document_title: Google Search

question_text: where's i'm feeling lucky button google

question_tokens: where 's i 'm feeling lucky button google

text: Google Search

text: PageRank[edit]

text: Google's rise to success was largely due to a patented algorithm called PageRank that helps rank web pages that match a given search string.[12] When Google was a Stanford research project, it was nicknamed BackRub because the technology checks backlinks to determine a site's importance. Previous keyword-based methods of ranking search results, used by many search engines that were once more popular than Google, would rank pages by how often the search terms occurred in the page, or how strongly associated the search terms were within each resulting page. The PageRank algorithm instead analyzes human-generated links assuming that web pages linked from many important pages are themselves likely to be important. The algorithm computes a recursive score for pages, based on the weighted sum of the PageRanks of the pages linking to them. PageRank is thought to correlate well with human concepts of importance. In addition to PageRank, Google, over the years, has added many other secret criteria for determining the ranking of pages on result lists, reported to be over 250 different indicators,[13][14] the specifics of which are kept secret to keep spammers at bay and help Google maintain an edge over its competitors globally.

text: In a potential hint of Google's future direction for their Search algorithm, Eric Schmidt, Google's then chief executive, said in a 2007 interview with the Financial Times: "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as 'What shall I do tomorrow?' and 'What job shall I take?'".[15] Schmidt reaffirmed this during a 2010 interview with the Wall Street Journal: "I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions, they want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."[16]

text: In 2013 the European Commission found that Google Search favored Google's own products, instead of offering consumers the best result for their needs.[17] In February 2015 Google announced a major change to its mobile search algorithm which would favor mobile friendly over other websites. Nearly 60% of Google's online search traffic comes from mobile phones. Google says it wants its users to have access to premium quality websites. Those websites which lack a mobile friendly interface would be demoted and it is expected that this update will cause a shake-up of ranks. Businesses who fail to update their websites accordingly could see a dip in their regular websites traffic.[18]

text: Search indexing[edit]

text: Google indexes hundreds of terabytes of information from web pages.[19] For websites that are currently down or otherwise not available, Google provides links to cached versions of the site, formed by the search engine's latest indexing of that page.[20] Additionally, Google indexes some file types, being able to show users PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, certain Flash multimedia content, and plain text files.[21] Users can also activate "SafeSearch", a filtering technology aimed at preventing explicit and pornographic content from appearing in search results.[22]

text: In 2012, Google changed its search indexing tools to demote sites that had been accused of piracy.[23]

text: Non-indexable data[edit]

text: Despite Google search's immense index, sources generally assume that Google is only indexing less than 5% of the total Internet, with the rest belonging to the deep web, inaccessible through its search tools.[19][24][25]

text: Google optimization[edit]

text: Because Google is the most popular search engine, many webmasters attempt to influence their website's Google rankings. An industry of consultants has arisen to help websites increase their rankings on Google and on other search engines. This field, called search engine optimization, attempts to discern patterns in search engine listings, and then develop a methodology for improving rankings to draw more searchers to their clients' sites. Search engine optimization encompasses both "on page" factors (like body copy, title elements, H1 heading elements and image alt attribute values) and Off Page Optimization factors (like anchor text and PageRank). The general idea is to affect Google's relevance algorithm by incorporating the keywords being targeted in various places "on page", in particular the title element and the body copy (note: the higher up in the page, presumably the better its keyword prominence and thus the ranking). Too many occurrences of the keyword, however, cause the page to look suspect to Google's spam checking algorithms. Google has published guidelines for website owners who would like to raise their rankings when using legitimate optimization consultants.[26] It has been hypothesized, and, allegedly, is the opinion of the owner of one business about which there have been numerous complaints, that negative publicity, for example, numerous consumer complaints, may serve as well to elevate page rank on Google Search as favorable comments.[27] The particular problem addressed in The New York Times article, which involved DecorMyEyes, was addressed shortly thereafter by an undisclosed fix in the Google algorithm. According to Google, it was not the frequently published consumer complaints about DecorMyEyes which resulted in the high ranking but mentions on news websites of events which affected the firm such as legal actions against it. Google Search Console helps to check for websites that use duplicate or copyright content.[28]

text: Universal search[edit]

text: "Universal search" was launched by Google on May 16, 2007 as an idea that merged the results from different kinds of search types into one. Prior to Universal search, a standard Google search would consist of links only to websites. Universal search, however, incorporates a wide variety of sources, including websites, news, pictures, maps, blogs, videos, and more, all shown on the same search results page.[29][30] Marissa Mayer, then-vice president of search products and user experience, described the goal of Universal search as "we're attempting to break down the walls that traditionally separated our various search properties and integrate the vast amounts of information available into one simple set of search results.[31]

text: "Caffeine" search architecture upgrade[edit]

text: In August 2009, Google invited web developers to test a new search architecture, codenamed "Caffeine", and give their feedback. The new architecture provided no visual differences in the user interface, but added significant speed improvements and a new "under-the-hood" indexing infrastructure. The move was interpreted in some quarters as a response to Microsoft's recent release of an upgraded version of its own search service, renamed Bing, as well as the launch of Wolfram Alpha, a new search engine based on "computational knowledge".[32][33] Google announced completion of "Caffeine" on June 8, 2010, claiming 50% fresher results due to continuous updating of its index.[34]

text: With "Caffeine", Google moved its back-end indexing system away from MapReduce and onto Bigtable, the company's distributed database platform.[35][36]

text: Knowledge Graph[edit]

text: The Knowledge Graph is a knowledge base used by Google to enhance its search engine's results with information gathered from a variety of sources.[37] This information is presented to users in a box to the right of search results.[38] Knowledge Graph boxes were added to Google's search engine in May 2012,[37] starting in the United States, with international expansion by the end of the year.[39] The information covered by the Knowledge Graph grew significantly after launch, tripling its original size within seven months,[40] and being able to answer "roughly one-third" of the 100 billion monthly searches Google processed in May 2016.[41] The information is often used as a spoken answer in Google Assistant[42] and Google Home searches.[43] The Knowledge Graph has been criticized for providing answers without source attribution.[41]

text: "Hummingbird" search algorithm upgrade[edit]

text: In 2013, Google significantly upgraded its search algorithm with "Hummingbird". Its name was derived from the speed and accuracy of the hummingbird.[44] The change was announced on September 26, 2013, having already been in use for a month.[45] "Hummingbird" places greater emphasis on natural language queries, considering context and meaning over individual keywords.[44] It also looks deeper at content on individual pages of a website, with improved ability to lead users directly to the most appropriate page rather than just a website's homepage.[46] The upgrade marked the most significant change to Google search in years, with more "human" search interactions[47] and a much heavier focus on conversation and meaning.[44] Thus, web developers and writers were encouraged to optimize their sites with natural writing rather than forced keywords, and make effective use of technical web development for on-site navigation.[48]

text: Dedicated mobile search results[edit]

text: In October 2016, Gary Illyes, a webmaster trends analyst with Google, announced that the search engine would be making a separate, primary web index dedicated for mobile devices, with a secondary, less up-to-date index for desktop use. The change was a response to the continued growth in mobile usage, and a push for web developers to adopt a mobile-friendly version of their websites.[49][50] In December 2017, Google began rolling out the change, having already done so for a few websites.[51]

text: "Medic" Search Algorithm Update[edit]

text: In August 2018, Danny Sullivan from Google, announced a broad core algorithm update. As per current analysis done by the industry leaders SearchEngineWatch and SearchengineLand, the update was to drop down the medical & health related websites that were not user friendly and were not providing good user experience. This is why, the industry experts named it "Medic".[52]

text: Google reserves very high standard for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages. This is because misinformation can affect users financially, physically or emotionally. Therefore, the update targeted particularly those YMYL pages that have low-quality content and misinformation[53]. This resulted in the algorithm targeting health and medical related websites more than others.

text: Functionality[edit]

text: Google search consists of a series of localized websites. The largest of those, the google.com site, is the top most-visited website in the world.[54] Some of its features include a definition link for most searches including dictionary words, the number of results you got on your search, links to other searches (e.g. for words that Google believes to be misspelled, it provides a link to the search results using its proposed spelling), and many more.

