Wow, ok, so now I have another rant to start with.. Why can I not copy and paste from notepad into this editor? That's just... bleh. anyway.. so now I have to RETYPE this whole thing out for you.

Dear Sir or Madame,

First, I would like to congratulate you all on another wonderful Fallout release. Already 243 hours in and still loving every minute of it. Well.... I was that is. Which brings me to my problem.

Idiot Savant. Traditionally I have always loved doing a low intelligence playthrough at least once (especially Fallout2 which I know wasn't Bethesda, but you guys have carried the tradition well, they CAN be hilariously fun playthroughs.)

I was running out of Perks to pick and ended up getting Idiot Savant just to make the blinking "You've leveled up, pick a perk!" message go away. Shortly after picking the perk while crafting I got my very first proc, and instantly this franchise I have enjoyed since I was 15 years old (now 36), hurts and infuriates me.

My cousin was born with Cerebral Palsy, and is severely impacted in her life because of this horrible condition. She is the sweetest, kindest, most loving human being I know. Yet she KNOWS she is different and she hates it. She has been teased by callous people her whole life, and she tries her best to not exhibit too much of her condition, but if she gets excited... it's all over.

I'm now sitting here, vibrating, angry, sad, hurt and just...

do you not know it's WRONG? That perk could've served it's function perfectly without that particular style of audio indicator. Yes, I know the console commands and I've removed the perk, but now every time I sit down to try and play I just can't. All I can do is think of my cousin and how even unknown to you, you're making fun of her and a condition she had no control over.

Can you please offer SOME kind of alternative, just a simple patch to remove the audio files (should someone choose to) for when the perk procs. I don't know exactly how or what the solution would be, but I sincerely beg of you, please, change this now.

Deeply Saddened,

Ok, so that's the email I sent to Bethesda, still awaiting a reply. But to be clear, here are my intentions:

1. I do NOT want an entire sweeping change to everyone ELSE's game

2. I WOULD like an optional file/patch/whatever people who CHOOSE to, could use to remove this from their game.

Isn't the sound a giggle? I'm not sure how that is offensive to your cousin's situation.

I too was offended by this, being on the autism spectrum. The laugh is an "idiot's guffaw" not just any ordinary laugh.

Thankfully though OP, there is a mod that disables the laugh. You can grab it on Nexus Mods.

EDIT: There was a severe lack in catering for those not "average" anyway, what game now-a-days doesn't have a colour blindness option?

I felt it was a stupid perk, to be honest.

Interesting. I haven't heard it myself yet, but if there's already a mod for it maybe it does need to be addressed.

I heard it from a video on Youtube. It's basically your stereotypical "Huh-DEERRUH!!" mentally challenged laugh-sound. I'm not mentally challenged or know anyone who is mentally challenged and even I found it kind of offensive.

It's not really a laugh..it's more of a derpy sound that implies the sound of a mentally challenged individual...I see where the OP is coming from and get why it would be offensive..

So you find the best perk in the game offensive because it reminds you of people you care about?

I can understand why others would find it offensive as well. I work with some mentally handicapped individuals and it certainly seems to be poking fun at something that is a rather sensitive subject.

I feel like I'm back in middle school where people thought they were cool for picking on a disabled person.

That's not even to touch on how repetitive and annoying the perk actually is when you can't clear a building without it popping up.

OP, put yourself in your cousins shoes. Would he/she be offended by this, think nothing of it, or possibly even enjoy it? I don't personally know anyway with cerebral palsy, but there are folks out there that take it for what it is and don't get worked up about things like this. Josh Blue is an example.

This.

This but not offended. I know Bethesda didn't mean to do it and there's no reason to truly get mad/upset over it. Just kindly let Bethesda know that it is considered offensive material in their game.

Why wouldn't it? The OP clearly stated his/her cousin has cerebral palsy, we can hardly fault him/her for feeling offensive at a perk that seems to make fun of those with mental/physical difficulties.

