The community of Fallout 76 is known for being a bit… different in many ways. Part of it has now founded a new religion. Their savior: a pipe.
What kind of pipe is this? The messiah of the religion is not an ordinary pipe, but an unusual one. Literally, because in the game, the item is called “unusual pipe”.
The pipe is a so-called “encounter” in Fallout 76. Encounters are random, small events like mini-quests or attacks from hostile factions, mutants, and the like. The corresponding pipe can therefore be found anywhere in Appalachia.
What makes this pipe special is the gas that is escaping. A substance visibly leaks out, and when you get closer, you have the option to “sniff” it. However, there is always a corpse lying next to the pipe – could that be related to the gas?
If you are brave enough to sniff the gas, you will get high. The vision distorts, swims, and you regenerate health points over time. You can see what that looks like in the embedded video here:
“Pipe is life” – The religion of the pipe
What do players do with it? After initial confusion about this pipe, players have quickly emerged who have adopted it as their life philosophy or demand a lifestyle of the pipe (via reddit.com). In the subreddit of Fallout 76, a religion around the pipe has already been founded some time ago.
… but why? The better question is probably: Why not? Fallout 76 is known for players doing all sorts of nonsense:
- Two factions played a trial over a gang leader
- A player embodied an “NPC doctor” who is so popular that no one wants to kill him
- A role-playing group even filmed their own crime series on Twitch
- Even Camps are sometimes repurposed into deadly whirlpools
More important may be the note that can always be found with the corpse. It is simply called: “Pipe…” and when you read it, the line says: “The pipe is life…” (engl. “PIPE IS LIFE…”).
Actually, this was allegedly just a joke by a developer who secretly integrated the pipe. Now it has become a religion.
Pipe vs. Moth – Crazy dispute over religion
The religion has grown so much in recent months that there is now a kind of dispute between followers of different sects.
The user a-witch-named-ahri writes on reddit: “Brothers, sisters, and everyone in between! We, who have been chosen by the pipe. We have tolerated this ridiculous cult of the Mothman for far too long. Let us gather and bring the fight to these bug-loving madmen. Pipe is life!” (via reddit.com)
Under the post, a small role-playing dispute has arisen between followers of the mythical Mothman – who actually has a church in the game – and the disciples of the pipe. The sides are quite hardened, and the phrase “Down with the false god!” is often mentioned.
The reddit user filbertsnuts shortly thereafter states: “I would like to file a complaint about the anti-religious views in this subreddit and in the game in general, especially concerning the one true religion of Appalachia” (via reddit.com).
In this context, it seems that the pipe is not exactly the most popular religion. Some other users seem to see its followers more as junkies. For example, filbertsnuts offers help in another thread: the responders would surely be happy to help “not take the next hit” (via reddit.com).
At the moment, the dispute seems to have settled down, but many Fallout 76 players live for role-playing and such actions – sometimes a bit too realistically, at least according to people in the real world:
Facebook bans role-players in Fallout 76 – Was the group too close to reality?
And don’t forget: Pipe is life!