text: Search syntax[edit]

text: Google search accepts queries as normal text, as well as individual keywords.[55] It automatically corrects misspelled words, and yields the same results regardless of capitalization.[55] For more customized results, one can use a wide variety of operators, including, but not limited to:[56][57]

text:
OR – Search for webpages containing one of two similar queries, such as marathon OR race
- (minus sign) – Exclude a word or a phrase, such as "apple -tree" searches where word "tree" is not used
"" – Force inclusion of a word or a phrase, such as "tallest building"
* – Placeholder symbol allowing for any substitute words in the context of the query, such as "largest * in the world"
.. – Search within a range of numbers, such as "camera $50..$100"
site: - Search within a specific website, such as "site:youtube.com"
define: – See a definition of a word, such as "define:phrase"
stocks: – See the stock price of investments, such as "stocks:googl"
related: - Find webpages related to specific URL addresses, such as "related:www.wikipedia.org"
cache: – Highlights the search-words within the cached pages, such as "cache:www.google.com xxx" shows cached content with word "xxx" highlighted.
@ - Search for a specific word on social media networks, such as "@twitter"

text: Query expansion[edit]

text: Google applies query expansion to submitted search queries, using techniques to deliver results that it considers "smarter" than the query users actually submitted. This technique involves several steps, including:[58]

text:
Word stemming - Certain words can be reduced so other, similar terms, are also found in results, such as "translator" can also search for "translation"
Acronyms - Searching for abbreviations can also return results about the name in its full length, such as "NATO" can show results for "North Atlantic Treaty Organization"
Misspellings - Google will often suggest correct spellings for misspelled words
Synonyms - In most cases where a word is incorrectly used in a phrase or sentence, Google search will show results based on the correct synonym
Translations - The search engine can, in some instances, suggest results for specific words in a different language
Ignoring words - In some search queries containing extraneous or insignificant words, Google search will simply drop those specific words from the query

text: In 2008, Google started to give users autocompleted search suggestions in a list below the search bar while typing.[59]

text: "I'm Feeling Lucky"[edit]

text: Google's homepage includes a button labeled "I'm Feeling Lucky". This feature originally allowed users to type in their search query, click the button and be taken directly to the first result, bypassing the search results page. With the 2010 announcement of Google Instant, an automatic feature that immediately displays relevant results as users are typing in their query, the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button disappears, requiring that users opt-out of Instant results through search settings in order to keep using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" functionality.[60] In 2012, "I'm Feeling Lucky" was changed to serve as an advertisement for Google services; users hover their computer mouse over the button, it spins and shows an emotion ("I'm Feeling Puzzled" or "I'm Feeling Trendy", for instance), and, when clicked, takes users to a Google service related to that emotion.[61]

text: Tom Chavez of "Rapt", a firm helping to determine a website's advertising worth, estimated in 2007 that Google lost $110 million in revenue per year due to use of the button, which bypasses the advertisements found on the search results page.[62]

text: Rich snippets[edit]

text: In May 2009, Google announced that they would be parsing website microformats in order to populate search result pages with "Rich snippets". Such snippets include additional details about results, such as displaying reviews for restaurants and social media accounts for individuals.[63]

text: In May 2016, Google expanded on the "Rich snippets" format to offer "Rich cards", which, similarly to snippets, display more information about results, but shows them at the top of the mobile website in a swipeable carousel-like format.[64] Originally limited to movie and recipe websites in the United States only, the feature expanded to all countries globally in 2017.[65]

text: Special interactive features[edit]

text: Besides the main text-based search-engine features of Google search, it also offers multiple quick, interactive experiences. These include, but are not limited to:[66][67][68]

text:
Calculator
Time zone, currency, and unit conversions
Word translations
Flight status
Local film showings
Weather forecasts
Population and unemployment rates
Package tracking
Word definitions
"Do a barrel roll" (search page spins)
"askew" (results show up sideways)

text: Google Doodles[edit]

text: On certain occasions, the logo on Google's webpage will change to a special version, known as a "Google Doodle". This is a picture, drawing, animation or interactive game that includes the logo. It is usually done for a special event or day although not all of them are well known.[69] Clicking on the Doodle links to a string of Google search results about the topic. The first was a reference to the Burning Man Festival in 1998,[70][71] and others have been produced for the birthdays of notable people like Albert Einstein, historical events like the interlocking Lego block's 50th anniversary and holidays like Valentine's Day.[72] Some Google Doodles have interactivity beyond a simple search, such as the famous "Google Pacman" version that appeared on May 21, 2010.

text: "OK Google" conversational search[edit]

text: During Google's developer conference in May 2013, the company announced that, on Google Chrome and Chrome OS, users would be able to say "OK Google", with the browser initiating an audio-based search, with no button presses required. After having the answer presented, users can follow up with additional, contextual questions; an example include initially asking "OK Google, will it be sunny in Santa Cruz this weekend?", hearing a spoken answer, and reply with "how far is it from here?"[73][74] An update to the Chrome browser with voice-search functionality rolled out a week later, though it required a button press on a microphone icon rather than "OK Google" voice activation.[75] Google released a browser extension for the Chrome browser, named with a "beta" tag for unfinished development, shortly thereafter.[76] In May 2014, the company officially added "OK Google" into the browser itself,[77] though the company removed it in October 2015, citing low usage, though the microphone icon for activation remained available.[78] In May 2016, 20% of search queries on mobile devices were done through voice.[79]

text: Personal tab[edit]

text: In May 2017, Google enabled a new "Personal" tab in Google Search, letting users search for content in their Google accounts' various services, including email messages from Gmail and photos from Google Photos.[80][81]

text: Google for Jobs[edit]

text: In June 2017, Google expanded its search results to cover available job listings. The data is aggregated from various major job boards and collected by analyzing company homepages. Initially only available in English, the feature aims to simplify finding jobs suitable for each user.[82][83]

text: Google feed[edit]

text: The Google feed is a personalized stream of articles, videos, and other news-related content. The feed contains a "mix of cards" which show topics of interest based on users' interactions with Google, or topics they choose to follow directly.[84] Cards include, "links to news stories, YouTube videos, sports scores, recipes, and other content based on what [Google] determined you're most likely to be interested in at that particular moment."[84] Users can also tell Google they're not interested in certain topics to avoid seeing future updates.

text: The Google feed launched in December 2016[85] and received a major update in July 2017.[86] As of May 2018, the Google feed can be found on the Google app and by swiping left on the home screen of certain Android devices.

text: Discontinued features[edit]

text: Translate foreign pages[edit]

text: Until May 2013, Google Search had offered a feature to restrict search results to specific languages. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that "Removing features is always tough, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users. Unfortunately, this feature never saw much pick up".[87]

text: Instant search[edit]

text: Instant search was announced in September 2010 as a feature that displayed suggested results while the user typed in their search query. The primary advantage of the new system was its ability to save time, with Marissa Mayer, then-vice president of search products and user experience, proclaiming that the feature would save 2-5 seconds per search, elaborating that "That may not seem like a lot at first, but it adds up. With Google Instant, we estimate that we’ll save our users 11 hours with each passing second!"[88] Matt Van Wagner of Search Engine Land wrote that "Personally, I kind of like Google Instant and I think it represents a natural evolution in the way search works", and also praised Google's efforts in public relations, writing that "With just a press conference and a few well-placed interviews, Google has parlayed this relatively minor speed improvement into an attention-grabbing front-page news story".[89] The upgrade also became notable for the company switching Google Search's underlying technology from HTML to AJAX.[90]

text: Instant Search could be disabled via Google's "preferences" menu for those who didn't want its functionality.[91]

text: The publication 2600: The Hacker Quarterly compiled a list of words that Google Instant did not show suggested results for, with a Google spokesperson giving the following statement to Mashable:[92]

text: There are a number of reasons you may not be seeing search queries for a particular topic. Among other things, we apply a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, and hate speech. It's important to note that removing queries from Autocomplete is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases.

text: In search, we get more than one billion searches each day. Because of this, we take an algorithmic approach to removals, and just like our search algorithms, these are imperfect. We will continue to work to improve our approach to removals in Autocomplete, and are listening carefully to feedback from our users.

text: Our algorithms look not only at specific words, but compound queries based on those words, and across all languages. So, for example, if there's a bad word in Russian, we may remove a compound word including the transliteration of the Russian word into English. We also look at the search results themselves for given queries. So, for example, if the results for a particular query seem pornographic, our algorithms may remove that query from Autocomplete, even if the query itself wouldn't otherwise violate our policies. This system is neither perfect nor instantaneous, and we will continue to work to make it better.

