Pip-boys are essential to the main characters maybe, but hardly any other characters use them, unless they're vault dwellers.
T34/38 said:
Well no one is smart enough to use them outside of the Vault. except some
Strictly speaking, Pip-Boys wouldn't even be useful as anything but maybe a Geiger counter, compass, and map to most people, anyway. Much of its functions are basically just giving a UI to the player for things that a human being would be able to do, already, like tell when they're hurt, look at what they're carrying, aim at something, or get more skilled through training.
The Pip-boy can't even make calls, so outside of the Geiger counter, it's less useful than a modern cell phone.
Strictly speaking, Pip-Boys wouldn't even be useful as anything but maybe a Geiger counter, compass, and map to most people, anyway. Much of its functions are basically just giving a UI to the player for things that a human being would be able to do, already, like tell when they're hurt, look at what they're carrying, aim at something, or get more skilled through training.
The Pip-boy can't even make calls, so outside of the Geiger counter, it's less useful than a modern cell phone.
I dunno, in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, being a Geiger Counter, Compass, and map sounds pretty damn useful on their own. Outside of New Vegas most places are still highly irradiated, but most people wouldn't know until they've suffered extreme levels of radiation poisoning. And in a time where there isn't any sort of GPS or local maps being produced, a device that could scan and provide a fairly detailed layout of the land and even internal structures like buildings would also be a godsend, as oppose to just walking blindly everywhere and hoping for the best.
A pipboy can also pick up radio signals, so while it's mostly one-way it can provide some level of communication over a large area. Heck, if they could get pipboys that could fit into eyepatches, maybe they could make a pipboy that could send it's own radio signal out, get some two-way communication going. Plenty of ham radios still functional around the wastelands.
The Mojave Wastelands of America.Tenryuu and Kiso have used the caps that they saved and saved to purchase eye-patches with built-in Pip-Boys.The "Pip-Boy" is the name of a high-performance Personal Information Processor that is essential for survival in the devastated America.
