# D.C. Residents: How accurate is the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 5, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815 "2010-02-05T17:51:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/21 "2010-02-11T02:39:06Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > There’s one at the north entrance of Huntington too. There are public bathrooms in a lot of stations, but they’re not publicly _accessible_. You have to ask a station manager. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/22 "2010-02-11T03:30:19Z")
> [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](#): > > The trains only look like [our real-world Metro cars](http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4763648/dcmetro_Full.jpg) in that they are metal cylinders with windows. Stylistically, they look very much like [classic Greyhound buses](http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/115/936/089/HcBzglpr4clR1Ts.jpg), so that design is just as stuck in the 1950s aesthetic as everything else. And the Metro buses resemble [the GMC rattletraps from the '60s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_New_Look), with the ends switched. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/23 "2010-02-11T03:36:56Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > There are public bathrooms in a lot of stations, but they’re not publicly _accessible_. You have to ask a station manager. > > –Cliffy I know…but the Huntington North entrance toilet is publicly accessible. It was put in as a pilot project, and then they never expanded the project to any other stations. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/24 "2010-02-11T04:05:23Z")
> [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](#): > > I put in a good 4-5 hours to the game yesterday (Snowpocalypse!), and I paid extra attention to the metro trains as I was tromping around the metro tunnels. > > The trains only look like [our real-world Metro cars](http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4763648/dcmetro_Full.jpg) in that they are metal cylinders with windows. Stylistically, they look very much like [classic Greyhound buses](http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/115/936/089/HcBzglpr4clR1Ts.jpg), so that design is just as stuck in the 1950s aesthetic as everything else. Also, it seems like this alternate/future universe version of Metro has finally managed to retire the 1000-series metro cars. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/25 "2010-02-11T19:36:34Z")
The most frustrating part of FO3 is you can’t freely walk around DC, you have to keep going underground to avoid the big piles of rubble. Can’t your character climb? I know, I know, it was done for performance reasons. Still a teriffic game, one of the handful that I’ve finished. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/26 "2010-02-11T21:34:43Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > The most frustrating part of FO3 is you can’t freely walk around DC, you have to keep going underground to avoid the big piles of rubble. Can’t your character climb? I know, I know, it was done for performance reasons. Still a teriffic game, one of the handful that I’ve finished. Oh, yes, especially when you can SEE where you need to go, but there’s a big pile of rubble in front of you. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/27 "2010-02-11T22:05:53Z")
I always found it strange, too, how over 100s of years, NO ONE has taken it upon themselves to say “You know, if we all got together, we could clear a few of these piles away by 3:00. Then we wouldn’t have to wade through the sewers!” ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/28 "2010-02-12T16:01:24Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I always found it strange, too, how over 100s of years, NO ONE has taken it upon themselves to say “You know, if we all got together, we could clear a few of these piles away by 3:00. Then we wouldn’t have to wade through the sewers!” Dude. Muties with gatling guns. 😛 Besides, it’s not like there’s much of interest (to the average survivor, at least) in DC proper - lots of office buildings, government buildings, museums, factories… but nothing to eat, nothing really worth plundering, tech that doesn’t run anymore… and muties with gatling guns. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/29 "2010-02-12T16:44:45Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > One more accuracy note: In the game, when you walk into the Museum of History, there’s a Woolly Mammoth in the main rotunda. If you walk into the real life National Museum of Natural History, there’s a Mammoth directly in the main rotunda. Where “Underworld” is is actually the ocean room, where there’s a big whale skeleton and a ton of other fossils, FWIW. I found the landscape something of a sad, personal letdown. My apartment on East Capitol? Not accessible. My exhibit space in the Smithsonian? Not accessible. I couldn’t wait to hack my way to the Mall area to check things out, and it just… well, it just wasn’t. (Oh, and the exhibit was right off the rotunda, directly behind the Mammoth. It’s not like it was in an obscure corner of the museum. I know it’s long gone, but still, it would have been nice to stand there.) ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/30 "2010-02-12T17:51:30Z")
Are there any games that have had a more accurate representation of a real area? I’m guessing there’s nothing else quite as immersive, but it would be interesting to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/31 "2010-02-12T17:56:12Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Are there any games that have had a more accurate representation of a real area? I’m guessing there’s nothing else quite as immersive, but it would be interesting to find out. Sure. Flight simulators routinely model airports, and the city skylines near them, with very high degrees of verisimilitude. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/32 "2010-02-12T18:04:23Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I found the landscape something of a sad, personal letdown. My apartment on East Capitol? Not accessible. My exhibit space in the Smithsonian? Not accessible. I couldn’t wait to hack my way to the Mall area to check things out, and it just… well, it just wasn’t. > (Oh, and the exhibit was right off the rotunda, directly behind the Mammoth. It’s not like it was in an obscure corner of the museum. I know it’s long gone, but still, it would have been nice to stand there.) At least your stuff is present! My apartment building? A dusty patch of dirt. The mall? Dusty patch of dirt. Fav restaurants? Cacti. If the people of the wasteland cleared away all the rubble of NoVA, how come they’re scared of a few muties with gatling guns? Seriously, ONE clear street would have been nice. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/33 "2010-02-12T18:29:13Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Are there any games that have had a more accurate representation of a real area? I’m guessing there’s nothing else quite as immersive, but it would be interesting to find out. The recent _Assassin’s Creed_ clone \*Saboteur \*is reputedly modelled on a scaled-down WW2 Paris. Being a Parisian myself, I was really looking out for it, but the reviews have been less than positive so far, so I’m going to wait until it’s available for a few bucks used on eBay or something like that to check out how accurate it is. For that matter, the original _Assassin’s Creed_ was supposedly close to historical geography of the various cities (actual distance between them excepted ;)), but I guess there’s no real way to tell, since none of us lived in twelfth century Acre. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/34 "2010-02-12T18:35:46Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > At least your stuff is present! My apartment building? A dusty patch of dirt. The mall? Dusty patch of dirt. Fav restaurants? Cacti. If the people of the wasteland cleared away all the rubble of NoVA, how come they’re scared of a few muties with gatling guns? Seriously, ONE clear street would have been nice. For that matter, why haven’t the muties bothered? I mean, if you can operate a gattling gun, you can use a shovel. Damned lazy muties. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815/35 "2010-02-13T03:36:21Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > For that matter, why haven’t the muties bothered? I mean, if you can operate a gattling gun, you can use a shovel. > > Damned lazy muties. Hey, they’re busy people ! They have places to be, people to dismember and stuff in bags. They don’t have the time, nor the inclination, to start public renovation projects ! 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-c-residents-how-accurate-is-the-capital-wasteland-in-fallout-3/527815.md?page=1)