text: PC Magazine discussed the inconsistency in how some forms of the same topic are allowed; for instance, "lesbian" was blocked, while "gay" was not, and "cocaine" was blocked, while "crack" and "heroin" were not. The report further stated that seemingly normal words were also blocked due to pornographic innuendos, most notably "scat", likely due to having two completely separate contextual meanings, one for music and one for a sexual practice.[93]

text: In July 2017, Google removed Instant results, due to a growing number of searches on mobile devices, where interaction with search, as well as screen sizes, differ significantly from a computer.[94][95]

text: Dedicated encrypted search page[edit]

text: Various search engines provide encrypted Web search facilities. In May 2010 Google rolled out SSL-encrypted web search.[96] The encrypted search can be accessed at encrypted.google.com[97] However, the web search is encrypted via Transport Layer Security (TLS) by default today, thus every search request should be automatically encrypted if TLS is supported by the web browser.[98] On its support website, Google announced that the address encrypted.google.com will be turned off in April 30 of 2018, stating that all Google products and most new browsers use HTTPS connections as the reason for the discontinuation.[99]

text: Criticism[edit]

text: January 2009 malware bug[edit]

text: Google flags search results with the message "This site may harm your computer" if the site is known to install malicious software in the background or otherwise surreptitiously. Google does this to protect users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. For approximately 40 minutes on January 31, 2009, all search results were mistakenly classified as malware and could therefore not be clicked; instead a warning message was displayed and the user was required to enter the requested URL manually. The bug was caused by human error.[100][101][102][103] The URL of "/" (which expands to all URLs) was mistakenly added to the malware patterns file.[101][102]

text: Privacy[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2012)

text: Searches made by search engines, including Google, leave traces. This raises concerns about privacy. In principle, if details of a user's searches are found, those with access to the information—principally state agencies responsible for law enforcement and similar matters—can make deductions about the user's activities. This has been used for the detection and prosecution of lawbreakers; for example a murderer was found and convicted after searching for terms such as "tips with killing with a baseball bat".[104]

text: A search may leave traces both on a computer used to make the search, and in records kept by the search provider. When using a search engine through a browser program on a computer, search terms and other information may be stored on the computer by default, unless the browser is set not to do this, or they are erased. Saved terms may be discovered on forensic analysis of the computer. An Internet Service Provider (ISP) or search engine provider (e.g., Google) may store records which relate search terms to an IP address and a time.[105] Whether such logs are kept, and access to them by law enforcement agencies, is subject to legislation in different jurisdictions and working practices; the law may mandate, prohibit, or say nothing about logging of various types of information. Some search engines, located in jurisdictions where it is not illegal, make a feature of not storing user search information.[106]

text: The keywords suggested by the Autocomplete feature show a population of users' research which is made possible by an identity management system. Volumes of personal data are collected via Eddystone web and proximity beacons.[citation needed]

text: Google has been criticized for placing long-term cookies on users' machines to store these preferences, a tactic which also enables them to track a user's search terms and retain the data for more than a year.[107]

text: Since 2012, Google Inc. has globally introduced encrypted connections for most of its clients, in order to bypass governative blockings of the commercial and IT services.[108]

text: FTC fines[edit]

text: In 2012 the US Federal Trade Commission fined Google US$22.5 million for violating their agreement not to violate the privacy of users of the Apple Safari (web browser).[109] The FTC was also continuing to investigate if Google's favoring of their own services in their search results violated antitrust regulations.[110]

text: Redesign[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2016)

text: This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2016)

text: In late June 2011, Google introduced a new look to the Google home page in order to boost the use of the Google+ social tools.[111]

text: One of the major changes was replacing the classic navigation bar with a black one. Google's digital creative director Chris Wiggins explains: "We're working on a project to bring you a new and improved Google experience, and over the next few months, you'll continue to see more updates to our look and feel."[112] The new navigation bar has been negatively received by a vocal minority.[113]

text: In November 2013, Google started testing yellow labels for advertisements displayed in search results, to improve user experience. The new labels, highlighted in yellow color, and aligned to the left of each sponsored link help users clearly differentiate between organic and sponsored results.[114]

text: On December 15, 2016, Google rolled out a new desktop search interface that mimics their modular mobile user interface. The mobile design consists of a tabular design that highlights search features in boxes. and works by imitating the desktop Knowledge Graph real estate, which appears in the right-hand rail of the search engine result page, these featured elements frequently feature Twitter carousels, People Also Search For, and Top Stories (vertical and horizontal design) modules. The Local Pack and Answer Box were two of the original features of the Google SERP that were primarily showcased in this manner, but this new layout creates a previously unseen level of design consistency for Google results.[115]

text: Smartphone apps[edit]

text: Google offers a "Google Search" mobile app for Android and iOS devices.[116] The mobile apps exclusively feature a "feed", a news feed-style page of continually-updated developments on news and topics of interest to individual users. Android devices were introduced to a preview of the feed in December 2016,[117] while it was made official on both Android and iOS in July 2017.[118][119]

text: In April 2016, Google updated its Search app on Android to feature "Trends"; search queries gaining popularity appeared in the autocomplete box along with normal query autocompletion.[120] The update received significant backlash, due to encouraging search queries unrelated to users' interests or intentions, prompting the company to issue an update with an opt-out option.[121] In September 2017, the Google Search app on iOS was updated to feature the same functionality.[122]

text: International availability[edit]

text: Google is available in many languages and has been localized completely or partially for many countries, including separate regional domain names.[123]

text: One-minute domain availability issue[edit]

text: On September 29, 2015, an ex-employee of Google, Sanmay Ved, managed to buy the domain Google.com via Google's domain registration service and gained full webmaster control. His access was shut down one minute later.[124] He told Business Insider that "I used to work at Google so I keep messing around with the product. I type in Google.com and to my surprise it showed it as available. ... I thought it was some error, but I could actually complete check out". The cost for the domain was $12.[125] In compensation for finding the security vulnerability, Google offered him $6,000. After Ved explained that he wanted to give the money to charity, Google doubled the amount to $12,000.[126]

text: Search products[edit]

text: In addition to its tool for searching webpages, Google also provides services for searching images, Usenet newsgroups, news websites, videos, searching by locality, maps, and items for sale online. In 2012, Google has indexed over 30 trillion web pages, and received 100 billion queries per month.[127] It also caches much of the content that it indexes. Google operates other tools and services including Google News, Google Shopping, Google Maps, Google Custom Search, Google Earth, Google Docs, Picasa, Panoramio, YouTube, Google Translate, Google Blog Search and Google Desktop Search.

text: There are also products available from Google that are not directly search-related. Gmail, for example, is a webmail application, but still includes search features; Google Browser Sync does not offer any search facilities, although it aims to organize your browsing time.

text: Also Google starts many new beta products, like Google Social Search or Google Image Swirl.

text: Energy consumption[edit]

text: In 2009, Google claimed that a search query requires altogether about 1 kJ or 0.0003 kW·h,[128] which is enough to raise the temperature of one liter of water by 0.24 °C. According to green search engine Ecosia, the industry standard for search engines is estimated to be about 0.2 grams of CO2 emission per search.[129] Google's 40,000 searches per second translate to 8 kg CO2 per second or over 252 million kilos of CO2 per year.[130]

text: Possible misuse of search results[edit]

text: In 2007, a group of researchers observed a tendency for users to rely on Google Search exclusively for finding information, writing that "With the Google interface the user gets the impression that the search results imply a kind of totality. [...] In fact, one only sees a small part of what one could see if one also integrates other research tools."[131]

text: In 2011, Google Search query results have been shown to be tailored to users by Internet activist Eli Pariser, effectively isolating users in what he defined as a filter bubble. Pariser holds algorithms used in search engines such as Google Search responsible for catering "a personal ecosystem of information".[132] Although contrasting views have mitigated the potential threat of "informational dystopia" and questioned the scientific nature of Pariser's claims,[133]  filter bubbles have been mentioned to account for the surprising results of the U.S. presidential election in 2016 alongside fake news and echo chambers, suggesting that Facebook and Google have designed personalized online realities in which « we only see and hear what we like » .[134]

text: Predicting behavior[edit]

text: At the 2016 New Hampshire primary, the top-searched Democratic candidate was Bernie Sanders with 72% of the searches and won with 60% of the vote, according to real-time results of Google's trending search queries, and Hillary Clinton received 28% of the queries and 38% of the vote. The top-searched Republican candidate was Donald Trump, who received 41% of the searches an hour before the polls closed and won with 35% of the vote and John Kasich got 16% of both the vote and the searches.[135]


document_title: Fallout (series)

question_text: when does the first fallout game take place

root

text: Fallout (series)

text: Games[edit]

text: Main series[edit]

text: Timeline of release years1997Fallout1998Fallout 2199920002001Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel200220032004Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel2005200620072008Fallout 320092010Fallout: New Vegas20112012201320142015Fallout ShelterFallout 4201620172018Fallout 76

tag: table

text: Fallout (1997)[edit]

text: Released in 1997, Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, beginning in the year 2161. The protagonist, referred to as the Vault Dweller, is tasked with recovering a water chip in the Wasteland to replace the broken one in their underground shelter home, Vault 13. Afterwards, the Vault Dweller must thwart the plans of a group of mutants, led by a grotesque entity named the Master. Fallout was originally intended to run under the GURPS role-playing game system. However, a disagreement with the creator of GURPS, Steve Jackson, over the game's violent content required Black Isle Studios to develop the new SPECIAL system.[5] Fallout's atmosphere and artwork are reminiscent of post-WWII America and the nuclear paranoia that was widespread at that time.

