Recently, my Twitter feed has been blowing up with talk of a video game. And while I follow a few friends who happen to be gamers, they aren't the only ones who have been a part of this Tweet-storm.
It all originated just over a week ago, when Bethesda announced that the new title in their acclaimed "Fallout" series, "Fallout 76", will be set in the hills of West Virginia.
Being a native West Virginian myself, I am fairly impressed with what Bethesda has on tap even though I have never played "Fallout" (though I am a gamer). What amazed me, however, is how many young West Virginians have shared my sentiment—even people who have never picked up a console controller.
This might seem like quite the anomaly to the average outsider. Someone from, say, New York probably sees their state's being used in pop culture (especially New York City) as ancient news by this point. For that matter, most of the country is routinely featured in some form of mainstream media, even states that are similarly rural like West Virginia. But the Mountain State itself has only rarely been featured, even in movies, and perhaps never in something so popular.
Even when locales are featured in video games, though, they usually don't contain detailed landmarks unless they take place in a city of note, like New York. When a game takes place somewhere rural, the landscape is usually the main feature. "Fallout 76" does seem as if it will feature West Virginia's hills, but what it does beyond that is what makes it seem to have a truly special potential for West Virginians.
Watching the trailer for the game, I must say that my mind was blown. Right there was a beautifully rendered (and tattered, due to the game's, well, nuclear fallout) New River Gorge Bridge. Woodburn Hall, perhaps the most beloved building on the campus of our beloved West Virginia University, was one of the main visuals, as was the famed Greenbrier Resort, among other landmarks. One other video even featured a rendering of the State Capitol Building in Charleston (though the video involved the city coming to an untimely end).
Though we have varying views about our state and its complex dynamics, most West Virginians I know have a love for the state. It isn't perfect, especially socially, but there are things here that you'll seldom find anywhere else.
The people of this state are kind and welcoming (though sadly, the politics of the state don't reflect that). At WVU, I've known many out-of-state students to remark that the people of Morgantown are the nicest they have met; I usually respond that ironically, Morgantown is by default one of the colder places in the state. Here in the Mountain State, you walk down the street or through the stores and often encounter people you don't know saying hello as if it were nothing.
And we West Virginians have a special bond with the natural beauty of this place. That aesthetic, so beautifully rendered in this new game (and appropriately set to the song West Virginians seem to never grow tired of, John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads") has captured our hearts. These mountains and hills are a very real part of our identity, even though many of us understandably leave.
But for all that, our state is seldom recognized. We are so excited, I believe, because this game puts us squarely in the spotlight in a way that showcases some of our greatest strengths. (Except for, you know, the part about the state being ground zero for nuclear fallout.)