Fallout games are known for being somewhat ... lonely. Not simply because they take place in a bombed-out post-apocalyptic world, mind you: the games are designed to be played alone.
While the lack of official multiplayer modes does sting a bit, Bethesda's reasoning makes sense: just trying to keep track of multiple people in a single virtual world can be a nightmare, but managing different quests, NPCs and moral choices on top of all that sounds nearly impossible.
Of course, as with all Fallout games, if Bethesda isn't willing to do it, the fans certainly are.
The aptly-named New Vegas: Multiplayer mod is trying to do exactly what its name implies: bring multiplayer gameplay into the world of Fallout: New Vegas. It may sound like a nigh-impossible feat, but the team behind the mod has already made some serious progress: while some major changes had to be made in order to get everything up and running, the modders behind New Vegas: Multiplayer already have a working prototype:
Again, some major changes had to be made in order to get New Vegas: Multiplayer running properly. For instance, in the core New Vegas game, bringing up the Pip-Boy menu freezes the world around the player — considering how obnoxious that would be with so many people trying to use the menu at the same time, opening the Pip-Boy only affects the player using it, not the world around them. On the other hand, V.A.T.S. (the game's slow-motion aiming system) has been completely disabled ... though it may return in the future.
What's even more impressive is that New Vegas: Multiplayer isn't just about getting a bunch of players together in the same world. Over on Reddit, the team spoke about how multiple players could influence the world for everyone — for instance, if someone killed that NPC you need to talk to, you won't magically find them alive and well. Even something as simple as pick-pocketing (a feature that some players choose to ignore entirely) could end up changing the world in big ways.
The best part is, you can help test it out: the team behind New Vegas: Multiplayer is accepting applications for beta testers over at its official site.
