There is currently a very funny, kind of sad dust-up over Helldivers 2, in which self-proclaimed “anti-woke” gamers have previously heralded it as a rare game where they believe “politics” does not play a factor. Their faith was been shaken by an Arrowhead community manager they believed they found to be (gasp) progressive who was then subsequently harassed, but their head-scratching reading of Helldivers 2 as a “non-political” game is worth examining.
The only thing that makes sense is that these players have the shallowest of surface-level readings of the game. You are a patriotic soldier serving Super Earth. You must kill bugs and evil robots trying to hurt your brothers-in-arms and innocent citizens. There are no storylines to insert progressive causes into, everyone wears helmets so no “forced diversity.” Therefore, no politics.
Of course, this is…wildly off the mark, as Helldivers 2 is about the most blatantly obvious satire of militaristic fascism since the film that inspired it, Starship Troopers.
Firstly, in the Bethesda games the political aspect of Fallout is so paper thin they may as well be correct, most people have not played the Black Isle fallouts.
Secondly, you need to realise that people don’t see something as political if there is no dilemma in their mind, they see it as moral instead.
A good example: the Megaton ““dilemma”” in Fallout 3. Ostensibly, you could make an argument that the conversation of land development vs settler rights is a political one. The argument as to whether the lives of rando fucks living in shanties and slowly dying of radiation exposure are worth preserving if the alternative is starting over and building something better for other people could also be political at some point in history.
But in modern society, shaped by enlightenment ideas of equality and the concept of human rights and dignity, these have stopped being political questions because they sit in conflict with the basic social mores (hence moral questions) our society is built upon, and thus they take on a moral character instead.
The question “should we slaughter a bunch of useless peasants we are not in charge of to turn their land into my 15th palace” would hardly have been a matter of debate for some Mongolian horde for instance (yes, I know they didn’t have palaces, you get the point), the debate would have been about ratios of enslaved captives vs killed in battle, if anything.
The vast majority of people’s engagement with politics doesn’t even approach the level of brainrot you see online.
People want security, prosperity, and for people not to suffer needlessly. That’s about it.
In fact, most debate in society is about what those 3 concepts mean, not whether they’re good ideas.
Some people also demand freedom but they’re not the majority, and definitions of such and whom it should extend to also vary greatly.
So looking at the fallout 3 and 4 Brotherhood and saying “those are the cool post apocalyptic knights and they’re the good guys” is a perfectly in line read for the average not politically savvy person. The Brotherhood is not perfect, but they want more or less those things.
That’s also why New Vegas is by far the better game because it actually poses 2 forces (Legion and NCR) in opposition as to the meaning of those concepts and not as to whether they are goals worth pursuing, an actual political dilemma, unlike say “should people be allowed to drink water without getting radiation poisoning.”
I never actually mentioned Bethesda so I don’t know why you went straight there.
Fallout is inherently political, it’s a gigantic criticism of the US after all, politics and everything.
The dilemmas are definitely there. Should we turn humans into super mutants since they are much better suited to the environment? Are the old world values of the NCR worth restoring? Are synthetic humans the same as other humans or should they be treated differently (this is a gigantic metaphor for racism and slavery btw considering their saviors are literally called the railroad).
Everything you said about Megaton is wrong, Tenpenny wants to blow it up because he doesn’t like looking at it, there are no plans to develop the radioactive hole left in it’s place if you do blow it up. It’s 100% a black and white choice that’s there because it’s memorable and nothing else.
I’m not going to bother with the rest, it’s too long.
When someone says “fallout is not political” what I hear is “the fallout games I played are not political.”
The Bethesda games are the ones most people have played, and those have absolutely shit political depth, so the idea that “fallout is not political” is valid. It technically is but the message is so dirt simple it would make Will Smith’s musical career look like the epitome of edgy content.
Technically so is calling americans fat and lazy, doesn’t make it insightful or particularly complex, which is my point: if a “political” dilemma is shallow enough it decays into a moral one or simply into a non-issue.
I was being exceedingly charitable but my point stands, this is the caliber of choices you have to “think” about in the bethesda fallout games: cartoonish evil or sensible normal person.
Sorry for trying to have an actual in depth conversation and not a soundbyte like “hurr durr the people who disagree with me are media illiterates.” Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.