» Sun Jul 26, 2009 2:59 pm
Or, as was somewhat hinted at by Demon971, no character starts out with a Pip-boy, and thus can not keep track of kills or anything that couldn't be scribbled down on a notepad. Which would still allow for marks to be placed on a map, or quest notes jotted down.
(Would mean no achievements, and no tracking of statistics untill one is aquired).
They would have to invest in a scavenged, and somewhat expensive Pip-Boy, at that, before anything like keeping track of ones actions would be possible. And maybe, just maybe, be able to view what stat bonuses and penalties they are suffering from - maybe something for hardcoe mode.
Give more advanced versions of Pip-boys "better computing power" to allow a player to keep better tracks or what have you - just so it doesn't become a novelty-buy. Perhaps have better versions that gives a small increase in how much hydration/health you get from food, or conversely, how often, or how much time can pass before you have to hydrate/eat.
Really quite hard to come up with reasons for buying a better Pip-boy other than "You can now get achievements that require to kill you 250 of X!" or "You can now keep track of X number of moving targets previously encountered!" (i.e. friends, npcs, etc.)
In any case, it would be a mood killer to have 30,000 players, including mutants, running about with Pip-boys as if they were as common as pants.
Having to buy them while making them expensive/hard to make (also a possibility, you know), and on top of that having more advanced versions (maybe visibly so), would make them a prestige item in them selves. While not taking away from the immersion into the gameworld in either direction (No one/everyone)