This post is not so much about the differences between the factions ---- we all know that topic has been debated to death in many threads! Rather, it's a post asking whether you play with solely in-character knowledge or if you "meta-game", using knowledge that you, the player, have.

I was agonizing about whether to side with the Institute or Brotherhood recently, but at level 102 I figured I'd better go ahead and pick one. As I was treating myself to a "final" tour through the Institute, I found myself thinking, "Hey, these people aren't so bad". Everyone was polite (except that one Doctor who objected to me becoming Director, but I let him live so he was grudgingly okay with me). Everyone congratulated me on bringing in the rogue synth raider from Libertalia (forget whether I sent him home for reprogramming or killed him: in either case, the treat was removed).

In-character, I couldn't really find any reason to object to the Institute people. By contrast, my dealings with the Brotherhood had always felt like they were trying to boss me around, treating me like a useful savage. Perception, I know, since if you join the Brotherhood you get promoted to just under the top dog.

When I was debating which faction to side with, I was thinking in terms of meta-gaming benefits and knowledge. Like, I reasoned that having the Brotherhood as my ally would mean I could use (and not be fired upon by) Vertibirds. The Institute Synths don't really pose near as big or ubiquitous threat as the Brotherhood. But that was a meta-gaming consideration. My ~character~ would not really care about having access to Vertibirds or try to pick the least-annoying threat.

Likewise, from my character's point of view, her son was perhaps little detached and anolytical, but in conversations with him, he always seemed reasonable (so far). When he asked if I would mind destroying the Railroad, he listened to my questions and objections. And when he wanted me to destroy the Brotherhood, he agreed with me that whatever we did, it should minimize the casualties among the Commonwealth. Sounds reasonable, and having met the Brotherhood, I had to admit, the two factions WOULD eventually butt heads. So something ~would~ need to be done. And while the Brotherhood ran patrols and so on in the Commonwealth, fighting supermutants and ghouls, my personal interactions with them had suggested that they were very me-me-me exclusionary, wanting to hoard tech for themselves.

Granted, the Institute wasn't exactly eager to offer their technology to the Commonwealth --- they wanted to stay separate and protected, and I can understand that, given the history of the time they DID try to integrate with the surface world. But for example, the Institute recruited a Commonwealth genius to join them, which he appears to really enjoy, so they are not so exclusionary as the Brotherhood would seem to be (to me).

By contrast, my male character has (thus far) not had any dealings with any factions other than the MInutemen and in a nod to meta-gaming, I am going to sort of steer his personality so that when he meets the Brotherhood he will see them as fellow ex-military and performing a noble service because these savages clearly don't need to have access to world-destroying tech (again!).... and when he meets the Institute, I won't be playing his discovery of Shaun's real age as soft as I did with my main: he will be PISSED. If he were to take the time, he might come to see their side of things, but he's ex-,military, "just" saw his wife killed and son stolen and has suffered through the Wasteland and he will be disgusted by the selfish opulence on display in the Institute.

It's a fine line between letting your meta-gaming knowledge influence your in-game character personality in ways that do not fit the character concept you ~had~ and using meta-gaming knowledge to ~steer~ your character concept. In a way, I sort of boxed myself into a corner by developing my first character's concept/personality as I played the game (having not finished it at that point). The character already existed by the point I started to weigh meta-gaming considerations. This second (male) character's personality and concept will be ~determined~ in advance by my meta-gaming knowledge. But since he'll be going into the game world with that pre-determined end-goal, it will SEEM as if his actions in-game are perfectly in-character and logically self-consistent.

Long-winded way to say, I figured out which faction I finally want to align with in this, and my next, playthrough.

I tend to make faction choices based on 'in-character' reasoning (i.e. looking at the situation from the character's perspective, and thinking like the character). Otherwise, I just tend to play however I feel like.

I like to find in-character reasons to justify my metagaming reasons. >.>

I... I just fly by the seats of my pants, usually. I do have some per-conceived notions for my characters, but then, they take on a live of their own, so to speak.

For instance, I planned to make my 2nd character a total cold and cynical person, who only uses the mean or sarcastic replies, but then she got to know some people, made some friends and it didn't seem right to give them the cold shoulder all the time.

My current character feels right as rain. Maggie is nice and helpful and fully supports the Minutemen. She treats the Brotherhood with respect and is now getting to know the Railroad. When I walked in the RR HQ, I figured Maggie is looking for all the support she can get. She also is a people person and likes to meet new people and make friends. She and PIper a thick as thieves, BFFS forever! And she likes helping people make a better living, so the MM cause is right up her alley. I think in the pre-war world, she did a lot of pro-bono work for various causes.

She is impressed by the Brotherhood and so far respects their agenda. Everyone she has met so far is very well spoken and rather friendly.

She is the first character that is totally affected by her husband's death and driven to find her son. She has never taken off her Wedding Ring and after a long day on the road, she likes to sit down and listen to the holotape he made "Hi Honey!".

I have to say, I like Maggie a lot, she is a stand up gal. All I had in mind, when I created Maggie was this: I want to romance Preston this time around.

First time through I'm just going with how my character (who is very like me) feels.

So far I like the Minutemen and I'm working with them.

I met Danse and read Hayden's log so I've done Fire Support but decided not to join the BoS, disliking their attitude and methods.

Will probably be sympathetic to the RR and hostile to the Institute but stick to the Minutemen as my choice.

Future characters will probably have personalities and beliefs that suit them to siding with the other factions.

Nah, there's no "my character is blablabla cuz this and that" for me.


Everything is already set, so I keep an open mind, understand the stories, and pick anything for the possible best outcome. Sometimes I do reflect things (like to answer a question) based on my own thought and moral.


Wanna see the other branch I didn't take? Simply reload and follow the other branch. Efficient and effective, straight to the point. No need to spend hundreds of hours just to uncover the other little chunk of the story. lol

I try to stay in-character as much as possible, myself. There are times when that is simply impossible, like when I'm building generators and turrets out of wrenches, sticks of butter, and condem wrappers, but for major decisions especially I try to play my character.


Part of why I would have a very hard time going Brotherhood. Extremely hard to justify for almost any character.