-typical way. The player can either fire firearms or strike with any item out of his inventory he can currently choose from. The game is originally designed to be played with a controller, but using the keyboard and the mouse instead of a controller is also possible.
 Furthermore there is a support system especially for combat situations. The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen can be used to find enemies. Opponents are displayed in red. 
Especially hard to defeat enemies are shown with a skull, legendary ones with a star. Special features in the controls arise when the player selects a “High Intelligence”. If his life drops below 20 percent, his field of vision slows down and he can fire more shots.
 Pretty much at the beginning of the game, the player comes across a clock. After the avatar puts it on, new information opens up for the player. This clock combines all the information that a player normally receives via a menu.
 There is information about current quests on the clock, as well as the map with information about previously explored places and the current location.
 This clock also allows the player to reconnect character points and access two radio stations.
 The clock itself, like the whole game, is designed in a kind of retro design. The retro design and the clock as an essential part for information and also the associated view makes it difficult to keep track of the game and make it difficult to understand.

Research-relevant Topics of the Game

Decisions

Narration and Map

In the game Fallout 4, as in any typical role-playing game, there is a map that must be passed through. This map is displayed in a small, primitive form on the player's wristwatch. The map, or in other words, the avatar's world that the player traverses during the course of the game, is directly related to his tasks. The story that is told is manifest (or visualized) on the map. This can be understood in a way that each new story and information is tied to a location. This can be the activation for smaller actions. For example, this is the case when the player walks through a new place with enemies. The opponents only become active when he enters a certain radius of the map. Also certain tasks, which are known to the player from the beginning, are defined on the map. So for new quests, the avatar must always be moved to the right place. The story that is told about the character is linked to the map, as the next section is only told when the character reaches the related point on the map. The points to be reached can be understood as rooms. One task in the game is room A, the next task is room B. The player must now move from one room to the next. Fallout, however, not only offers one possible option, but can be understood to mean that there are also rooms C, D, E, etc. This also gives the player the freedom to tell his story himself. The player approaches the goal of the game by crossing different rooms. The quests in Fallout 4 offer many ways to decide whether to accept or reject them. If the Player wants to skip some exercises, he is allowed to. As the game progresses, the individual quests gradually unfold into a map that only becomes completely clear at the end. Just like the map, the story the player has created with his decisions is also revealed after the game is over. It is also not possible to display the entire map during the game. The map the player sees on his wristwatch is very primitive and unintuitive. The player's movements on the map can be compared to a graph that runs through the game world in a network. You can compare it to a labyrinth. The starting address of the game is probably the house of the character where the game starts. In the course of the game the player can choose between different paths, there is not one right path. If the avatar joins one faction, some paths of the other factions still remain open. So he approaches the goal of the game by walking through the rooms.

The player's movements on the map can be compared to a graph that runs through the game world in a network. You can compare it to a labyrinth. The starting address of the game is probably the house of the character where the game starts. In the course of the game the player can choose between different paths, there is not one right path. If the avatar joins one faction, some paths of the other factions still remain open. So he approaches the goal of the game by walking through the rooms.

Rhiszomatic and Tree Structures

The course of the game can be imagined in the form of a tree structure.The game starts at the root of the tree. At each node a decision is made. The structure is therefore hierarchical. The decision points open one or more further paths, which in turn lead to other nodes. This way, the game cannot be recognized the first time you run through the game. Only when the game is played e.g. a second time and further decisions are made, the other paths can be seen. The game ends at the last node and the resulting path. With such a structure it is therefore not possible to go back or undo a decision. The only path is the forward path. Decisions build on further decisions. Fallout 4 can be understood as such a tree structure. The root is the beginning, the starting point of the game. The avatar is in the family home at that point. Starting from here up to a certain point, the player cannot actively make any decisions. Only when the above mentioned time jump of 210 years in the story has happened the player get to some smaller nodes. Certain events are also fixed. For example, the main story where the player is searching for his son and finally finds him. At other points of the story, the player can make bigger, more important decisions. These are then the big nodes. In the end, the player has to decide on a faction. This choice then triggers the end of the game. With this decision, i.e. the decision for one of the 4 factions, 4 ways are revealed.

