The Troubling Politics of Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout New Vegas is one of those games that I’ve never really stopped thinking about. Normally, I’d consider that a compliment, and in a way, I do appreciate it for giving me a lot to chew on. But as the years have wore on, my thinking has gone from being impressed, to more critical analysis, and eventually to a kind of frustrated dislike of a lot of the conclusions I’ve had to draw. This is a game that’s endlessly praised for the politics it deeply weaves into the world, and that’s true! But New Vegas has a kind of unavoidable issue: what the script says, and more importantly, what the game lets you choose to do, that does ultimately send a message. And the more I think on it, the less I like what this game has to say. New Vegas is complicated, so what I want to do here today is zoom out, look at the game broadly, and to give a basic explanation of what I find so uncomfortable at the end of the day. I won’t be going into any deep theory or analysis, and what I aim to do here is to give you a starting point for these perspectives. Hopefully, you can take it from there if you feel so inclined. There is a deep, underlying discomfort I feel with the politics of New Vegas, and it all comes down to the futures it can imagine.

So: what can a game as open as New Vegas even say? The game lets you choose between 4 options to control the major power center of the Mojave, considered the most overarching and impactful choice. Yes, there’s a lot of smaller choices that will affect many details of the wasteland, but broadly, the future is going to be in the hands of one of these 4 options. The NCR are a militaristic faction with dreams of restoring the typical setup of American government. The Legion is a fascist invading force, with all the woe that brings. Mr. House is an oligarch who has a specific plan for the wasteland. And finally, you can let New Vegas be independent of these external forces, and by extension, the wasteland too will be independent. And frankly, from these descriptions, there’s an obvious best outcome that the game favors: an independent wasteland. It’s extremely clear: fascism and oligarchy are obviously not favoured, and references to the problems of the NCR are numerous. An independent wasteland has the game take a sort of “free to choose their own destiny” tone, telling you that everyone in the wasteland will be answerable to no unjust forces, and implying that this is how everyone will be the most “free”. This is textually what the game says, and certainly it’s the ending that most people agree is the closest to a good one New Vegas has.

My problem with this setup is certainly not that there’s a best ending, nor is it that the game lets you choose objectively evil options. A best ending is an interesting way to send a message, and as long as the script is properly framed (which I think the Legion path is), an exploration of awful ideology and evil can say a lot of interesting things. No, my problem boils down to how New Vegas sees “independence”, and how that troubled definition of independence is seemingly the best world it can imagine. Put simply, New Vegas doesn’t think community solidarity or support is a part of this best world, and instead implies that the best outcome is one where everyone is totally independent from each other. Independence is a big theme of New Vegas, and it does make sense: this is a player driven game, and the entire conceit of the overarching story is how an individual having such an impact on the wasteland can impact the general lives of people. Exploring this idea is one thing, but valorizing independence above all else has New Vegas run into a lot of uncomfortable ideas. Especially in crafting a world where all the other alternatives are clearly shown to be bad ideas, New Vegas skews incredibly closely to a real world political ideology that, well, has some real issues.

American Libertarianism is a specific sect of libertarianism, mostly divorced from the left-leaning origins of of the term libertarian, and fundamentally boils down to the idea that humanity can be the most free through laissez-faire capitalism, property rights, and a kind of “every man for himself” world. Importantly for the scope of this article, right leaning libertarians in the U.S. hate the idea of any welfare program from a state or otherwise, and especially denounce the idea of accountability to any public entity. While they’re often a punchline online (and rightfully so), it’s also important to point out how noxious and terrible their ideology is, with implicit undertones that it’s ok for the poor and disabled to simply die, and indeed promoting that the rights of individuals would be completely subservient to however those who collect property and capital want to exploit them. Generally, any form of media pushing ideals of independence above all, without any thought given to ensuring that people’s rights aren’t trampled and abused, should be given a second look and looked at with a seriously critical eye so you can figure out what it’s ultimately saying. And with that, I hope you’re starting to see where I have problems with New Vegas.

