You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. All games are ultimately a form of You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. imposed solipsism.  It’s all about you. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You are surrounded by  Link: Navi. Epona. King of Red Lions. Ganon. Zelda.

Fenix: Dom. Carmine. Cole.heroes, people who Sam. Alex. Jack. Baird. Anya.

Freeman: Alex. Barney. Dog. Grigori.  in any other situation would  G-Man.

Mario: be gods themselves, but  Luigi. Peach. Toad. Yoshi. Kong. Rosalina.

Chell: Wheatley. GLaDOS.who are reduced Weighted Companion Cube. Caroline.

Samus: to little more than props in your life. Ghor. The Chozo. Gandrayda.

Shepard: Joker. Tali’zorah. Liara. Wrex. Garrus. Kaidan. Ashley. Anderson.

Drake:Yours is the life that changes the world.Elena. Sully. Tenzin. Jeff.

Chief:  Cortana. Sarge. Arbiter. Keyes. Keyes. Halsey. Spark. Buck. Dutch.

Marston: Uncle. Bonnie. Irish. Everyone else is just a foil in your story.

Kratos: Every single person in the game is there for you. Athena. Pandora.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You find a body slumped over a console. Maybe his computer  You.

You. has a note about his dinner plans. You scan the note, get   You. You.

You. his password, and open his safe. This is how you get your   You. You.

You. new gun. He has lived, and he has died, so that you can     You. You.

You. have a new gun.You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

The Vault-Dweller. The Chosen One. In each of the Fallout games, you don’t

even get a name–just a role, an identity.  The Lone Wanderer.  Courier Six.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You are just you.   You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. 

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You.   In New Vegas, you begin by losing your memory.  You. You. You.

You. You. You. You.Your character knows as little as you do about herself.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You.  And so you are deceived into the belief that the story is about You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You decide the fate of Mr. House.  You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You choose who gains control of Hoover Dam.  You. You. You. You.

You. You. You hoard the power of Helios One, or you share it.    You. You.

You. You. You kill Benny, or you let him live.    You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You who have no past, build the future. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You.   Elijah brought the Brotherhood of Steel to Helios One, so You.

You. they would be bloodied by the NCR and left to rot, so they would You.

You. find their way to their hidey-hole in Hidden Valley, so thatYou. You.

You. they would be there, waiting, for you to come calling. Christine You.

You. and Veronica fell in love, so that when Elijah wrought horrors   You.

You. in the Waste, Christine would be sent away, so that VeronicaYou. You.

You. would be lost, lonely, and in need of a guide, so that she could You.

You. follow you through the Mojave like a charming, exuberantly  You. You.

You. violent puppy. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. Joshua Graham made an error in translation so the Blackfoot You.

You. Tribe would kidnap Edward Sallow, so that the Legion would be    You.

You. made, so that they would fall at the First Battle of Hoover Dam, You.

You. so that Caesar would set his champion ablaze, so that he would   You.

You. need a new one, so that he would invite you into his tent, so    You.

You. that you could choose the fate of the Mojave.You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. Until you begin Dead Money. Honest Hearts.   You. You. You.

You. You. You. Old World Blues. Lonesome Road. Until you    You. You. You.

You. You. You. have dug yourself out of each of them. At which   You. You.

You. You. You. point, you realize that the what is happening is  You. You.

You. You. You. something else entirely. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. When you play Dead Money, you realize that Christine and    You.

You. Veronica were lovers, and that that affair is a story, and that  You.

You. Elijah is their villain. When you play Old World Blues, you You. You.

You. realize how doggedly Christine tracked Elijah through the Waste  You.

You. until he captured her, and how ferocious her hate must have You. You.

You. been. You follow her from sniper’s perch to sniper’s perch, You. You.

You. imagining her watching as Elijah tested his collars on the  You. You.

You. ghouls of Little Yangtze, and you realize how deep her horror    You.

You. was to find that collar on her own neck. You understand that she You.

You. has a story as rich and deep as yours, and that Fallout: NewYou. You.

You. Vegas is her story as much as it is yours.   You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You.

You. You. When you play Honest Hearts, you realize that The Burned ManYou.

You. isn’t a legend–or rather, that his legend is broader and deeper  You.