tag: p

text: Fallout 2 (1998)[edit]

text: Fallout 2 was released in 1998, with several improvements over the first game, including an improved game engine, the ability to set attitudes of non-player character (NPC) party members and the ability to push people who are blocking doors. Additional features included several changes to the game world, including significantly more pop culture jokes and parodies, such as multiple Monty Python and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-referencing special random encounters, and self-parodying dialogue that broke the fourth wall to mention game mechanics. Fallout 2 takes place eighty years after Fallout, and centers around a descendant of the Vault Dweller, the protagonist of Fallout. The player assumes the role of the Chosen One as they try to save their village, Arroyo, from severe famine and droughts. After saving the village, the Chosen One must save it again, this time from the Enclave, the remnants of the pre-war United States Government.

text: Fallout 3 (2008)[edit]

text: Fallout 3 was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and released on October 28, 2008. The story picks up thirty years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war that devastated the game's world.[6] The player-character is a Vault-dweller in Vault 101 who is forced to flee when the Overseer tries to arrest them in response to their father leaving the Vault. Once free, the player is dubbed the Lone Wanderer and ventures into the Wasteland in and around Washington, D.C., known as the Capital Wasteland, to find their father. It differs from previous games in the series by utilizing 3D graphics, a free-roam gaming world, and real-time combat, in contrast to previous games' 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat. It was developed simultaneously for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 using the Gamebryo engine. It received highly positive reviews, garnering 94/100,[7] 92/100,[8] and 93/100[9] averages scores on Metacritic for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, respectively. It won IGN's 2008 Overall Game of the Year Award, Xbox 360 Game of the Year, Best RPG, and Best Use of Sound, as well as E3's Best of the Show and Best Role Playing Game.

text: Fallout 4 (2015)[edit]

text: Fallout 4, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, was released on November 10, 2015. On June 3, 2015 the game's website went live revealing the game along with its box art, platforms, and the first trailer.[10] The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and takes place in Boston, Massachusetts, of the in-game New England Commonwealth and features voiced protagonists.[11][12][13][14] The Xbox One version has been confirmed to have mods as of 2016. Bethesda also confirmed mods for PlayStation 4, after lengthy negotiations with Sony.[15] A virtual reality version of the game was released on December 11, 2017.[16]Fallout 4 takes place in the year 2287, ten years after the events of Fallout 3. Fallout 4's story begins on the day the bombs dropped: October 23, 2077. The player's character (voiced by either Brian T. Delaney or Courtenay Taylor), dubbed as the Sole Survivor, takes shelter in Vault 111, emerging 210 years later, after being subjected to suspended animation. The Sole Survivor goes on a search for their son who was taken away in the Vault.

text: Spin-off games[edit]

text: Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2001)[edit]

text: Tactics is the first Fallout game not to require the player to fight in a turn-based mode, and it is also the first to allow the player to customize the skills, perks, and combat actions of the rest of the party. Fallout Tactics focuses on tactical combat rather than role-playing; the new combat system included different modes, stances, and modifiers, but the player had no dialogue options. Most of the criticisms of the game came from its incompatibility with the story of the original two games, not from its gameplay. Fallout: Tactics includes a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete against squads of other characters controlled by other players. Unlike the previous two games, which are based in California, Fallout Tactics takes place in the Midwestern United States. The game was released in early 2001 to generally favorable reviews.

text: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004)[edit]

text: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel became the first Fallout game for consoles when it was released in 2004. It follows an initiate in the Brotherhood of Steel who is given a suicidal quest to find several lost Brotherhood Paladins. Brotherhood of Steel is an action role-playing game, representing a significant break from previous incarnations of the Fallout series in both gameplay and aesthetics. The game does not feature non-player characters that accompany the player in combat and uses heavy metal music, including Slipknot, Devin Townsend, and Killswitch Engage, which stands in contrast to the music of the earlier Fallout games, performed by The Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong. It was the last Fallout game  developed by Interplay.

text: Fallout: New Vegas (2010)[edit]

text: Fallout: New Vegas was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and released on October 19, 2010.[17] The development team included developers who previously worked on Fallout and Fallout 2.[18][19] Fallout: New Vegas is not a direct sequel to Fallout 3;[20][21] rather, it is a stand-alone product.[20][22] Events in the game follow four years after Fallout 3 and offer a similar role-playing experience, but no characters from that game appear.[21] The player assumes the role of a courier in the post-apocalyptic world of the Mojave Wasteland. As the game begins, the Courier is shot in the head and left for dead shortly before being found and brought to a doctor in the nearby town of Goodsprings, marking the start of the game and the Courier's search for their would-be murderer. The city of New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic interpretation of Las Vegas.

text: Fallout Shelter (2015)[edit]

text: Fallout Shelter is a simulation game for Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The player acts as the Overseer, building and managing their Vault and its dwellers, sending them into the Wasteland on scouting missions and defending the Vault from attack. Fallout Shelter was released for iOS on June 14, 2015, Android on August 13, 2015, and for PC on July 15, 2016. On February 7, 2017, Bethesda launched Fallout Shelter on Xbox One. On June 10, 2018, Bethesda announced and launched Fallout Shelter on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

text: Fallout 76 (2018)[edit]

text: Fallout 76 was announced on May 30, 2018. The announcement was preceded by a 24-hour Twitch live stream that showed a Vault Boy bobblehead toy in front of a monitor with the "Please Stand By" test pattern screen that teased the announcement. This stream was watched by a total of over two million people and over 100,000 people watching at almost any time.[23] The stream concluded with a brief message from Bethesda's Todd Howard, prior to a teaser trailer set to the song "Take Me Home, Country Roads". The trailer features scenes of Vault 76 (a location regarded in Fallout 3 as being a "control Vault" in the Washington D.C. area, that was not subjected to experimentation),[24][25] which is decorated to celebrate an event referred to as "Reclamation Day"; a Pip-Boy device listing the current date as October 27, 2102 (just over 25 years after the Great War); an unknown dweller of Vault 76 and a broadcast containing the statement: "When the fighting has stopped and the fallout has settled, you must rebuild".[26][27]

text: At the Bethesda E3 press conference on June 10, 2018, Howard confirmed that Fallout 76 would be the first online multiplayer game in the franchise, with a choice to play solo if the player wishes. It is set in West Virginia, with a majority of monsters and enemies based on regional folklore. There will be no non-player characters in the game. The map of Fallout 76 is four times larger than its predecessor Fallout 4. It is scheduled to be released on November 14, 2018.[28]

text: Canceled games[edit]

text: Fallout Extreme[edit]

text: Fallout Extreme was a title in development for several months in 2000 but was canceled.[29]

text: Fallout Tactics 2[edit]

text: Fallout Tactics 2 was a proposed sequel to Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, although it was originally conceived as a sequel to Wasteland, the video game that inspired the Fallout series. It was developed by Micro Forté, but the production was cancelled in December 2001 after the poor sales of Fallout Tactics.[30]

text: Van Buren (Black Isle Studios' Fallout 3)[edit]

text: Van Buren was the codename for the canceled version of Fallout 3 developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment. It featured an improved engine with real 3D graphics as opposed to sprites, new locations, vehicles, and a modified version of the SPECIAL system. The story disconnected from the Vault Dweller/Chosen One bloodline in Fallout and Fallout 2. Plans for the game included the ability to influence the various factions. The game was cancelled in December 2003 when the budget cuts forced Interplay to dismiss the PC development team. Interplay subsequently sold the Fallout intellectual property to Bethesda Softworks, who began development on their own version of Fallout 3 unrelated to Van Buren. Main parts of the game were incorporated into Fallout 3 and its add-ons as well as Fallout: New Vegas.

text: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2[edit]

text: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 is the canceled sequel to Brotherhood of Steel. The development of the game started before the completion of the original, and its development caused the cancellation of the "Van Buren" project. Like its predecessor, the game would have used the Dark Alliance Engine. It was targeted for a Christmas 2004 release date.[31] It featured fourteen new weapons and ten new enemies. The game would have used a simplified reputation system based on previous entries; depending on whether the player was good or evil, the game would play out differently. Each of the four characters that were playable had a different fighting style, therefore every new play-through would have been a different experience. It had two player co-op action for players to experience the game with their friends. The Dark Alliance Engine would be fleshed out to refine player experience. A new stealth system would have been added to the game. This system would have allowed players to stalk enemies or stealthily assassinate them with a sniper rifle. For characters that could not use the sniper rifle, Interplay added a turret mode allowing those characters to use turrets.[32]

text: Fallout Online[edit]

text: Fallout Online (previously known as Project V13) was a cancelled project by Interplay and Masthead Studios[33] to develop a Fallout-themed massively multiplayer online game. It entered production in 2008.[34] In 2009, Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Interplay regarding Project V13, claiming that Interplay has violated their agreement as development has not yet begun on the project.[35] On January 2, 2012, Bethesda and Interplay reached a settlement, the terms of which include the cancellation of Fallout Online and transfer of all rights in the franchise to Bethesda.[36] Since then, Project V13 has been revived as a completely different project called Mayan Apocalypse, unrelated to Fallout.

