“No, I haven’t sat down to play the games,” said Walton Goggins, who plays pre-war movie star Cooper Howard and his post-war counterpart The Ghoul. “And I won’t. I won’t. I won’t play the games. I’m not interested.”
The reason is actually pretty simple: Goggins doesn’t want to think of the world or the characters of Fallout as elements of a game.
“All of a sudden, I’m looking at this world from a very different perspective, and as something on a screen in which I am an avatar in. I don’t believe that I’m an avatar. I believe The Ghoul exists in the world. I believe that Cooper Howard exists in the world.” he said.
“The best way that I can serve this world and serve the fans of this game, I think, is to go to work every single day and believe the circumstances that I’m presented with,” Goggins said.
Not even just to see if the games are fun? Like, he doesn’t need to take inspiration for his character from it, but if he is interested in playing video games for fun outside of relating to his acting roles, why not give them a shot?
If he said “I just have no intetest in playing video games” I’d have no follow-up questions about it.
Maybe he plays other games for fun, it doesn’t say.
But it sounds like he’s choosing not to play these ones because it would affect how his perspective on (and he feels about) the setting, which may affect the quality of his work.
The games aren’t without charm but coming from the series first? It’d feel like those mobile gacha game ads. You think there are such interesting complex characters in a politically nuanced setting that tackles some tough themes about how people survive… after all, you’re acting one of them.
…and then you play the game where 90% of it is getting number pop-ups from shooting nameless raiders, and strangers yelling ring-a-ding-ding as you pass by.
I love FONV, but I think he made the right call. Even if he enjoyed the gameplay, it would change how to did his job.