>>15296470
>make multiplayer game set in a series about the apocalypse dominated by raiders and tribal groups
>with themes about the barbarity of man and their desire for peace but reality of senseless violence in the face of adversity
>block any emergent storytelling that could come from raiders or tribal groups attacking you by heavily penalizing any player attempts to attack other players and giving every player the option to opt out of unwanted pvp
I'm sorry but if what Bethesda wants is to generate fun little greentexts about player interactions like other games do (G-Mod, survival games, MMOs) than PvP is essential and since their core demographic is casual players afraid of losing their epic loot it is simply impossible under their current vision to deliver upon this.
To give an example. Every compelling SS13 story ever told has involved multiple people dying, permanently, for an entire round. It involves undoing the progress of dozens of people on the server, and creating an environment that captures the theme of the fragility of humans. That's what creates drama. A fun story from WoW will always involve a guild bank being robbed, costing over a hundred players hours of their lives in gold and materials, often with themes of retribution and revenge for shitty online social behavior. G-Mod/Minecraft stories always involve some autistic kid losing hours and throwing a loud shitfit to the admins. demonstrating the immaturity of children and how easily their narcissistic worldview can be upset. Many Runescape stories involve scams or betrayal resulting in permanent losses for the victim, with a moral that they became wiser to such schemes.
It is impossible to experience something worth conveying when the essence of drama, human conflict and loss, is removed from the equation. If I can't burn your settlement down in retaliation for some petty offense, if I can't hunt you down to the ends of the map or rip your precious T-69 Power Armor Helmet of +1 Perception of your stupid fucking skull than what stories will I tell about this game? About how cool the rock quarry is? Every dumbfuck who plays the game will experience that. About how """""fun""""" it was to nuke another player? It's not like that player lost an iota of progress, and so it becomes like every other shmuck who nuked somebody.
If I can't start a raider gang in the middle of a high traffic area shaking people down for valuables in exchange for safe passage, like what happens in EVERY SINGLE BETHESDA GAME, and if there aren't going to be NPCs performing such an action, than can you really call it Fallout? If Bethesda wanted to make a co-operative experience where everyone gets along, than just fucking make that and keep the pre-written storytelling. There's a notable shortage of co-op games that Bethesda seems to be better suited towards filling anyways.