You. than the horror story of the Legion. You realize that it    You. You.

You. stretches forward into the wild future of the tribes of Zion,    You.

You. and back to the deep past of Joseph Smith. You realize that You. You.

You. there are many ways to burn, and many ways to be made new. And   You.

You. when you play Lonesome Road, you realize that the conflict you   You.

You. fell into in Honest Hearts was not between the White Legs and    You.

You. the Dead Horses, but two of Caesar’s severed tentacles, eachYou. You.

You. writhing toward destruction in the Canyon of Zion.You. You. You. You.


           You understand, in fact, that the game is not your 

     story. It is the story of Christine, of Elijah, of Veronica, of 

     Ulysses, of Joshua Graham, of Caesar, of ED-E, of the Big MT, 

     and of the Courier Six who lived before Benny’s bullet dropped 

     you into her vacant mind. In bits and pieces throughout the DLC,

     you see these people dance around each other, darting in and out

     of each others’ lives as they flit through your past and 

     present.  

     

          A man goes for a hike. His wife, Char, and his son, Alex, 

     stay home. As he drives back to them, he sees a flash of light,

     and watches his world consumed in fire, and understands that 

     everything he knows is lost. Char is gone. Alex is gone. In the 

     blear of his grief, he stumbles into a cave, where scientists 

     have abandoned some food stores. For months, he weeps in that 

     cave, until it is safe for him to wander dizzily into his 

     incomprehensible new world. He sees one tribe take another 

     captive, and drives off the intruders with his meager store of 

     weapons. He finds a woman, Sylvie, caught in one of his traps.  

     He cares for her wounds, and finds he cares for her, and soon 

     they are in love, and she is pregnant.  His life is meaningful 

     again. A wife. A son. Not replacements to the ones he lost, but 

     successors. When the time comes, his son–Michael–is born breech, 

     and does not survive. Sylvie, too, is lost. He begins to think 

     of ending his own life. Desperate for something to care for, he 

     finds a group of children in need of guidance, and from his 

     hideout in the caves he leads them from concealment, until they 

     believe he is a loving god. When he realizes his life is ending, 

     he seeks a place where they will not find his body, and he hides 

     himself there to wait for death.  On a hilltop overlooking a 

     river, he dies. For 157 years, he rests alone with his sorrows.

     

          When you find his body, his gun becomes your gun.  His life 

     was his life. His story was his story. His rifle is a relic of 

     his loss, and a monument to a world that lived and died before 

     you were born, and that will live and die again when you are 

     gone, a world in which you do not mean enough to even have a 

     name. 

     

          When he calls you to the Great Divide, Ulysses–the other

     Courier, a man whose legend has haunted your travels–tells you

     of a life you led before you were You, when the Courier you

     control had a mind of her own, and a name, and a history. He

     tells you of a community you (or rather, not-You) built from

     the ground to the sky, and how, with casual ease, you pummeled

     it to ash. Ulysses is the only survivor of the life you don’t

     remember, and the part of the story you control is, really,

     just an epilogue. And when you, with casual ease, push a button

     to open a door, and launch a nuclear missle at an unsuspecting

     township, he reminds you that your story–Courier Six’s story,

     America’s story, NCR’s story, the Legion’s story, the Fallout

     story–is not truly under your control. 

     

          Christine is a story. Joshua Graham is a story. Elijah is a

     story.  Veronica is a story. Ulysses is a story. Caesar is a

     story. ED-E is a story. The Big MT is a story. America is a

     story. You change each incidentally, as you pass by, and each

     changes you, as it passes by. 

     

          You kill a Marked Man, or an NCR Ranger, and you don’t know

     what game you’re ending–what narrative, what quest, that ranger

     was on.  They are, of course, still the same mindless AI that 

     drives every other enemy in every other game. But what Ulysses

     teaches you is that each of those creatures is not just a mob,

     but a character, with a mother and a father, a home, a love, a life

     that you will never see. Ulysses shows you that every choice you

     make is full of hidden costs. He makes you realize that you 

     play other roles than “protagonist.” That there are

     other ways of seeing. 

     

          That this game–this world, this universe–was never about 

     you at all.