Fallout Evolved in Second Life: Roleplayers Create Mini-MMO Inspired by Bethesda's Post-Apocalyptic Franchise

Self-portrait by Fallout Evolved player Max Rackham from the SL MMO's Flickr pool

Fallout Evolved, as the name suggests, is a new roleplay region in Second Life inspired by Betheseda's beloved post-apocalyptic RPG franchise. (Direct teleport here.) It's lead-developed by Violetta Daviau, a European fan of the games who wanted to expand on them with a mini-MMO in SL.

“The main difference between Fallout Evolved, a roleplay sim within Second Life, and Bethesda's Fallout games is surely not only the platform but also what it means to the players playing on it," she tells me. "Second Life is a platform that gives space to players to import self-created content themselves and build a world from it for whichever purposes, either for themselves or a community.” 

So the emphasis is less on first-person combat, but social roleplaying:

“Fallout Evolved in Second Life has a far bigger roleplay aspect between players," she says, "which includes their backgrounds, their living in [post fallout USA, also intrigues, threats, daily works and living, and the changing of their surroundings," she explains. "So for example one player currently plays to gather a bunch of townsfolk and scavengers with the goal to build a scrap prison for the town. Conflicts between player characters are solved with either words, or combat for which we offer a level based dice system using a character's stats and perks." 

Fallout Evolved is not the first Fallout-inspired roleplay region in Second Life, I should note -- not only have many others existed for many years, but there are even rumors that employees of Bethesda itself sometimes visit them. In any case, Daviau tells me she's seen quite a lot of enthusiasm for this new mini-MMO since its launch in recent weeks:

“We got alone in the pre-approval phase over 100 applications, and now, 10 days into the roleplay [launch], we have over 200 different characters. We have players that play wasteland scavengers, business people like mechanics, traders and road merchants, barkeepers and soothsayers. We have people of the mafia and robot army commanding Mr. House gang, soldiers of the NCR, fighters and breeders of Caesar's Legion, we have the drugged up and brutal raiders of the Fiends, refugees from the defeated Brotherhood of Steel.

"We have couriers working for the Mojave Express or the Gun Runners, and many more. Also there is Dogbite, a German Shepherd which roams around the ruins of the Poseidon Energy gas station. And all of them roleplay together, partly so much that they do not even find time to chat in the out of character chat group of the sim. There was no noticeable case of drama many other Second Life roleplay sims suffer from.”

Speaking of drama, Daviau insists Fallout Evolved isn't fanatical about roleplay adhering to the franchise canon, and is happy to mix and match with other post-apocalyptic narratives:

“People do not need to fear philosophical hard-core fan discussions... We allow a bit more variance than only what was shown in the Fallout games, and so far also the new to Fallout players found a lot of friendly help by other players or staff, be it in lore of the world or sources for fancy character outfits. And if someone wore a big book on their back (Book of Eli) or had their forehead smeared with greasy motor oil (Mad Max: Fury Road), they were accepted and played with too.”

And if you're wondering if Daviau is worried about Bethesda hitting her and the community a legal nastygram, in a word no:

“We do not do this to gain any money by their ideas or contents, we don’t even try to get money - furthermore, we pay to play in their fantastic world. As a European, in the end I pay about US$ 400 for the big sim + VAT tax per month.”

Since she’s not making any money from Fallout Evolved, her reward is strictly creative:

“[W]hile I had or helped with other post-apocalypse sims, the world of Fallout with all its detail was my inspiration,” she tells me. “I missed having a sim when I had none for nearly a year, it made literally my heart ache.” Now, however, “The aches in the heart are gone, that is one [reward]. How players love to play in the sim, how they drown in roleplay and sightseeing, that is surely another - even though it is a bonus for me, [it’s] a HUGE bonus.”

Pic of Daviau from her Flickr.

Much thanks to Alex Bristol for the tip.

Comments

[Mia Isabella]

I found iRoleplay-Fallout a couple of weeks ago and I must say;
IT IS A M A Z I N G!!!! Violetta is an out of this world creator, all the work she has put into this wonderful sim, the rules, the perks and the sweet demeanor and respect with which she treats us, the role players, it's just out of this world. I for one will continue to role play and love the world she has created for us.

Thanks Violetta!

[Isanvi]

I for one have to say the sim is great. sure sometimes the players who've been around for awhile and have established characters may come off as a bit intimidating! But don't be disheartened! Many people there are actually really friendly and will gladly coach you if you need it!

[Logan]

How does one join or enter this fallout rp sim?