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13 April 2011

Location 11: Freeside - the old Mormon Fort

Can't stop sniggering at a girl
named "Julie Farkas"
They've nixed the geography a bit to place it inside Freeside's North Gate (the wrong side of the freeway) but it's the right building: the Followers' Old Mormon Fort puts the abandoned encampment back into use as a hospital and community gathering-place.

Were the Followers based
on Mormons? I.e nice folk but
a bit weird? Oh wait, that's gamers
These photographs in particular showcase just how deeply the game's forced perspective affects the user experience. The foreshortening of depth and the wider field of vision make taking like-for-like snapshots difficult (at least with a standard camera; I don't know anything about fisheye lenses or whatever, or if they'd have made it simpler to capture an authentically gamerish view.)

No Las Vegan I met knew anything about this place - it's about a mile north of Fremont Street in a rough part of town - but the walk up is fascinating; it takes you past the Neon Boneyard, a "museum" of retired signs that was probably the inspiration for Michael Angelo's Workshop.

Time to walk south to Freeside's North Gate.

4 comments:

  1. Mormon here! ha ha. It was cool to see the Fort in the game.

    Oddly enough, in THIS reality there are alot of Mormons here now... ha ha.

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  2. The old Mormon fort was the first structure built in the Las Vegas valley. The reason you couldn't find a native Las Vegan who knew anything about it is because true native Las Vegans are very rare and don't hang out in tourist areas.

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    Replies
    1. Not that rare, haha. Born and raised in Vegas, went to high school just off Fremont (Las Vegas Academy), and I had never heard of the fort until I played Fallout.

      I think the issue is more to do with local history/landmarks/culture not being valued much in Vegas. The town's really geared toward what's new and what's appealing to tourists. (Bias being my own experience, obviously.)

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  3. You know, I have to say that most camera lenses do not have a natural perspective for me. Everything in photos appears smaller and further away than they do to my natural eye. I have to use a telephoto lens to capture anything like what I actually see.

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