This piece is one discovered on Twitter, posted July 27th, 2024. Deimos is an artist relatively well known on Twitter, sporting a grand total of 46,300 followers at the time of this anecdote's writing.

This piece is fanart of the game "Fallout New Vegas", one of the most influential Fallout games to date. It depicts one of the main antagonists of the game, Mr House, as the center focus of the piece, being hugged by his wife, Jane House. In front of him, a bear and bull can be seen fighting, representing the opposing factions of the Mojave, as well as the bear and bull markets that Mr House conquered pre-war. He's holding a titular object of the game, the Platinum Chip, a piece in his master plan to control the Mojave.

To his left, a popular fan depiction of the player character, the Courier, can be seen, snowglobe in hand. This is interesting due to the fact that Mr House collects these snowglobes, and praises the player for bringing them to him. However, judging by the Courier's expression towards the camera through the broken lens of his helmet, it appears this may be facetious. An unknown man dressed as a farmer can be seen to his right, watching on tentatively.

The symbolism within this peice is incredibly layered. Specifically, we draw your attention to the Courier. The fact he is showing Mr House a snowglobe, an object he covets for his collection, while, at the same time, brandishing a weapon and staring into the camera, evokes a feeling of being watched. It conveys the players choice within New Vegas of what to do with Mr House, as many things are possible. You can end up siding with him, killing him outright, or going against him in various other ways. Its almost as if the courier is looking towards the camera, and asking the player what he should do, which communicates the design philosphy of Fallout New Vegas as a whole.

The Bear and Bull are also another bout of layered symbolism. Both main factions of the game, The New California Republic, and the Legion are represented by a 2-headed Bear and Golden Bull respectively, and it is implied that Mr House is playing both sides, toying with the NCR to allow them to exist on his strip, while also keeping an eye on the Legion, not stopping their escapades against the NCR, which can be seen represented by the fact Mr House is quite litterally holding them both on a leash within this peice. The Bull and Bear could also represent the stock market, something that Mr House would have great experince with, being the CEO of RobCorp before the bombs fell.

The artist is unable to be reached for comment on this peice at this time.

This peice was discovered on Twitter, posted on October 6th, 2024, and retweeted by Tynan Slyvester, the creator of the game Rimworld (which is relevant to this peice). It was created by Zezhou Chen, who hosts a 22,800 followers at the time of writing this anecdote.

This peice is fanart of the game "Rimworld", a game the curator of this musuem is very familiar with. Depicted is a colonist, or "pawn" as they are often reffered to, sat down in full "Prestige Marine" Armor, a very rare armor within the game, signifying the welath of the pawns colony. Despite this, he sits on the floor, a full plate of food in hand, sobbing.

Rimworld is often touted as a "Story Generator" or "Story Telling Device", where colonies you create tell their own stories to how they start and end. Many start with colonists crash landing onto the planet, beggining a new life that they are forced to endure. Others start with an already established base, to which you must expand an empire across the entire planet. With the nature of such a game, there could be many reasons as to why this man sits and cries.

Its possible his friend could have been killed in a recent battle, which is why he continues to wear the armor he fights in. He could be tired from a long day, sobbing at the weight of his armor and thoughts collapsing him from the inside. More likely, though, it is from the -3 mood debuff of eating without a table. What a terrible fate.

Jokes aside, the nature of Rimworld makes this peice up to interpretation. Many things could be happening to this man depicted, and his sadness could be very real. Or, it could be the silly manner that the artist intended it to be. It is a fascinating peice you can almost look at like a photograph, wondering how this man got to where he was. Rimworld is a fascinating game for this very reason, and is one of the reasons the curator is so fond of it.