Developing a Line of Inquiry: Assignment Two Planning

List some ideas/areas of interest that really stood out to you about Assignment One. In other words: why
this particular area of interest, what stood out, why does it interest you, what lines of inquiry might you like
to pursue etc?

What is an RPG?
How does Fallout New Vegas fit into the RPG Category?
Is there any other category that will better fit Fallout New Vegas
What is the Courier?
What would life in the Mojave be like if the Courier never existed?
Why is the Courier so important in the plans of the NCR, Mr. House, and Caesars Legion?

List some search terms you intend to try using: Google Scholar, UNCC Library Databases, NPR, and
YouTube. You must select at least one library database to use.

What is an RPG?
What makes Fallout an RPG?
What other games are RPGs?
How does fallout differ from other RPGs?
What are the other Video Game Genres

Search Terms
What is an RPG?

Is Fallout New Vegas an

RPG?
Top 100 RPGs of All Time

Video Game Genres

How does Fallout New

Vegas differ from other
RPGs?
Fallout New Vegas Review

What is Fallout New Vegas?

Sources I Can Access Based on These Search Terms

"SinisterDesign.net." What makes an RPG an RPG: a universal definition.
http://sinisterdesign.net/what-makes-an-rpg-an-rpg-a-universaldefinition/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
Yin-Poole, Wesley. "Fallout: New Vegas dev: some RPG advances."
Eurogamer.net. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-falloutnew-vegas-dev-some-rpg-advances-undermine-thrill-of-exploration
(accessed October 7, 2014).
"Fallout: New Vegas." Top 100 RPGs of All Time!.
http://www.ign.com/top/rpgs/89 (accessed October 7, 2014).
"Fallout: New Vegas." Top 100 RPGs of All Time!.
http://www.ign.com/top/rpgs/89 (accessed October 7, 2014).
"RPG Rating - Top 100." RPG Rating - Top 100.
http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/addfwyn/lists/rpg-rating-top100/28690/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
Stahl, Teb. "Video Game Genres." Video Game Genres.
http://www.thocp.net/software/games/reference/genres.htm (accessed
October 5, 2014).
VanOrd, Kevin. "Fallout: New Vegas Review." GameSpot.
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/fallout-new-vegas-review/19006282483/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
VanOrd, Kevin. "Fallout: New Vegas Review." GameSpot.
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/fallout-new-vegas-review/19006282483/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
"Fallout: New Vegas." New Vegas > Fallout 3! A MUST BUY! Best RPG ever?!.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/959558-fallout-new-vegas/56840569
(accessed October 7, 2014).
Assignment One

"Description:." Fallout: Welcome to the Official Site.

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/games/fnv-overview.php
(accessed October 12, 2014).

A man opens his home and walks outside for the first time in his life. The landscape that
he sees is destroyed, forever burning and filled with radiation pouring out from every crack in
the ground. The man keeps walking forward knowing that he can never return to his once
peaceful home. He traverses the wasteland, climbing rock and searching burned down homes
that once stood tall gleaming with technology. He finds a huge metal wall that spans the
horizon, in front is rusty robot that says Welcome to Megaton. The man ventures into the
metal wall, and once inside he finds that this is a small town, and the wall is there to protect the
citizens from the harsh wilderness that is the wasteland. The sheriff of the town approaches and
asks the man if he can disable the bomb in the middle of the city, the man reply I do not know if
I can but I will try. This is the beginning of one of the best RPGs of all time Fallout 3.
An RPG or Role Playing Game is a game where the player takes control of a character
and is allowed to roam and the open world of the game. The player can choose to do anything
they want in the game, from exploring the world, to settling down in an area and living life.
Throughout the game, the player character can earn perks and find weapons that have special
properties. The most important parts of an RPG are the decisions. For a game to be an RPG, the
player must be able to decide for themselves. The decisions can be anything from accepting a
quest, to choosing between the evil or good side in the final battle of a game. Any game that has
these properties is an RPG.
There is a huge debate that Fallout New Vegas is not an RPG because the style that the
player plays the game is from the 1st person, and because the start and ending of the game
doesnt have enough variety. I believe that Fallout New Vegas is a hybrid of both RPG
storyline, and the fast action pace of an FPS. The First Person Shooter style of game is much
more action pact and often does not last any more than 15 minutes. Nevertheless, Fallout takes
all the action of a FPS and jams it into an extremely complex and never-ending storyline that is a
RPG.