In contrast to the tree structure is the rhizome structure, a botanical term introduced by Deleuz and Ghuattari. The rhizome structure means that decisions do not proceed chronologically to the next decision point, but are linked together. The structures are not arranged hierarchically, but are linked together regardless of their size. The structures can be connected in different ways and go in different directions. Where smaller and where larger nodes are located is not important. They can form everywhere, in the middle of the network. Not the entire game, but individual tasks in Fallout 4 can be understood as such a structure. The game offers a lot of freedom here in that the quests do not have to be completed in certain order. The four factions set different tasks. Here it is possible not only to stay with one faction from the beginning, but to use the selection of possibilities. The game also offers many possibilities to improve and change weapons and build houses. Such a process can also be understood as a rhizome structure, since the process can be reversed on the one hand and is not bound to a chronological order on the other hand.

Substructural Decisions

Substructural decisions are decisions that are not made consciously, but arise during the course of the game. The player thereby gets the impression of being able to decide or act. During the game, however, the player is not aware of the specific decision situation because he is not told that he has to make a decision. 
It is more the decision that is made unconsciously by the action. In games that are based on such substructural decisions, the end seems arbitrary because the action has a linear effect on the player. 
In Fallout 4, the game is not based on such substructural decisions, because the game is designed for the player to consciously make new decisions and explore new avenues. 
The storyline is non-linear because of the different factions that the player can choose to play in the course of his quests. 
However, what can be called a substructural decision in Fallout 4 is when the player is deprived of the ability to begin other quests by completing some tasks first. In this case, the player is not informed that other tasks are now blocked for him. It follows from the course of the game and the story that these are blocked for a logical action.

Moral Decisions

Narrative and Morality

Games and their associated moral decisions can be divided into three different genres. The design and requirements of the games are different. 
The narrative plays a role, since the section is on the one hand fixed to it, but on the other hand the moral is closely linked to the narrative. The first genre of games can be described by a narrative that is only slightly present. Examples are arcade games like Tetris or Pac-Man. But also more modern shooter games like Call of Duty belong to this group. The games are characterized by the fact that a story either does not exist at all, or it plays only a very small role and fades into the background. In Shooter Games players have to shoot each other. A moral decision that would not be made in reality. However, a story in the background in such situations ensures that this moral decision is justified. The second genre refers to strategy games and simulations. Here long-term decisions are made. The scenarios are heading for realism. With a few exceptions, speed of reaction also plays a minor role here. Here, too, there is a strand of action, but it is usually also subordinate. A more important role is played here by the understanding of relationships and economic cycles. Moral decisions in this genre are made, for example, by accumulation and usage of resources. The third genre describes games that have a meaning especially on a narrative level. The stories that are told are the basis for what happens. Most often role plays are part of these games. These can take place in the many different ways. The simulation of a world of earth counting is necessary here as well, but the telling of the story itself is the priority here. Decisions are made in this genre to bring the story forward and influence it. Moral decisions are therefore most interesting in the third genre, because in the first and second genre only the game itself is questioned. So the question of whether the game should exist in this form at all. In the third genre, however, individual moral aspects contained in the game can be considered and evaluated. 
The player can thereby make experiences and decisions, act morally good or bad, etc. Fallout 4 is a game from category 3, and the narrative is crucial to the game. During the course of the game, the player can steer the story by making decisions. The game also becomes interesting through an exciting narrative and through moral decisions in which the player has to weigh up what he wants.
Especially since Fallout 4 is characterized by its own ability to act and the fact that the player has a variety of different paths open to him, moral decisions play a major role.

Ludic Phronesis

Morale plays a big role in Fallout 4, as players have the freedom to join the faction that suits them best. The choice of faction is a moral decision, since factions act differently and represent different moral values. 
The "'ludic phronesis"' refers to the moral wisdom that develops as the player experiences games. The player makes moral decisions that he would otherwise not make in reality. This is also because the game concept forces him to do so. The decisions made are there to move the game forward. The "'ludic phronesis"' is therefore the moral concept that the player develops during the game or even the moral one. 
This ludic phronesis develops through the "'ludic hermeneutic circle"'. This begins with the process of becoming a player. Furthermore, the circle means that the experiences of the player build on each other and the player continues to draw on the knowledge of a previous game or even on knowledge that builds on previous situations of the same game. 
This also has a great influence on the behaviour of the game control, as the player follows familiar patterns and procedures and knows a familiar gameplay. 
Moral decisions depend on various factors, not only on previous game experiences. Communities inside and outside the game are also important. Cultural and ethical values also have an influence. 
Furthermore, the player is subject to various design options and constraints within the game. 
In Fallout 4, this means that the player is not able to decide his missions completely independently. He is bound by certain rules. The game does not allow absolute freedom. The player must move within the framework given to him. All these factors contribute to the "'ludic hermeneutic circle"', which ultimately ends with the player's moral wisdom. 
The moral choice the player makes in the game does not have to correspond to the moral concepts the player feels in reality.
Moral questions or better said moral decisions are made by the player when he agrees or disagrees with a faction. 
However, the game also offers smaller moral decisions. For example, there is a situation in which one person is threatened by another. Here the player has to decide who he wants to help. 
Other decisions also depend heavily on the question of morality. It is noticeable that none of the factions is particularly willing to be assigned to the good or the bad. All factions have understandable and comprehensible goals and ways. 
The player's morale also excludes certain actions, for example if he sympathises with androids or wants to destroy them.

