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All games are comparable to each other on some level, I’ll address your primary (title) question) and the question in your comment separately to ensure you get a fulfilling answer for both. I’ll be providing a good solid list of games for you to investigate that are either like Skyrim, Fallout 3 or both.For more resources, information, videos, screenshots and user voted rankings on all of these games try Games Finder’s list of Skyrim alternatives and games like Fallout respectively. You’ll notice there is definitely some overlap between the lists but still plenty of differences.What are other games like Skyrim and Fallout 3?First lets break down what exactly makes a game like Skyrim/Fallout 3, as you can see below there definitely are a number of share similarities between the two games, so I’ll focus my recommendations towards these key criteria.Skyrim features:Medieval theme (swords, bows, magic)Open world with some large beautiful cities witha focus around caves and old dungeons.Branching storylines mainly for the main quest and similar depth in conversation tree options.Skill system, basic stats (health, stamina, etc) and dragon shoutsSide skills (smithing, alchemy, etc)Basic item system (lowish pool of items but a number of unique/special items with extra/unique stats).Large number of mods available to alter/improve experience and extend life of the game further.Huge amount of lore to explore behind the game world/factions if desired.Supports a large number of character build options.Marriage and relationships with various companions to aide in combat.Dragon battles!Multiple races to play as with their own race specific perks.A number of add-ons to expand gameplay.Fast travel and explore by horse.Fallout 3 features:Post-apocalyptic setting with primary weapons as guns, grenades and melee weapons.Open world that players are free to explore, heavily focused around small settlements, some larger towns, abandoned buildings and raider camps.Branching storylines on both main and a number of side quests that let you constantly make decisions on how to approach the issue at hand. Speech unlocks even more alternate options.Limited skill system through perks but more stat heavy (via skills), also has SPECIAL to alter your character builds.Basic side crafting systems.Low pool of basic items which is enhanced with special and unique weapons/items.Decent mod community that is probably slightly smaller than Skyrim and not as active as there is now a newer Fallout game released (Fallout 4).Plenty of lore to explore, more focused on random computer terminals/information that adds a sense of realism to the pre-war world or your current quest.More limited character build paths, in the sense that they all play similarly (energy, ballistic, melee, big weapons). But does have the flexibility of SPECIAL for tanking, sneaky characters etc.Plenty of companions to bring along and fight alongside.Several add-ons to take you to new worlds and locations.VATS for more tactical combatNo travel support other than fast travel.Moving on to the game recommendations and a comparison against the above, I’ve offered a number of games that are my favourites:The Witcher 3: I’m calling this recommendation The Witcher 3 but the other games are just as enjoyable, if you are new to the series though there is no harm with starting with this latest and greatest title. The Witcher 3 is definitely more like Skyrim than Fallout 3 which mainly stems from the setting which features a similar mix of swords and magic in a world that feels very Skyrim.The sheer amount of content, enemies to battle and places to explore make The Witcher 3 one of the great RPGs and just reading reviews for the game you’ll find it hard not to play as a Skyrim fan. Key selling points for me are the combat, core story, character development (both your own character and those that you met) and the good range of side activities to engage with. Overall much more like Skyrim than Fallout.The Dark Souls series: This recommendation is definitely one for the Skyrim fans only as there is limited comparison to Fallout 3 to be made. This is the sort of game for those that love swinging their sword in Skyrim but want something a bit more difficult and feels more like a real sword fighting experience. While this means you trade some of the level of open world you get in Skyrim you are rewarded with a sharp combat system that feels really rewarded.What also feels very Skyrim is the epic boss battles, you’ll have to conquer each of these in a different way, so unlike Skyrim dragons there will be a new strategy to master instead, but they are all as epic as the dragons of Skyrim. If you lean more towards story and RPG then the Dark Souls series isn’t likely to be the game that pleases you.Dragon’s Dogma: An often overlooked strong alternative to Skyrim, mostly for the presence of dragons and other large beasts that you can climb with your character and take down. You’ve got plenty of choice in how you want to play through the vocation system that includes your usual mage, warrior and ranger archetypes but also includes some more hybrid options which feels very Skyrim in terms of ability to fight how you wish.For companions Dragon’s Dogma has the pawn system so there is plenty of companion combat. You’ve also got party based combat so you’ve also got a strategic element to the combat.Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor: A game that captivated me because you’ve got the combat of Skyrim (sword, bow and magic) but I feel like its got Fallout style options in that every objective has multiple ways to approach it, something that Fallout always did a little better than Skyrim.The uniqueness of this game and the whole nemesis system makes it an extremely interesting experience and ensures you always have something to chase down and do and can complete give you those wow moments that are up there with that same feeling of a dragon landing right on your face. It honestly sort of went under the radar upon release but is really starting to get some love as people continue to search other RPGs like Skyrim.Gothic series: If you enjoy Skyrim because you’ve enjoyed following the Elder Scrolls series then I’ll have to recommend Gothic (starting from the first game and going all the way up to the fourth and final game). It’s definitely Skyrim’s little brother in terms of design and has all the medieval RPG features of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls franchise but with just a little less polish.I always felt that this was made up by the lore and adventure that carried over from game to game just like Elder Scrolls was able to do. It’s a little rough and dated now but those that appreciate a lore based RPG that spans multiple games will be well rewarded for the time they invest.Red Dead Redemption: A game that likely needs no introduction and is one of Rockstar’s classics, this one sort of mixes both Fallout and Skyrim, you’ve got a wide world to explore by horse which feels extremely Skyrim but also Fallout as you travel around finding random events and get into shoot outs with NPcs. It definitely has a GTA vibe as well being from Rockstar but there is a reason why this game has remained popular despite release being many, many years ago.Other key notes are no shortage of quests and a great main story of revenge, definitely one of my favourite open world titles of all time and not alone with that opinion.Metro (series): Metro is definitely more Fallout than Skyrim due to both the setting of the series and that it focuses on gun based combat. It’s much more shooter than RPG though but the post-apocalyptic setting is done extremely well and it has plenty of stealth for fans of Fallout that prefer to go a stealth focused build. This is mostly by necessity as ammo is rare.To answer your comment question of, Is Mass Effect 3 and Bio Shock really similar to Skyrim and Fallout 3?I’ll address the games separately, but to summarise they definitely have elements of each game but I wouldn’t consider them extremely similar and definitely not first choice when you are looking for alternatives. That being said it depends on the elements of the games that you enjoy.Mass Effect 3: Mass Effect 3 and the series in general definitely has some similarities, the most notable of which is the branching conversation trees and storyline in general that lets you engage with all sorts of unique NPC characters and direct the story in the way you want which feels very Skyrim and Fallout. You’ve also got tactical orientated combat which does sometimes feel like Fallout’s VAT system as you try plan ahead. The franchise is mission based as well so you won’t find any exploration/open world gameplay.BioShock: Overall has very few similarities with Skyrim and Fallout, BioShock is more first person shooter than anything and is very linear. You’ve also got very limited RPG mechanics and only a small amount of choice throughout the game in how to approach situations. You’ve also got no free roam exploration due to its linear nature.

-0. Disclaimer AI know people at a number of studios, but I don't know anyone that works at Rockstar now, that I am aware of.If I did and if I had any real first-hand knowledge of how they created the game, I would be under a Non Disclosure Agreement, which I would honor.So, there are questions that game makers should not answer. Any detailed, specific, literal answer to this question could harm the author's standing in the industry.1. Disclaimer BInstead of the headline question, I'll attempt a decent answer to this request from the answer details:" I'd like to know the process and the complexity involved in developing such an open world game, including all the technical aspects."So, not GTA V, but a big open world game.I'll speak to technical high points and some details, but not all technical details, because my family would eventually miss me and I'd starve. I also reserve the right to submit this answer, but keep editing and adding, over time, for the same reason.2. Prior ArtThe first step in building a bleeding edge, industry stand-out, amazing, open world game similar to GTA V is making at least 4 earlier versions that build up your muscles, experience, staff, technology, tools, funding, list of great partners and steely resolve.Few to no, big, skilled, professional teams could hope to match it, especially in one try. Similar franchises, like Saint's Row and Mercenaries, are trying to climb that mountain, but Rockstar is already on top.3. The EngineGTA V use a proprietary ga,e engine called the RAGE engine. (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine). Rockstar Advanced Game EngineThe engine has integrations of middleware, including a character animation subsystem made by NaturalMotion. Morpheme with Euphoria and The open-source Bullet physics system Game Physics Simulation(thanks to Nicholas Marsh for corrections to this section)Morpheme is known for unique character animation technology that both allows smooth, organic feeling character movements, driven from AI, and a means to store and relate many of them in an efficient way.Open world games require