text: Gameplay[edit]

text: SPECIAL[edit]

text: SPECIAL is a character creation and statistics system developed specifically for the Fallout series. SPECIAL is an acronym, representing the seven attributes used to define Fallout characters: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. SPECIAL is heavily based on GURPS, which was originally intended to be the character system used in the game.

text: The SPECIAL system involves the following sets of key features:

text:
Attributes (listed above) represent a character's core, inbred abilities. Attributes stay largely constant throughout the game, though they can be temporarily affected by drugs, altered indefinitely by conditions such as the wearing of Power Armor, the presence of certain NPCs or eye damage received in a critical hit, or permanently changed at certain points in the game through use of certain items or by taking certain perks.
Skills represent a character's chance of successfully performing a group of specific tasks (such as firing a gun, or picking a lock). They are represented as percentages, though these percentages can extend well beyond the expected maximum of 100%, at increased cost for skills over 100%. The SPECIAL stats continually add bonuses to skills. This is done passively, i.e. if the SPECIAL stats change, the bonuses are automatically and instantly adjusted. Skill Points that are earned each time the character levels up can be used to raise skill percentage. At character creation, the player also selects three Tag Skills — Skills which can be increased at multiples of the normal rate, starting at one skill point per 2% skill at under 101% skill.

tag: ul

text: The SPECIAL system was used in Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. A modified version of the system was used in Fallout: Warfare, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4. Fallout Shelter, the only mobile game in the series, also uses a form of SPECIAL.

text: Aside from Fallout games, modified versions of SPECIAL were also used in Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (also referred to as Fallout Fantasy early in production), a fantasy role-playing video game that involved spirits and magic in addition to the traditional SPECIAL features, as well as the cancelled project Black Isle's Torn.

text: The Pip-Boy and Vault Boy[edit]

text: The Pip-Boy (Personal Information Processor-Boy) is a wrist-computer given to the player early in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 which serves various roles in quest, inventory, and battle management, as well as presenting player statistics. The model present in Fallout and Fallout 2 is identified as a Pip-Boy 2000, and both games feature the same unit, used first by the Vault Dweller and later inherited by the Chosen One. Fallout Tactics contains a modified version of the 2000 model, called Pip-Boy 2000BE, while Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas uses a Pip-Boy 3000. Fallout: New Vegas also has a golden version of it, called the Pimp-Boy 3Billion that is given to the player as a reward for completing a quest in a certain way. Fallout 4 contains a modified version of the 3000, called the Pip-Boy 3000 Mark IV. Fallout 76 also contains a modified version of the Pip-Boy, called the Pip-Boy 2000 Mark VI, which is another version of the Pip-Boy 2000.

text: The Vault Boy character is Vault-Tec's mascot, and is a recurring element in Vault-Tec products in the game world.[37] This includes the Pip-Boy, where the Vault Boy illustrates all of the character statistics and selectable attributes. From Bethesda's Fallout 3 onward Vault Boy models all of the clothing and weaponry as well.[38] The character was originally designed by Leonard Boyarsky, based partly on Rich Uncle Pennybags' aesthetic from the Monopoly board game, and drawn for Fallout by George Almond for the first few cards and by Tramell Ray Isaac, who finalized the look of the character.[39]

text: Series overview[edit]

text: Setting[edit]

text: The series is set in a fictionalized United States in an alternate history scenario that diverged from our reality following World War II.[40] The transistor was not invented, while vacuum tubes and atomic physics became the cornerstones to scientific progress, eventually achieving the technological aspirations of the early Atomic Age and locking society into a 1950s cultural stasis. Thus, in this alternative atompunk "golden age", a bizarre socio-technological status quo emerges, in which advanced robots, nuclear-powered cars, directed-energy weapons, and other futuristic technologies are seen alongside 1950s-era computers and televisions. The United States divides itself into 13 commonwealths and the aesthetics and Cold War paranoia of the 1950s continue to dominate the American lifestyle well into the 21st century, leading to America becoming a fascist police state and ultimately abandoning its democratic ideals in favor of a plutocratic system and pure capitalism. Political dissidents were sent to prison camps where they were experimented on, and anyone who spoke out against the Enclave-controlled government were executed en masse in the streets.

text: More than a hundred years before the start of the series, an energy crisis emerged caused by the depletion of petroleum reserves, leading to a period called the "Resource Wars" – a series of events which included a war between the European Commonwealth and the Middle East, the disbanding of the United Nations, the U.S. invasion of Mexico, as well as the annexation of Canada, and a Chinese invasion and subsequent military occupation of Alaska coupled with their release of the "New Plague" that devastated the American mainland. These eventually culminated in the "Great War" on October 23, 2077, a two-hour nuclear exchange on an apocalyptic scale, which subsequently created the post-apocalyptic United States, the setting of the Fallout world.

text: Vaults[edit]

text: Having foreseen this outcome decades earlier, the U.S. government began a nationwide project in 2054 to build fallout shelters known as "Vaults". The Vaults were ostensibly designed by the government contractor Vault-Tec as public shelters, financed by junk bonds and each able to support up to a thousand people. Around 400,000 vaults would have been needed, but only 122 were commissioned and constructed. Each Vault is self-sufficient, so they could theoretically sustain their inhabitants indefinitely. However, the Vault project wasn't intended as a viable method of repopulating the United States in these deadly events. Instead, most Vaults were secret, unethical social experiments and were designed to determine the effects of different environmental and psychological conditions on their inhabitants. Experiments were widely varied and included: a Vault filled with clones of an individual; a Vault where its residents were frozen in suspended animation; a Vault where its residents were exposed to psychoactive drugs; a Vault where one resident, usually the Vault's Overseer, is sacrificed each year; a Vault with only one man and puppets; a Vault where its inhabitants were segregated; two Vaults with disproportionate ratios of men and women; a Vault where the inhabitants were exposed to the mutagenic Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.); and a Vault where the door never closed, exposing the inhabitants to the dangerous nuclear fallout. A few control Vaults were made to function as advertised in contrast with the Vault experiments, but were usually shoddy and unreliable due to most of the funding going towards the experimental Vaults. Subsequently, many Vaults had their experiments derailed due to unexpected events, and a number became occupied by raiders, mutated animals or ghouls.

text: Post-War conditions[edit]

text: In the years after the Great War, the United States has devolved into a post-apocalyptic environment commonly dubbed "the Wasteland". The Great War and subsequent nuclear Armageddon has severely depopulated the country, leaving large expanses of property decaying from neglect. In addition, virtually all food and water is irradiated and most lifeforms have mutated due to high radiation combined with mutagens of varied origins. Despite the large-scale devastation, some areas were fortunate enough to survive the nuclear apocalypse relatively unscathed, even possessing non-irradiated water, flora, and fauna. However, these areas are exceedingly rare. With a large portion of the country's infrastructure in ruins, basic necessities are scarce. Barter is the common method of exchange, with bottle caps providing a more conventional form of currency. Most cities and towns are empty, having been looted or deserted in favor of smaller, makeshift communities scattered around the Wasteland.

text: Many humans who could not get into the Vaults survived the atomic blasts, but many of these, affected by the radiation, turned into so-called "ghouls." While they were given an extended lifespan, many lost their hair and their skin decayed. Often, their voices became raspy giving them a zombie-like appearance. Ghouls often have a hatred towards humans due to jealousy or in response to discrimination. Ghouls typically resent any comparison to zombies, and being called a zombie is viewed as a great insult. If ghouls continue to be exposed to high levels of radiation, irreversible damage to their brains can cause them to become feral ghouls that attack almost anything on sight, having lost their minds.

text: Factions[edit]

text: This  section describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Although the wastelands of the Fallout series are home to innumerable self-supporting groups, there are a number of factions who have a significant presence across the former United States. These factions are often the major players in the larger events of each game's primary storyline. In Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 the player's actions determine which factions emerge from the game's events victorious.