EDIT: If it's of any comfort, OP, Bethesda more than likely was not trying to make fun of mentally challenged people.


The OP would have to ask her about it, as I think speaking for a disabled person is one of the worst things you can do to that person.

I agree with this guy. I can see why it can come across as offensive, but I dont believe it to be inherently so. That said, I find the sound and popup itself breaks my immersion a little bit. I vote for an option to turn it off too.

I want a mod to remove the laugh, too, but it's more because the laugh is annoying and distracting while playing the game. Seriously, it takes you out of immersion when there's a random laugh comes on.

For me the sound effect is annoying. It is alright to get some kind of audio indication but this is over the top annoying...yeah it was funny for someone the first 3 times or something.

Hey guys, thanks for the tip on the mod! I use nexus all the time but I hadn't seen anything for Idiot savant, 11 different mods just for this!

Thank you very much!

And to the one that stated he doubts Bethesda did it intentionally.... I'm not ascribing any malice afore-thought or anything like that. It's really easy during the development of a project to get so focused on the task at hand, that sometimes you forget what it would look like to someone on the outside looking in. I don't think Bethesda was being intentionally cruel, I think they were just trying to find a way to carry the low intelligence builds forward with the new game. In doing so, they kinda forgot to step back and think for a minute about it is all.

I have a mod that removes the sound. I am happy.

Thank you again

Please read the original post. The part where it says "She knows she is different and HATES it"

I have put myself in her shoes, I have helped her pull hers out of a pile of cow manure because people thought it would be 'funny' to make her go get them. I have been there as she cries on my shoulder and asks most painfully why people are so mean. Not just kids when she was a kid, advlts, and now as an advlt we've had to put her under constant watch because she has attempted suicide TWICE now, because she KNOWS she is different and made fun of.

Seriously man.

Sweet irradiated Ghoullified Christ...

Look, I'm sure the last thing she needs or wants is for anyone to pity her because she's different. Hell, I'm hearing-impaired and half-blind so I think I know more than most non-disabled folks here that being pitied for being disabled is the LAST thing a disabled person wants but...

Holy irradiated Christ...

She's lucky to have someone like you in her life.

Er...



I'm glad you managed to get it removed via mod. :]

I read it. And that makes me sad, my mom works with children that have a myriad of different disabilities, some of the greatest, most loving kids ever.

But I meant if she was playing the game, and took that perk, would she be offended, or would she feel included because she got to have an audio representation of her own reaction (I'm assuming a little here, but that audio cue seems to be what upset you), to the situations it comes up in?

How can we know other than what the OP told us? And from what the OP told us, I wager she would be offended by this considering she spent her entire life being everyone's favorite kickball because she was different. Spend enough time being kicked around for being different, you'll become very sensitive to that sort of thing.

Possibly. But video games are meant to be a different world where one feels empowered to be themselves, especially in a game like this.

OP, I didn't mean to offend. If I did, I apologize.

Empowerment is different. If Sole Survivor were autistic yet managed to do all the things he/she does in the game in spite of the autism, that's empowerment. A perk that's basically "LOL HURR DDUUURRRR!!" isn't empowerment. At best it's just a stupid gimmick and at worst, it's kind of offensive.

On the other side of the coin though, people play video games to escape from reality. Picking a perk like this late in your game and being stuck with a reminder of something you might be trying to escape can diminish the experience.

I believe the experience gain multiplier to be the empowerment component.

Exactly. I've read accounts from disabled gamers that state that they don't want to play a disabled main character because the whole point of gaming is to be someone else. A game reminding you of how you're different, how you're not "normal" might not encourage you to want to play it any more.

Not really. To me, it's the game saying, "You're so stupid that we're giving you extra experience points because we pity you."

@ OP- Sorry for SJW-ing your thread. xD As a disabled guy (hearing impaired and half blind), it isn't every day I get to discuss stuff like this so...yah. x)