Emergent Narratives

Frederic Seraphine describes ludonarrative dissonance as the problem that arises when a discrepancy arises between play and narrative. 
The player puts himself in the avatar during the game. The problem arises from the fact that in no game world everything is possible. 
Fallout 4 is bound by rules. Especially in the first half of the game, because the player has to follow the main quests. After this part, the ludonarrative dissonance is reduced because the player has more possibilities to decide.
According to Simon Chauvin, Guillaume Levieux, Jean-Yves Donnart and Stephane Natkin, the solution should lie in the emergent narratives. They have put together 5 points for a concrete solution approach. 
 The first point means that the rules of the game must remain rational. This point is fulfilled in Fallout. The second point means that the player's actions must have consequences. Not every action in Fallout 4 necessarily has a consequence. But the larger decisions that the player makes during the game do have a consequence. 
The third point is to be able to take other paths. After saving and creating different scores, or even after the character dies, the player can choose to take different paths in Fallout. In doing so, he becomes aware that his decisions are going in different directions and that other paths are possible. The fourth point to mention is the uncertainty that accompanies the player. It should be impossible for him to monitor the entire game world. Especially the size of the game world in Fallout does not allow for a complete monitoring of the game events and an overview of all possible tasks and paths. 
The world in Fallout is created in a complex way and does not offer only one storyline. 
Finally, co-authorship, which means that the player should have control over the story and use the available material to go his own way. 
It is this very point that describes the game Fallout 4 brilliantly.
The main story provides the player with an exciting introduction to the world and offers many opportunities to immerse themselves in the world with its information. But what the player makes of it in the end is up to him. The open game world allows for countless different storylines and different paths. Also the possibility to build houses and settlements offer the player a variety of actions that he can control himself. 
And finally, it is also the end of the game that the player takes into his own hands through his decisions.

Future Narratives

Sebastian Domsch describes the Future Narrative as a new narrative type. Characteristics of this narrative type are the nodal points. At these nodal points the player has the opportunity to make decisions and through this change the narration. The paths that are chosen are mutually exclusive. In such a nodal point situation, two narrative events are linked together.
Any such decision situations in Fallout can be called such a node.
Storyplay is the combination of narrative and active play. In order to keep the decisions in the game interesting, information is withheld from the game and revealed in a controlled manner. The player does not decide on the amount of information. 
There are two types of information. The first is about the game design, which deals with rules about game mechanisms and functions. In Fallout 4, certain features are not revealed at the beginning of the game. The clock that the player finds in the early stages of the game reveals information about the map, weapons, quests, and other features. This information is withheld and released at a specific point in time when it fits the story. The player will only gradually discover all the features that the gameplay in Fallout 4 offers. 
The second kind of information is about the game world. These are optional semantic layers of meaning. Often, especially in newer computer games, both kind pieces of information are linked together. For example, when a non-player character explains rule-giving functions within the narrative. Commands are also often passed on to the player in this way. 
In Fallout 4, new features are often introduced in this way. For example, a battle suit is explained in a corresponding sequence by an NPC. The decisions that the player makes at the nodal points are followed by consequences, sometimes even the illusion of such a decision. To change the course of the game afterwards and to reverse the consequences, many players like to use the safegame function. This enables the player to return to a saved game state afterwards seeing the consequences of his decision and then make a different decision. 
Fallout also offers such an “undo” or “try out” function. There is the possibility to save manually, as well as the automatic saving. However, if the player makes use of this function, he/she takes the information distribution suggested in the game and can access all existing information and experience for later decisions. His former decision becomes irrelevant. 
In Fallout 4, the player can also take advantage of this “save game” feature. He can undo decisions for certain factions if he changes his mind afterwards. Even small decisions can be reconsidered if the player changes his mind afterwards. However, this has the consequence that the decisions do not remain exciting, because they are no longer irreversible. 
However, it is and remains a matter for the player to decide whether or not to or to use this function. On the other hand, Fallout 4 is not a reflection of reality, so there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this way of playing the game or changing the narrative). It's up to the player to decide how he wants to play the game and which way of playing creates the biggest fun for him.