Annotated Bibliography
"Description:." Fallout: Welcome to the Official Site. http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/games/fnvoverview.php (accessed October 12, 2014).
This is the official Fallout New Vegas site put up by Bethesda the creator of Fallout. On this website,
many articles and resources can be used to describe Fallout New Vegas. This can be used along with
information from other sources to hopefully understand what categories of games Fallout New Vegas fits
into.

"Fallout: New Vegas." New Vegas > Fallout 3! A MUST BUY! Best RPG ever?!.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/959558-fallout-new-vegas/56840569 (accessed October 7,
2014).
This website post gives information on what defines an RPG. The author says that Fallout is one of his
most beloved RPG, and will always be at the top of his list. Fallout is a game that is full of adventure and
a few funny glitches that make the game even better. The ability to choose the way your own character
interacts with the open world is how a RPG should be made.

"Fallout: New Vegas." Top 100 RPGs of All Time!. http://www.ign.com/top/rpgs/89 (accessed October 7,
2014).
A video gaming news company posted this online article a few years ago. It lists there top 100 favorite
RPGs of all time. Before the list starts they tell us their view on what a RPG should have, character
building, armor and character abilities, combat that scales in different areas and also scales with the main
player, and decision making.
Oneyear, Brenden. Assignment One Unpublished Paper, University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
2014.
This document describes what my figured world is. This can serve as a basis for all judging, when I need
to add my own knowledge to the subject. In this document, I list many different actors and artifacts along
with the domain of Fallout New Vegas. There are also three observations that I can use to decipher
What are the characteristics of this game? However, this entire document stresses one main idea,
decision making.

"RPG Rating - Top 100." RPG Rating - Top 100. http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/addfwyn/lists/rpgrating-top-100/28690/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
This site is another list of the top 100 RPGs of all time. This list shows me how many different RPGs
there are and helps to establish a few criteria needed for a game to be named an RPG. The list is very
subjective and contains a lot of bias. The author of the list had his own criteria for each game and ranked
the games accordingly. Although Fallout New Vegas is not on the list, an earlier version of the game is
Fallout 3. Fallout 3 is the same post-apocalyptic setting as Fallout New Vegas and is equally a great
RPG.

"SinisterDesign.net." What makes an RPG an RPG: a universal definition. http://sinisterdesign.net/whatmakes-an-rpg-an-rpg-a-universal-definition/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
The criteria needed for a game to be considered an RPG has been a greatly debated topic. This source
helps to establish what and RPG really is and gives many examples of each criteria. When comparing
Fallout New Vegas to other RPGs some differences do stand out. Fallout New Vegas does not have the
normal depth of RPG game or the average time to completion as most other RPGs. However, Fallout
does contain a key element to all RPGs, an ending that the player can choose for themselves.

Stahl, Ted. "Video Game Genres." Video Game Genres.

http://www.thocp.net/software/games/reference/genres.htm (accessed October 5, 2014).
This source is all about Video Game Genres. This site defines all the different existing genres that a
video game can be. Its definition of hybrid and RPGs makes this a valuable resource when it comes down
to deciding whether Fallout is a RPG or is it a different type of game. An RPG is the allocation of
weapons and items that have many variations, and the completion of quests to fulfil the role of the player.

VanOrd, Kevin. "Fallout: New Vegas Review." GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/falloutnew-vegas-review/1900-6282483/ (accessed October 7, 2014).
This online video is a review of Fallout New Vegas the game. Even though this video is supposed to be a
review of Fallout New Vegas, It properly defines how Fallout is a part of the RPG family. The video
shows footage of the game and compares his experience of other games to his journey through the
wasteland. He says that Fallout is an amazing RPG and is extremely fun. This is a game where your
decisions in the very beginning of your story, can come back and haunt you for the rest of your game.

Yin-Poole, Wesley. "Fallout: New Vegas dev: some RPG advances." Eurogamer.net.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-12-fallout-new-vegas-dev-some-rpg-advancesundermine-thrill-of-exploration (accessed October 7, 2014).
This is another source that helps to point out what aspects of Fallout New Vegas are RPG and other
aspects that are more for other genres. This article explains the game developers point of view when
creating Fallout New Vegas. The article compares Fallout to other RPGs in similar places. This article is
the same as the others in that one of its main criteria for an RPG is decision making. The playable
character must be able to make choices for themselves and be able to complete the game in many
different ways.