text:
The Brotherhood of Steel is a neo-knightly organization formed from the remnants of the United States military. The group is dedicated to the collection and preservation of pre-war knowledge and technology, sometimes putting technology above human life, and is noted for its extensive use of high-tech suits called power armor. Seen as elitist, the Brotherhood believes that anyone outside their ranks is incapable of handling the power of technology, bringing them into conflict with other factions. There are significant divisions within the Brotherhood over how to carry out their ideology, however, and with most groups isolated from each other geographically they have evolved in different directions. On the East Coast, in the D.C. area (also known as the Capital Wasteland), the Brotherhood takes on the form of protectors of the wastes, defending human settlements from Super Mutants and helping distribute clean water throughout the region. The Commonwealth division - which has ties with the D.C. branch - also protects the local human survivors from mutants and other threats but acts more like an occupying army. In the Mojave region, the Brotherhood is radically isolationist and has warred with the NCR and other factions.
The Enclave is an organization that descended from the pre-War éminence grise of the U.S. federal government and acts as the main antagonist in Fallout 2 and Fallout 3. They have access to superior technology available before the War, such as plasma weaponry, Vertibirds, and have developed a new platform of power armor off the pre-War X-01, dubbed "advanced power armor", and later developing "Hellfire armor". Their main goal (in Fallout 2 and Fallout 3) was to wipe out all mutation in the Wasteland so that they can restore the pre-War U.S. of old, which, given the pervasive radiation and background FEV virus, is almost every living thing in the Wasteland besides themselves, due to their genetic "purity".
The New California Republic (NCR) is a constitutional republic and is the largest faction in the wasteland in terms of landmass and population. The NCR bears resemblance to the pre-War United States with a commitment to "old world values". Originating in Shady Sands, California by a group of survivors of Vault 15, the NCR has expanded and taken holdings in Nevada, Oregon, and Baja California, along the Colorado River. Despite being democratic and generally socially tolerant, the NCR is also highly militarized and is keen to annex any territory they deem advantageous. Though not nearly as vicious in its conquests as their rival Caesar's Legion, the NCR does have a history of violence against locals who oppose annexation, such as the Great Khans of the Mojave. The NCR holds Hoover Dam during the start of Fallout: New Vegas.[41]
The Church of the Children of Atom is a religious organization with groups scattered all across the Wasteland. The group worships a deity named Atom as well as radiation which they refer to as His "Glow", seeing nuclear weapons as physical manifestations of Atom and thus treating them as objects of worship. Members often intentionally expose themselves to high levels of radiation and many are ill and/or physically affected as a result, while others have developed high levels of tolerance to radiation. The groups located in the Capital Wasteland are small and generally peaceful while in the Commonwealth their religion has grown larger and more fanatical.
Caesar's Legion is one of the main antagonists of Fallout: New Vegas and is an autocratic, traditionalist, imperialistic slavery society, and totalitarian dictatorship. Ruled by Caesar (real name Edward Sallow), a former member of the Followers of the Apocalypse who originated the Legion in Arizona and later expanded it into Colorado and parts of Utah, eventually conquering 87 different human tribes. Basing its culture and ideals on those of the historic Roman Empire, the Legion has relentlessly expanded its borders, enslaving the people it encounters and forcibly assimilating them to Caesar's ideology, obliterating their native cultures in the process. The Legionnaires willingly reject most modern technology (save for that involved in armaments) and their society is based on a strict caste system. Men must become Legion warriors and wear approximations of ancient Roman armor. Women have no rights and are forced into servitude, mostly for housework and reproduction. Despite its brutality, some wasteland survivors appreciate the Legion for bringing order to previously savage regions that other factions, like the NCR, have ignored.
The Followers of the Apocalypse are a loosely organized collective dedicated to humanitarian work and the recovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge.  Originating in the town of Boneyard in the NCR, they can be found throughout the Western regions, often running medical clinics. They are frequently considered "anarchist rebels" by various factions (chiefly the NCR) due to their lack of loyalty to any specific government. Despite this label, the Followers are a nonviolent group and frequently assist the player characters in their travels.
Mr. House is one of the main antagonists of Fallout: New Vegas and the owner and proprietor of New Vegas, the Post-War version of Las Vegas. Before the war, he was the founder and CEO of RobCo., the company that designed and manufactured most of the robots and computers found throughout the Wasteland. He had predicted the Great War well before it happened and spent 12 years developing a plan to save his home city of Las Vegas from destruction. Though he managed to save most of the Vegas Strip, radiation from nearby bombs devastated the surrounding area. Hoping to guide human progress following the apocalypse, House used his scientific innovations to extend his life and eventually rebuild Las Vegas into New Vegas. At the start of Fallout: New Vegas, Mr. House rules the Strip as a "benevolent dictator" (as he puts it) with the aid of local human survivors and an army of police robots called Securitrons, believing the nuclear war had proven democracy to be too flawed to ever work. He is formally allied with the NCR and plays it off against the Legion in order to prevent either one from being able to annex New Vegas. Mr. House is loosely based on Howard Hughes.
Raiders is a generic term for roving bands of human cutthroats and bandits, though in some areas the various groups are organized, such as the Fiends. Raiders are typically hostile, aggressive, and quite sadistic, having descended to a level of brute savagery. They are generally depicted like the gangs in the Mad Max films, wearing odd assortments of leather and metal scrap as armor. Raiders are often drug-addicted and sometimes cannibalistic.
Super Mutants are a type of mutation resulting from infection of the "Forced Evolutionary Virus", which turns humans into hulking and sterile creatures. They are not a single unitary faction. A subtype of these mutants is the Nightkin, who are skilled in stealth.
The Unity was the name of the Master's idealized vision of humanity, as well as his own organization, including the Master's Army and the Children of the Cathedral. They are the main antagonists of the original Fallout game.
The Institute is an advanced scientific organization that appears as a main faction and antagonist in Fallout 4. They have arisen from surviving scientists and professors at the Commonwealth Institute of Technology (abbreviated C.I.T.), an in-game analog of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The people of the Institute originally tried to help the people of the Commonwealth, but tensions between them and wastelanders caused them to give up on the post-apocalyptic Wasteland and think of it as a lost cause and live underground in isolation, sending out androids they have created known as "synths" to infiltrate and monitor above ground society. The Institute engages in institutionalized torture, murder, and subversion. Their atrocities are the reason for the paranoia that people could be snatched away in the night and replaced.
The Railroad is a covert organization formed to aid synths desiring to escape the Institute. The name is based on that of the Underground Railroad, which aided African Americans seeking to escape slavery in the Southern United States. The Railroad smuggles synths out of the Institute, then supplies them for their new lives in the Wasteland, and usually out of the Commonwealth. Due to high levels of suspicion and prejudice against synths in the Wasteland, as well as antagonism from the Institute, the Railroad operates under great secrecy.
The Gunners are the largest mercenary group in the Commonwealth and are a military-themed, well-organized and equipped group of for-hire killers with their own customs and signage who control numerous large strongholds in and around the Boston area. They were responsible for the dissolution of the Commonwealth Minutemen during the Quincy Massacre. In 2287, Quincy remains one of their key bases of operations.
Talon Company is the largest, paramilitary mercenary company operating in the Capital Wasteland. During the events of Fallout 3, they are in loose affiliation with the Enclave, but also accepting contracts from an unknown but malevolent source for the killing of any egregious force for good in the Wasteland, though they have also accepted other jobs such as fighting the Super Mutants. Their position following  the defeat of the Enclave and the consolidation of the area by the Brotherhood of Steel is unknown.
The Regulators are a vigilante organization, based in the Capital Wasteland and dedicated to hunting down and killing those who do evil in their territory. As with Talon Company, it is unknown what effect the consolidation of the Capital Wasteland under the Brotherhood of Steel may have had on their operations.
The Minutemen are a loosely-organized citizen militia based in the Commonwealth, modeled after its namesake group in colonial-era New England that fought in the American Revolution. This iteration's goal is to protect settlements from various dangers such as raiders, Super Mutants, and ghouls, and to unite them under one banner to make the Commonwealth a better place to live.

text: Influences[edit]

text: Fallout draws from 1950s pulp magazine science fiction and superhero comic books, all rooted in Atomic Age optimism of a nuclear-powered future, though gone terribly awry by the time the events of the game take place. The technology is retro-futuristic, with various Raygun Gothic machines such as laser weaponry and boxy Forbidden Planet-style robots. Computers use vacuum tubes instead of transistors, architecture of ruined buildings feature Art Deco and Googie designs, energy weapons resemble those used by Flash Gordon, and what few vehicles remain in the world are all 1950s-styled. Fallout's other production design, such as menu interfaces, are similarly designed to resemble advertisements and toys of the Atomic Age. Advertising in the game such as billboards and brochures has a distinct 1950s motif and feel. The lack of retro-stylization was a common reason for criticism in spin-off games.

