The Canadian government clearly used taxpayer money to pay an anarchist Fall out mods. And not just once or twice, but four times. I have a lot of questions, mainly: “How do I get denied Canadian art funding?”
Aus Auron is an overhaul mod Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel into a post-apocalyptic world of anarchist communes. In most of the Fall out the campaign, you’re just trying not to get caught while collecting some bottle caps. This mod tries to reverse all of that. Aus Auron describes a “utopia” where people organize themselves according to “shared value” on “antitrust, direct democracy, freedom and autonomy.”
Honestly, it sounds nice. One of the most exhausting aspects of the last Fall out the game i played (New Vegas) is how I can’t trust anyone, because they’re either psychologically damaged or secretly a cult follower. I suppose the chances of me being ritually murdered are much lower in this campaign.
But it still feels incredibly strange that the Canadian government is funding a project that is so blatantly supportive of a world where liberal democracy doesn’t exist (and is in fact undesirable). How did mod creators manage to ensure “support” not only from Quebec Arts and Literary Council and Arts Council of Canada? Kotaku reached out to the creators to ask if the grant reviewers were aware of anarchists, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
According to lead developer Hugo Nadeau, he was able to get government funding multiple times by submitting the English and French versions of the game to each organization.
“They gave me the money, so all the rest is up to me.” Nadeau wrote in the official Discord server. “So I did a series of exhibitions […]live performance […] and finally online gaming sessions.” He added that these exhibition is a requirement to receive funding.
Bethesda also blessed the project, provided it was not for commercial purposes. The studio has always clearly supported fan mod projects, yes gone far like Hire a programmer Who did it London fallout.
It may be tempting to say that sponsorship Fall out mod is a waste of taxpayers money. But honestly, giving money to artists is one of the least harmful things that the Canadian government can spending money above. Besides, public funding may be one of the only ways to turn unprofitable ideas into reality in our current capitalist hellscape. So more on this, please.
