I remember reading an interesting discussion a long time ago on another forum so I figure I may as well ask it here, for those of us fans of the Fallout series:

Should there ever be a PC protagonist with a full history and background already written up for them and presented to the player? A good example is Shepard from Mass Effect, and how they come with a military background and one of three histories we get to pick from.

I remember somebody complaining on these forums that they thought the devs were being lazy because they hardly wrote anything about the Courier's history or dealings with New Vegas, whereas in Fallout 3 we at least got an idea of The Lone Wanderer's history because we watched him/her grow up. Now I understand that a PC protagonist with a completely blank slate for history is done because it allows for roleplayers to "fill in the blanks" on their own, and imagine for themselves where their own character came from. But people have argued that from a story perspective, it's more engaging to better establish a character's background and then reveal it to the audience. So which do you prefer?

Hell NO. That would take away from Role Playing which the Fallout series is based on. Having a background pre-made as in "you are a white male, 26, blue eyes and brown hair." Even worse if they give the character a name.

It was bad enough that Fallout 3 gives us our age.

I think they should, but maybe to a lesser extent than Fallout 3. Maybe give him some backround as if they came from a vault, then you could choose what they did which could reflect the T.A.G. skills.

I don't want any backstory more complex than 'You are a vault dweller', 'you are the Chosen One of your tribe', 'you are a courier' to be preset. And even the courier is pushing it a bit.

I don't think having an established character story makes the narrative better at all. In fact, it takes away replay value as well. I'd actually like the opposite, the next character's moniker being "The Stranger". They'd have some history options (including blank) that alter starting gear and add dialogue where applicable. Otherwise, the only thing established by the character himself/herself in the game is that they have never been to where the game takes place.

I'm with styles, hails no!

I want a little background, simply because no background is boring and stupid.

And I somewhat ahree with silent, it should have just enough background to satisfy those who rp and those who don't.

HEELLLLLLL NO.
One of the things that has remained constant through every Fallout game is that your character is entirely up to you. Aside from a simple place of residence and some very minor backstory details, everything is left up to you to decide.

A complete character blank slate is one of the best things about the Fallout series, and it contributes greatly to the open-world nature of the games.

We don't need a linear backstory like Mass Effect, Fallout's style is already better. It lets us design our character exactly as we want them instead of locking us into certain paths from the get-go.

Bandwagon; No.

I want to be able to choose for myself what the character is going to be.
Forcing any kind of backstory on us restricts the roleplaying aspect.

No, I think Fallout 3 took defining the protagonist too far so I sure as hell don't want something like Mass Effect where you have one of several preselected histories and personalities shoved down your throat. Fallout player characters should remain ambiguous like the Vault Dweller, Chosen One, Warrior, and Courier.

I think to force a player to have a fully fleshed out backstory in an RPG would be very poor taste, unless the developer did REALLY well with the story. Or the story determines what the PC becomes. But over all, to point at us and say 'You are___ with ___' and etc just doesnt fly with people who love to build their characters story.

Adding that wouldn't keep me from playing another Fallout, but I definitely don't want that from my protagonist. I also can't see it happening while Bethesda is at the reins for Fallout.