Playing As Straight, Male, Caucasian Character In Fallout 76 Will Result In Massive Debuff

Bethesda’s upcoming Fallout title has had many skeptical on the future of the series. Fallout, long an exclusively single-player experience, will now be opened up to be a massively multiplayer free-for-all kind of game. Some are open to the idea, some are incredibly off-put by the decision, seeing it as a second attempt at “Elder Scrolls Online”.

The recent beta set many doubts to rest, and offered many the chance to see whether or not the game was truly for them. But most alarming was the statement Bethesda issued after, to clear up a bit of the confusion over how some of the game’s technical points work.

Behavior that would earn one a negative reputation in the wasteland will be met with harsh punishments. A way to cut back on griefing, and balance the in-game power dynamic. Wanton murder was listed among the many online crimes, as well as playing as any sort of straight, male, Caucasian avatar.

“We fear that in an online game, a certain subset of so-called gamers will find it funny to target only female players, or only players of color. While cracking down on racism, sexism, and bigotry in-game would require quite a bit of moderation, we figured it would just be easier and more cost-efficient to just preemptively debuff any players identifying as white, straight, and male. Subsequently, any players identifying as a female or minority will be granted a sharp buff to their stats. It’s only fair.” Bethesda’s community manager said in a statement following a series of questions and comments about the beta.

Any players identifying as straight, male, and white with their in-game avatars will have their attack power severely reduced, both in PvP and PvE situations. Furthermore, should any of them actually manage to actually kill a minority in-game, their account will be swiftly booted from the game for several hours, depending on the severity of the crime.

Fallout 76 will be launching November 14th.