text: A major influence was A Boy and His Dog, where the main character Vic and his dog Blood scavenge the desert of the Southwestern United States, stealing for a living and evading bands of marauders, berserk androids, and mutants. It "inspired Fallout on many levels, from underground communities of survivors to glowing mutants."[42] Other film influences include the Mad Max series, with its depiction of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In the first game, one of the first available armors is a one-sleeved leather jacket that resembles the jacket worn by Mel Gibson in Mad Max 2.[43]

text: Tabletop games[edit]

text: Fallout: Warfare[edit]

text: Fallout: Warfare is a tabletop wargame based on the Fallout Tactics storyline, using a simplified version of the SPECIAL system. The rulebook was written by Christopher Taylor, and was available on the Fallout Tactics bonus CD, together with cut-out miniatures. Fallout: Warfare features five distinct factions, vehicles, four game types and 33 different units. The rules only require ten-sided dice. The modifications to the SPECIAL system allow every unit a unique set of stats and give special units certain skills they can use, including piloting, doctor, and repair. A section of the Fallout: Warfare manual allows campaigns to be conducted using the Warfare rules. The game is currently available for free online from fansite No Mutants Allowed and several other sources. It has also been chosen for many awards and won game of the year.[citation needed]

text: Exodus[edit]

text: Exodus is a role-playing game published by Glutton Creeper Games using the d20 Modern/OGL system. At the beginning of the development this game was known as Fallout: Pen and Paper - d20 however all connections to Fallout were dropped after a legal dispute with Bethesda.

text: Fallout[edit]

text: A board game titled Fallout was announced by Fantasy Flight Games in August 2017 for a November release.[44]

text: Fallout: Wasteland Warfare[edit]

text: The tabletop wargame Fallout: Wasteland Warfare was announced by Modiphius Entertainment in April 2017.[45] It is scheduled for release in March 2018.[46]

text: Legal action[edit]

text: Interplay was threatened with bankruptcy and sold the full Fallout franchise to Bethesda, but kept the rights to the Fallout MMO through a back license in April 2007 and began work on the MMO later that year. Bethesda Softworks sued Interplay Entertainment for copyright infringement on September 8, 2009, regarding the Fallout Online license and selling of Fallout Trilogy and sought an injunction to stop development of Fallout Online and sales of Fallout Trilogy. Key points that Bethesda were trying to argue is that Interplay did not have the right to sell Fallout Trilogy on the Internet via Steam, Good Old Games or other online services.  Bethesda also said that "full scale" development on Fallout Online was not met and that the minimum financing of 30 million of "secured funding" was not met. Interplay launched a counter suit claiming that Bethesda's claims were meritless and that it did have the right to sell Fallout Trilogy via online stores via its contract with Bethesda. Interplay also claimed secure funding had been met and the game was in full scale development by the cut off date. Interplay argued to have the second contract that sold Fallout voided which would result in the first contract that licensed Fallout to come back into effect. This would mean that Fallout would revert to Interplay. Bethesda would be allowed to make Fallout 5. Bethesda would also have to pay 12% of royalties on Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 and expansions plus interest on the money owed. On December 10, 2009, Bethesda lost the first injunction.[47]

text: Bethesda shortly afterward tried a new tactic and fired its first lawyer, replacing him and filing a second injunction, claiming that Interplay had only back-licensed the name Fallout but no content. Interplay has countered showing that the contract states that they must make Fallout Online that has the look and feel of Fallout and that in the event Interplay fails to meet the requirements (30 million minimum secure funding and "full scale" development by X date) that Interplay can still release the MMO but they have to remove all Fallout content. The contract then goes on to list all Fallout content as locations, monsters, settings and lore.[citation needed] Bethesda has known that Interplay would use Fallout elements via internet emails shown in court documents and that the contract was not just for the name.[48] The second injunction by Bethesda was denied on August 4, 2011, by the courts. Bethesda then appealed the denial of their second preliminary injunction. Bethesda then sued Masthead Studios and asked for a restraining order against the company. Bethesda was denied this restraining order before Masthead Studios could call a counter-suit.[49] Bethesda then lost its appeal of the second injunction.[50]

text: Bethesda then filed motion in limine against Interplay. Interplay then filed a motion in limine against Bethesda the day after. Shortly after, the trial by jury which Bethesda requested on October 26, 2010, was changed to a trial by court because the APA contract (aka the second  contract that sold Fallout to Bethesda) stated that all legal matters would be resolved via a trial by court and not a trial by jury. The trial by court began on December 12. In 2012, in a press conference Bethesda revealed that in exchange for 2 million dollars, Interplay gave to them full rights for Fallout Online. Interplay's rights to sell and merchandise Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel expired on December 31, 2013.

text: Reception and legacy[edit]

text:
Aggregate review scores

Game

Year

Metacritic

Fallout

1997

89/100[51]

Fallout 2

1998

86/100[52]

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel

2001

82/100[53]

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

2004

PS2: 64/100[54]XBOX: 66/100[55]

Fallout 3

2008

PC: 91/100[56]PS3: 90/100[57]X360: 93/100[58]

Fallout: New Vegas

2010

PC: 84/100[59]PS3: 82/100[60]X360: 84/100[61]

Fallout Shelter

2015

71/100[65]

Fallout 4

2015

PC: 84/100[62]PS4: 87/100[63]XONE: 88/100[64]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2015)

text: The Fallout series has been met with positive reception. The highest rated title is Fallout 3 according to review aggregator Metacritic.

text: Controversy and fandom[edit]

text: Not all fans are happy with the direction the Fallout series has taken since its acquisition by Bethesda Softworks. Notorious for their vitriolic support of the series' first two games, Fallout and Fallout 2,[66][67] members centered around one of the oldest Fallout fansites, No Mutants Allowed, have cried foul over departures from the original games' stories, gameplay mechanics and setting.[67] Minor criticisms include the prevalence of unspoiled food after 200 years, the survival of wood-framed dwellings after a nuclear blast, and the ubiquity of Super Mutants at early levels in the game.[67] More serious criticisms involve the quality of the game's writing, a perceived lack of verisimilitude, the switch to a first-person action game format, and the reactiveness of the surrounding game world to player actions.[67][68][69] In response, Jim Sterling of Destructoid has called fan groups like No Mutants Allowed "selfish" and "arrogant"; stating that a new audience deserves a chance to play a Fallout game; and that if the series had stayed the way it was back in 1997, new titles would never have been made and brought to market.[70] Luke Winkie of Kotaku tempers these sentiments, saying that it is a matter of ownership; and that in the case of Fallout 3, hardcore fans of the original series witnessed their favorite games become transformed into something else and that they are "not wrong" for having grievances.[67]

text: The redesigned dialogue interface featured in Fallout 4 received mixed reception by the community.[71][72] Unsatisfied fans created mods for the game, providing subtitles and allowing the player to know what their character would say prior to choosing it as it was in previous games in the franchise such as in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.[73][74] Though even taking the mods into account, Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku still criticized the writing of the game in her review, describing it as "thin", "You never have particularly long or nuanced conversations with the other characters. I like to play a Charisma-focused character, and I was disappointed."[75]

text: Film adaptation[edit]

text: In 1998, Interplay Entertainment founded the film division Interplay Films to make films based on its properties, and announced that a Fallout film was one of their first projects, along adaptations of Descent and Redneck Rampage. In 2000, Interplay confirmed that a film based on the original Fallout game was in production with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation screenwriter Brent V. Friedman attached to write a film treatment and with Dark Horse Entertainment attached to produce it.[76] The division was later disbanded without any film produced, but Friedman's treatment was leaked on the Internet in 2011.

text: In 2009, Bethesda Softworks expressed its interest in producing a Fallout film.[77] After four extensions of the trademark without any use, Bethesda filed a "Statement of Use" with the USPTO in January 2012.[78] In next month, instead of a Fallout film, a special feature was made, entitled "Making of Fallout 3 DVD",[79] which was accepted as a film on March 27 of the same year.[80] This action removed the requirement to continue to re-register that mark indefinitely. In the DVD commentary of Mutant Chronicles, voice actor Ron Perlman stated that if a Fallout film was made, he would like to reprise his role as the Narrator. In 2016, Todd Howard stated that Bethesda had turned down the offers of making a film based on Fallout, but that he did not rule out the possibility.[81]


document_title: Dynamics (music)

question_text: the direction to decrescendo indicates to the performer that the music should

text: Dynamics (music)

text: Purpose and interpretation[edit]

text: Dynamics are one of the expressive elements of music. Used effectively, dynamics help musicians sustain variety and interest in a musical performance, and communicate a particular emotional state or feeling.

text: Dynamic markings are always relative.[1] p never indicates a precise level of loudness, it merely indicates that music in a passage so marked should be considerably quieter than f. There are many factors affecting the interpretation of a dynamic marking. For instance, the middle of a musical phrase will normally be played louder than the beginning or ending, to ensure the phrase is properly shaped, even where a passage is marked p throughout. Similarly, in multi-part music, some voices will naturally be played louder than others, for instance to emphasis the melody and the bass line, even if a whole passage is marked at one dynamic level. Some instruments are naturally louder than others - for instance, a tuba playing piano will likely be louder than a guitar playing fortissimo, while a high-pitched instrument piccolo playing in its upper register can usually sound loud even where its actual decibel level is lower than that of other instruments.