New Vegas is all about independence, going your own way as a core theme. It’s in obvious ways, where an independent New Vegas is clearly shown as the most optimistic outcome. It’s also about this in less obvious ways, where your independence and growth as a player is the very game, and your actions as a determined individual are able to change the very world. But the fetishization of independence without any thought towards what that would actually mean for a world means New Vegas, intentionally or not, becomes a sort of right-libertarian’s ideal world. New Vegas is a world where going your own way is best, and any sort of authority ruling the wasteland coming with hardships that could have been avoided with independence. Free trade, business, that’ll solve it all, make for a wasteland that prospers. I mean, the ending slides conspicuously mention taxes as a hardship a few times under the NCR, and several towns are mentioned to “thrive” with the “free trade” an independent New Vegas opens up. Helping the needy, sick, poor, disabled, that kind of community support is constantly shown as being too hard, not worth it, with the followers of the apocalypse especially being shown to struggle in this world. Despite the fact that securitrons or organized crime groups are the ones really in control of Vegas by the end, the endings still talk of “the people” being in control when it’s obvious that it’s only a select few with a lot of power still. Independence is, starkly, a world crafted to fit the right wing libertarian ideology. Freedom, property, capitalism, consolidation of wealth, one person able to put in enough effort to change the world, this is what they believe in. It’s not shown as perfect, but it is shown as best. And that’s the issue, isn’t it?

My problem isn’t that this is shown, I mean, I’d be way more upset with the Legion if that was my beef. My problem is how this independent ending is framed, how it fits into the overall scope of the game. I’ve played games where even the “good” ending sucks, and that’s ok because they’re not giving me the sense that any ending is supposed to be aspirational. Thing is, though, I genuinely think this is supposed to be an unquestioned moral good ending: that despite all the problems, this is the best outcome for the wasteland. It is framed as the opposite of fascism: it sees fascism as militant control, and so the least control possible is good. Oligarchy and neoliberal military are not as bad, but to New Vegas, they still exert control over a populace and thus are not as good as pure freedom. New Vegas has set up a world where it’s a right libertarian world or a slow slide into neoliberalism/fascism, and that’s… depressing. It can’t imagine anything better, and that just makes me sad. In a game where the writing is witty and clear when it comes to many political topics (again, the legion is a fantastic look into how broken fascism is), it is so incredibly depressing to me that it thinks the best world is… this.

Vegas could be a rallying point for community support, it could be a hub for resources and housing and health care of all kinds. The community could have broad power, without any authority to get in the way of what people need. Rather than consolidate this all as a singular power of the wasteland, Vegas could ultimately become the spark that spreads power and the ability to just live life across the land. Look, I’m no writer, and I’m definitely no political theorist, but New Vegas could have been a story where community is what prospers, where solidarity and caring and equitability are the foundation of the world after the story ends. Instead, it forms a narrative where those don’t need to be brought up or mentioned, and instead highlights the rugged individualism of the people, an ideal devoid of caring when you boil it down. New Vegas is a right libertarian’s dream world, and that makes it a deeply uncomfortable world for the rest of us.

Look, I’m not trying to demand New Vegas become a communist paradise: I’m more than OK with stories that don’t go full leftist and all. But this story is either unaware or perfectly OK with stepping into deeply toxic ideology in the “best” ending, and absolutely doesn’t do enough to highlight the issues or frame it as anything but good. That’s worth examining, I think. If you like New Vegas, well, that’s OK too! I don’t want this to shame anyone for the stories they’ve ended up enjoying. What I want is for this to be more of a jumping off point if you’ve never thought about the game in this way, a starting point to more critically examine this story that grabbed our attention. New Vegas does get a lot of praise, and I mean, I get it, it’s given me a lot to think about too. But like I said: the more I think about it, the more troubled I get. Even if you don’t fully agree with me here, I hope at least I’ve gotten you to think about the game a little more.

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