Morbus
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
The Alley of Infinite Angles has put up a lengthy interview with Briosafreak, our beloved "Fallout diplomat", responsible for Fallout 3: A Post-Nuclear Blog and Site Director Planet Fallout (3).<blockquote>4. As someone who's 'been around the block' in terms of Fallout fandom, how would you describe Fallout fans as a whole? (Yes, I know that we can't think of them as one group, but I'm sure you have your own categories in mind.)
Oh so many categories. You have the devoted and incredibly tech savy Russian fans, the gigantic number of Polish fans that cover all spectrums of gaming in Poland, the modders from other countries that don’t get all the attention they deserve, the old school roleplayers, either with a P&P background or that come from early CRPGs, the new waves of fans that show up with the almost yearly budget releases of the classic games, the people in small isolated groups and those that go to everywhere and want to know everything about the game, old BIS followers, old Troika followers, new Bethsoft fans, the GameFaq kids, the casual fans that show up for a brief time or once every year… there are just so many categories and crossed links between those groups that would be impossible to name them all.
So diversity is an important word, as resilience. That’s the most important feature of Fallout fans as a whole, they are incredibly resilient to time and adversities. (...)
6. What kind of impact do/did Fallout fans have on the production of Fallout, whether with Interplay or now with Bethesda? Do you think they've been able to influence the way the franchise has gone/is going?
The way they followed the original is still available in the old newsgroups, but much of the FO2 data seems to have been lost forever.
The Interplay message boards during the Tactics days was a great loud party, with the AtheistsforChrisT (as in Chris Taylor) like Killzig or JC causing all sorts of trouble, Saint_Proverbius making some great posts, and the Baldurs Gate and Fallout fans always picking at each other.(...)
11. What role can Fallout fans play in this whole business – the making of Fallout, the way people see and understand Fallout? What do you see as your own role in the world of Fallout?
My role? Nothing special, I was the facilitator, the “bridgekeeper”, one of many “carrying the torch”, and sometimes the strategist, when it was needed; now just want to help out with Planet Fallout and hang around with my friends in the community.
Now any community as resilient as the Fallout community can make a difference, can really get things moving, and provide an alternate space inside the world of gaming communities. They set the tone, make others react to what they say and do, so they can do a lot. As long as they remain rowdy, defiant and critical that is, and start producing more in terms of content, on the classic games or with the new one. That’s harder to do, we’ll see.
Bethsoft actually read thoroughly what the fans said, and adapted a lot of things to the synthesis they would make of the information. I know this for a fact. But fans couldn’t change the outcome of how Fallout 3 will be, again different cultures, with difficulties in communicating, so in that particular sense fans did what they could, and it’s time to move on and judge what Bethsoft did with the game instead.</blockquote>There's a lot more, and it's a very good read. Don't miss it.
Link: 'Briosafreak' @ The Alley of Infinite Angles
Thanks Ausir.
Oh so many categories. You have the devoted and incredibly tech savy Russian fans, the gigantic number of Polish fans that cover all spectrums of gaming in Poland, the modders from other countries that don’t get all the attention they deserve, the old school roleplayers, either with a P&P background or that come from early CRPGs, the new waves of fans that show up with the almost yearly budget releases of the classic games, the people in small isolated groups and those that go to everywhere and want to know everything about the game, old BIS followers, old Troika followers, new Bethsoft fans, the GameFaq kids, the casual fans that show up for a brief time or once every year… there are just so many categories and crossed links between those groups that would be impossible to name them all.
So diversity is an important word, as resilience. That’s the most important feature of Fallout fans as a whole, they are incredibly resilient to time and adversities. (...)
6. What kind of impact do/did Fallout fans have on the production of Fallout, whether with Interplay or now with Bethesda? Do you think they've been able to influence the way the franchise has gone/is going?
The way they followed the original is still available in the old newsgroups, but much of the FO2 data seems to have been lost forever.
The Interplay message boards during the Tactics days was a great loud party, with the AtheistsforChrisT (as in Chris Taylor) like Killzig or JC causing all sorts of trouble, Saint_Proverbius making some great posts, and the Baldurs Gate and Fallout fans always picking at each other.(...)
11. What role can Fallout fans play in this whole business – the making of Fallout, the way people see and understand Fallout? What do you see as your own role in the world of Fallout?
My role? Nothing special, I was the facilitator, the “bridgekeeper”, one of many “carrying the torch”, and sometimes the strategist, when it was needed; now just want to help out with Planet Fallout and hang around with my friends in the community.
Now any community as resilient as the Fallout community can make a difference, can really get things moving, and provide an alternate space inside the world of gaming communities. They set the tone, make others react to what they say and do, so they can do a lot. As long as they remain rowdy, defiant and critical that is, and start producing more in terms of content, on the classic games or with the new one. That’s harder to do, we’ll see.
Bethsoft actually read thoroughly what the fans said, and adapted a lot of things to the synthesis they would make of the information. I know this for a fact. But fans couldn’t change the outcome of how Fallout 3 will be, again different cultures, with difficulties in communicating, so in that particular sense fans did what they could, and it’s time to move on and judge what Bethsoft did with the game instead.</blockquote>There's a lot more, and it's a very good read. Don't miss it.
Link: 'Briosafreak' @ The Alley of Infinite Angles
Thanks Ausir.