text: Further, a dynamic marking does not necessarily only affect loudness of the music. A forte passage is not usually "the same as a piano passage but louder". Rather, a musician will often use a different approach to other aspects of expression like timbre or articulation to further illustrate the differences. Sometimes this might also extend to tempo. It's important for a performer to be able to control dynamics and tempo independently, and thus novice musicians are often instructed "don't speed up just because it's getting louder!". However, in some circumstances, a dynamic marking might also indicate a change of tempo.[a]

text: In some music notation programs, there are default MIDI key velocity values associated with these indications, but more sophisticated programs allow users to change these as needed. Apple's Logic Pro 9 (2009-2013) and Avid's Sibelius 5 (2007-2009) use the following values: Sibelius 5 defines the following values, though these may be adjusted in Sibelius, within the range 0-127:

text:
Letters
ppp
pp
p
mp
mf
f
ff
fff

Logic Pro 9 dynamics[2]
16
32
48
64
80
96
112
127

Sibelius 5 dynamics[3]
20
39
61
71
84
98
113
127

Sibelius 5 attacks
15
30
50
60
75
90
105
119

text: Dynamic markings[edit]

text:
Scale of dynamic markings[4]

Name
Letters
Level

fortissississimo

ffff
maximum

fortississimo

fff

fortissimo

ff

forte

f

mezzo-forte

mf
average

mezzo-piano

mp

piano

p

pianissimo

pp

pianississimo

ppp

pianissississimo

pppp

pianississississimo

ppppp

pianissississississimo

pppppp
minimum

text: The two basic dynamic indications in music are:

text:
p or piano, meaning "soft".[5][6]
f or forte, meaning "loud".[5][7]

text: More subtle degrees of loudness or softness are indicated by:

text:
mp, standing for mezzo-piano, meaning "half soft".
mf, standing for mezzo-forte, meaning "half loud".[8]
più p, standing for più piano and meaning "softer".
più f, standing for più forte and meaning "louder".

text: Use of up to three consecutive fs or ps is also common:

text:
pp, standing for pianissimo and meaning "very soft".
ff, standing for fortissimo and meaning "very loud".
ppp, standing for pianississimo and meaning "very very soft" (or alternatively pianissimo possibile, "as soft as possible").
fff, standing for fortississimo and meaning "very very loud".[8]

text: The overall ranking of these is:

text:
ppp
pp
più p
p
mp
mf
f
più f
ff
fff

softest

mid
dle

loudest

text: Changes[edit]

text: Three Italian words are used to show gradual changes in volume:

text:
crescendo (abbreviated cresc.) translates as "increasing" (literally "growing").
decrescendo (abbreviated to decresc.) translates as "decreasing".
diminuendo (abbreviated dim.) translates as "diminishing".

text: Signs sometimes referred to as "hairpins"[9] are also used to stand for these words (See image). If the angle lines open up (), then the indication is to get louder; if they close gradually (), the indication is to get softer. The following notation indicates music starting moderately strong, then becoming gradually stronger and then gradually quieter:

text: Hairpins are usually written below the staff (or between the two staves in a grand staff), but are sometimes found above, especially in music for singers or in music with multiple melody lines being played by a single performer. They tend to be used for dynamic changes over a relatively short space of time (at most a few bars), while cresc., decresc. and dim. are generally used for changes over a longer period. Word directions can be extended with dashes to indicate over what time the event should occur, which may be as long as multiple pages.

text: For greater changes in dynamics, cresc. molto and dim. molto are often used, where the molto means "much". Similarly, for more gradual changes poco cresc. and poco dim. are used, where "poco" translates as a little, or alternatively with poco a poco meaning "little by little. Sudden changes in dynamics may be notated by adding the word subito (meaning "suddenly") as a prefix or suffix to the new dynamic notation.

text: Accented notes can be notated sforzando, sforzato, forzando or forzato (abbreviated sfz, sf, or fz) ("forcing" or "forced"), or using the sign >, placed above or below the head of the note.

text: Sforzando (or sforzato, forzando, forzato) indicates a forceful accent and is abbreviated as sf, sfz or fz. There is often confusion surrounding these markings and whether or not there is any difference in the degree of accent. However, all of these indicate the same expression, depending on the dynamic level,[10] and the extent of the sforzando is determined purely by the performer.

text: The fortepiano notation fp indicates a forte followed immediately by piano. By contrast, pf is an abbreviation for poco forte, literally "a little loud" but (according to Brahms) meaning with the character of forte, but the sound of piano, though rarely used because of possible confusion with pianoforte).[11]

text: Extreme dynamic markings[edit]

text: Dynamics softer than ppp or louder than fff are impractical, although theoretically any dynamic is possible.[12]

text: While the typical range of dynamic markings is from ppp to fff, some pieces use additional markings of further emphasis. Extreme dynamic markings imply an extreme range of loudness, or, alternatively, imply an extremely subtle distinction between very small differences of loudness within a normal range). This kind of usage is most common in orchestral works from the late 19th-century onwards. Generally, these markings are supported by the orchestration of the work, with heavy forte markings brought to life by having many loud instruments like brass and percussion playing at once. An early example of a decrescendo across 72 bars, from f to pppppp, is found in the fifth piece ("The Indian") of Walter William Stockhoff's In the Mountains: 7 Impressions for Pianoforte, op. 2 (1914).[citation needed] For instance, in Holst's The Planets, ffff occurs twice in "Mars" and once in "Uranus", often punctuated by organ.[citation needed] It also appears in Heitor Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 (Prelude),[citation needed] and in Liszt's Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam".[citation needed] The Norman Dello Joio Suite for Piano ends with a crescendo to a ffff,[citation needed] and Tchaikovsky indicated a bassoon solo pppppp (6 p) in his Pathétique Symphony and ffff in passages of his 1812 Overture and the 2nd movement of his Fifth Symphony.[citation needed]

text: Igor Stravinsky used ffff at the end of the finale of the Firebird Suite.[citation needed] ffff is also found in a prelude by Rachmaninoff, op.3-2.[citation needed] Shostakovich even went as loud as fffff (5 fs) in his fourth symphony.[citation needed] Gustav Mahler, in the third movement of his Seventh Symphony, gives the celli and basses a marking of fffff (5 fs), along with a footnote directing 'pluck so hard that the strings hit the wood'.[citation needed] On the other extreme, Carl Nielsen, in the second movement of his Symphony No. 5, marked a passage for woodwinds a diminuendo to ppppp (5 ps).[citation needed]

text: Another more extreme dynamic is in György Ligeti's Études No. 13 (Devil's Staircase), which has at one point a ffffff (6 fs) and progresses to a ffffffff (8 fs).[citation needed] In Ligeti's Études No. 9, he uses pppppppp (8 ps).[citation needed] In the baritone passage "Era la notte" from his opera Otello, Verdi uses pppp.[citation needed] In the full score the same spot is marked ppp.[13] Steane (1971) and others[citation needed] suggest that such markings are in reality a strong reminder to less than subtle singers to at least sing softly rather than an instruction to the singer actually to attempt a pppp.

text: History[edit]

text: On Music, one of the ''Moralia'' attributed to the philosopher Plutarch in the first century AD, suggests that ancient Greek musical performance included dynamic transitions - though dynamics receive far less attention in the text than does rhythm or harmony.

text: The Renaissance composer Giovanni Gabrieli was one of the first to indicate dynamics in music notation, but dynamics were used sparingly by composers until the late 18th century. Bach used some dynamic terms, including forte, piano, più piano, and pianissimo (although written out as full words), and in some cases it may be that ppp was considered to mean pianissimo in this period.

text: The fact that the harpsichord could play only "terraced" dynamics (either loud or soft, but not in between), and the fact that composers of the period did not mark gradations of dynamics in their scores, has led to the "somewhat misleading suggestion that baroque dynamics are 'terraced dynamics'," writes Robert Donington.[14] In fact, baroque musicians constantly varied dynamics. "Light and shade must be constantly introduced... by the incessant interchange of loud and soft," wrote Johann Joachim Quantz in 1752.[15] In addition to this, the harpsichord in fact becomes louder or softer depending on the thickness of the musical texture (four notes are louder than two). This allowed composers such as Bach to build dynamics directly into their compositions, without the need for notation.

text: In the Romantic period, composers greatly expanded the vocabulary for describing dynamic changes in their scores. Where Haydn and Mozart specified six levels (pp to ff), Beethoven used also ppp and fff (the latter less frequently), and Brahms used a range of terms to describe the dynamics he wanted. In the slow movement of the trio for violin, horn and piano (Opus 40), he uses the expressions ppp, molto piano, and quasi niente to express different qualities of quiet. Many Romantic and later composers added più p and più f, making for a total of ten levels between ppp and fff.