Fallout 76's online jerks parodied in New Vegas mod
Griefers galore!
While Fallout 76 isn't out until November, you can experience a taste of post-apocalyptic multiplayer survival today in a new mod for Fallout: New Vegas. Modder "funkySwadling" has blessed the Mojave Wasteland with the sort of folks you might meet online: jerks camping newbies, jerks spamming terrible sounds and shouting hateful epithets, and groups of players geared to the nines who'll be tickled by your puny weapons. The Fallout 76 Experience continues the fine tradition of mods for old games parodying newer games in the series, and I... hated the bit I played, in the way I'm supposed to?
Fire up the mod, start a new game, and the first NPC you'll meet in the town of Goodsprings after leaving Doc Mitchell's house is xXnewbPonerXx. Wearing a wrestling singlet and wielding a flamethrower, he'll chase you around squealing, shouting slurs, and calling you a beta. A little further into town you'll find (AFK) FAZE_Swagl0rd, blasting a mega-distorted version of the Thomas the Tank Engine theme song through their mic. A dozen 'player' NPCs are scattered across the world, waiting to make your game worse.
If you want to experience crude, terrible, and hateful things, head over to Nexus Mods to download The Fallout 76 Experience.
I do enjoy seeing people make this sort of parody mod. Deus Ex's Unreal Revolution mod got sarky about Human Revolution's signposting, knifearms, and pre-order-exclusive mission. One Doom mod adds loot boxes, requiring players find keys to unlock chests to get weapons and pick-ups. And Doom's Call of Dooty is full of cutscenes, voiceovers, waypoint markers, QTEs, and adverts.
Sure, I'm tired of "games were better in the good old days" arguments, but I'm well up for people wading into that with playable gag mods. Everything is better with gag mods.
Given that Fallout 76 is due to get mod support, I suppose someone could perhaps add The Fallout 76 Experience's hateful NPCs for real. As for what the game will actually be like, here's (almost) everything we know.