In a recent interview with YouTuber TKs-Mantis, former Obsidian creative director Chris Avellone revealed that the studio got in a spot of minor trouble over its depiction of the Rorschach Test in Fallout: New Vegas.
When you wake up in Doc Mitchell’s house in Goodsprings, the second step in character creation is a Rorschach Test administered by the doctor, with your answers determining your recommended tag skills. It’s a riff on the GOAT exam in Fallout 3, itself a tongue-in-cheek reference to the character creation quiz at the beginning of The Elder Scrolls: Arena.
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I guess I just always assumed that the Rorschach Test, the psychological assessment where a person gives their free associations from viewing ink blots, was public domain at this point—after all, its namesake and creator died 104 years ago in 1922. Bethesda and Obsidian apparently shared this misapprehension when they included it in New Vegas without giving Big Rorschach a slice of the pie.
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Avellone mentioned the kerfuffle as part of a longer discussion of New Vegas’ Wild Wasteland trait, which included fourth wall-breaking references. “We got in trouble for some of those things,” said Avellone, “Because it wasn’t passed along what some of the jokes were.
“We already got in trouble for the Rorschach Test, because we didn’t get the trademark for that. Those folks came to Bethesda and said we’re gonna have a fun lawsuit on our hands, so pony up! You could hear all the groans over at Bethesda. I don’t think they realized they should have checked for trademarks—we certainly didn’t realize it.”
This anecdote is how I learned that trademarks can be renewed indefinitely, rather than having a set lifetime like copyright, and a Swiss publisher has maintained its claim to the Rorschach Test for decades now.
It all has a similar twang to how the “Happy Birthday” song is still copyrighted—though I much prefer the Metal Gear Solid 5 version anyway. However much Bethesda had to pony up, it was worth it: Doing a Rorschach Test to determine your character’s skills is an all-time RPG bit.
It also led to “Two Bears High-Fiving,” a gag that keeps on giving. An early New Vegas mod added this as a possible answer to, well, the ink blot that looks like two bears high-fiving. The original project has since been removed, but another version was created by author Nehred in 2023.
This mod was shouted out with a Wild Wasteland NPC in New Vegas’ Honest Hearts DLC, and even turned up 15 years after New Vegas’ launch in Avowed. “Two Bears High-Fiving” is an achievement you can get for summoning a bear to fight another bear.
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