Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says players who complain about a lack of realism are actually looking for consistency most of the time. If you've spent any amount of time within the gaming sphere, you'll know that a common complaint is a lack of realism in games; even when it's a game like Assassin's Creed Shadows or God of War Ragnarok where realism really isn't a part of the design philosophy in the first place. And while in some cases it's used as a blanket term to complain about other aspects of a game people don't think should be there, Cain reckons the arguments for realism aren't really about that at all. Pillars of Eternity and Fallout: New Vegas lead Josh Sawyer says RPGs are "more interesting" grounded in reality: "Once things get too magical… it's impossible to bring it back down to Earth" Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says "leaving some mystery" and undeveloped lore in games is important so players are keen to play follow-ups and sequels: "If you tell everything, players will want nothing" Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says today's games could learn a lot from '80s games: "They add too many things thinking more of those things make the game better, when really what they do is dilute the game" "The problem I see with developers doing it is developers will often dismiss a complaint, saying, 'Well, we're not trying to be realistic in this game,' when really the complaint people have is that your lore itself is not self-consistent. Which is different than being realistic." Cain explains that in his view, "realism" is about making features that mimic reality, while he defines self-consistency as "establishing rules for your world and then not breaking those rules." Cain also gives an example of his own, saying that when developing Arcanum, he, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson "decided early on" that "we would establish a rule" that "magic and tech don't coexist." He explains that magic is "supressing natural law" while tech "was using natural law to get its effects." This resulted in a system where the two forces would become weaker when introduced to powerful objects or beings on the other side. Cain warns that with lore inconsistency, "somewhere along the line, you're going to lose people." However, this is specifically on the developer side, as he also notes that NPCs in your game are allowed to give inconsistent lore: "You cannot point to an NPC dialogue and go, 'Aha, the lore is inconsistent'," he says, adding that NPCs "will knowingly tell you a lie because they have an agenda and they want you to do something." Cain notes that "the designer knew they were lying to you. If you don't get that, that's on you." Meanwhile, some NPCs "simply don't know," like if they believe that a bear in a cave is actually a fire-breathing monster due to hearsay. Fallout co-creator Tim Cain says "leaving some mystery" and undeveloped lore in games is important so players are keen to play follow-ups and sequels: "If you tell everything, players will want nothing."