Environmental Storytelling Skeletons

Submission 14,509

Part of a series on Environmental Storytelling. [View Related Entries]

About

Environmental Storytelling Skeletons refer to skeleton NPCs or in-game models placed in specific poses and locations, particularly in Bethesda video games like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, to subtly suggest their story to the player and make the world feel more "lived-in." Throughout the 2010s, storytelling skeletons became the subject of memes for their prominence in open-world games.

Origin

One of the earliest known references to environmental storytelling skeletons online is in a January 23rd, 2013, article on Jethro Jongeneel^[1] about environmental storytelling in video games. The article lists Fallout 3 and Tomb Raider as examples of games that use skeletons in this way and cites a specific example from the former, writing:

An example of this technique can be observed in a quest where the player is told to collect an item from some skeletons in a nursery. After talking to one of these nearby NPCs, it appears that at the start of the war Mr Gibson went to find his two children. When the player finds the objective his skeleton can be found in a room hugging two smaller skeletons. Seeing the skeletons is not vital in any way but does provide additional, though optional, depth.

On November 17th, 2015, Something Awful^[2] user Dennis Farrell published a sarcastically written article titled, "Fallout 4 Takes Environmental Storytelling to the Next Level," where he pokes fun at the perceived over-abundance of environmental storytelling through skeletons in Fallout 4. On January 15th, 2016, a Redditor made a post to /r/Fallout^[3] discussing their distaste for environmental storytelling skeletons. On March 14th, Twitter^[4] user @torahhorse posted, "in game design, 'environmental storytelling' is the art of placing skulls near a toilet," garnering over 3,700 likes and 1,100 retweets in six years (shown below).

Spread

On November 26th, 2015, the GamesRadar YouTube^[13] channel published a video about the skeletons in Fallout 4, garnering over 600,000 views in seven years (shown below). On May 26th, 2017, Games Radar^[14] published an article titled, "Fallout 4's skeletons have a story to tell" sharing some of the best uses of environmental storytelling skeletons in Fallout 4.

On July 25th, 2018, Twitter^[5] user @shackle_ton posted a meme about hearing nukes drop outside then running to the bathroom to become an "environmental storytelling toilet skeleton," garnering over 40,000 likes and 10,000 retweets in four years (shown below). On July 30th, 2020, What Culture^[6] included the "Skeleton With The Audio Diary" trope in a list of one of the "9 Most Overdone Clichés In Modern Video Games."

On October 25th, a now-deleted Redditor posted an image to /r/fo4^[7] of a skeleton on a stage surrounded by tomatoes from Fallout 4, writing, "Environmental storytelling skeletons are the best thing in gaming," garnering over 100 upvotes in two years (shown below).

On January 23rd, 2022, Twitter^[8] user @DreadXP_ posted an image of a skeleton dead on a toilet, writing, "You either perish as a hero or live long enough to become an environmental storytelling skeleton," garnering over 650 likes in seven months (shown below, left). On August 15th, Facebook^[9] user Unsolicited E-Girl Bathposting posted a version of @shackle_ton's tweet with images, garnering over 40 shares in four days. The post gained viral spread over the following days, including a repost to Facebook^[10] page Catmin's Anticapitalist Treehouse of Solidarity the next day, garnering over 11,000 shares and 16,000 reactions and a post by Twitter^[11] user @99rainbowcakes on August 17th, garnering over 118,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in a day (shown below, right).

On August 19th, Twitter^[12] user @Falloutofcon posted a similar meme to @shackle_ton's using a GIF of a running skeleton, garnering over 6,200 likes and 900 retweets in under a day (shown below).