a huge number of character animations - walking, running, turning, shooting, jumping, climbing, falling, crouching, taking damage, idle poses and many more.Many of them must loop perfectly so you can play the run cycle animation over and over, as long as the player holds the button, or you run into something.Animations must be interruptible, in some cases. If you have 3 bullets in your revolver and start the reload animation, but someone shoots at you, just like real life, you must be able to snap the cylinder closed and return fire at once.More on related topics later, like anim trees and anim notifies, but for now, let's just say the NaturalMotion tools are top shelf for flexible character animations.Bullet physics allows game objects to have mass, respond to gravity and other forces applied to them, have properties that influence how they react to forces, collide with other game objects and come to rest in a believable looking way.4. Making Art Assets3D game engines use polygonal art assets for most everything in the game from characters to buildings to guns to cars. The pipeline for making these game assets are all similar.1. Start with concept art or reference material ConceptArt.org2. Sculpt a lovely, high resolution, high poly count version of the thing. If it is a gun or car, use Maya | 3D Animation Software | Computer Animation | Autodesk or Luxology.com :: MODO 701. If it is a person or animal, use Pixolgic Home of ZBrush3. Apply great surfaces to the 3D model via 2D mapping - texture mapping, environment mapping, reflection mapping, bump mapping, displacement mapping, transparency mapping, wear mapping and so on. Texture mapping see also UV's, Wrapping and Baking4. Render your wonderful image on a fast machine and after long minutes, behold the beauty of it. Now the hard part begins. Because games have to run smooth and fast and render, not in long minutes, but in 60th's of a second, reduce your hard work down to a low-poly, game-res version that will meet the game's memory and draw call budgets, yet still look good. [cue magic sfx]5. Check everything in to the version control software before you wrap up for the night, because all pro developers keep things safe in a version control system, like Perforce - BTW, all these tasks will be listed in project management software as an aid to memory and tracking. We use Issue & Project Tracking Software6. Special considerations - landscape parts may be built a little differently or even use landsat data. There are also skyboxes to make, software that places trees and grass procedurally and so on. Not all game objects have collision geometry, but most do, else you could walk through them. Collision is another set of 3D objects that are invisible, like pathing nodes, so AI can walk and drive.Characters and other animating things must be rigged with internal bones, joints, pivots and attachment points for guns, pipes, sunglasses and the like. Oh, and changing clothes - don't get me started - whew.4.5 Interlude: MeetingsWhile your memory budgets are being calculated and the scale of the world assets are being agreed upon, you are having design meetings. 8 or 13 people in a conference room, with white boards and PowerPoint presentations, laser pointers Keurig coffee and bottled water. Will our huntable animals have good hearing like real ones? How will the lobby help you meet up with your friends? How will we scale buttons to hold the longer German version of "Save" (Speichurn)? The EU will not allow us to show violence to women, so how do pimps act? What do we do if players use speed hacks, macros or auto-aim hacks?5. Other AssetsAudio is so important to the experience that it causes players to perceive the graphics as higher resolution, if the sound is good.These days we need real voice actors, to meet the quality bar. That means dealing with unions. Most now have a guideline for interactive entertainment, so we don't pay the same rate as Hollywood movies, but the rules are still strict. New Media Signatory InformationRoughly $900 per day for a voice actor, plus contributions to the retirement fund, breaks, food, drinks and more. They can only do so much in a "union day" and we need so many more lines than a film. "So, you want to buy, a pistol, a rifle, a sandwich, a raincoat, a drink, a pony, a pastry, a map" and so on.Meanwhile, have someone write a lot of music. Let's say, short little themes in the key of C...and the relative minor key of A for sad bits, all at 68 Beats Per Minute for one scene, that an interactive music system can crossfade between, remixing on the fly, depending on what you do. The mini-tunes should have names like triumph, hurting, confused, going south fast, cocky or anxious.There are also environmental sounds like waves and wind and freeway noise and crickets and, and, and.With those hit and hurt sound effects, you'll want some particle effects like muzzle flashes, smoke, sparks, electric arcs, hit effects on stone, wood, metal, dirt, water and flesh.Oh, and then there is localization (AKA translation). These days, games are expected to support EFIGS - English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. This requires 5 versions of every spoken line, every sign on every building, every button text, hint system, error message and help file.Many games also support 5 alternate languages, with different character sets, like Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Japanese (kanji, hiragana, katakana), Korean (hangul) and Russian Cyrillic.6. Native CodeThe engine itself will be written in a low level language, probably C++ with a smattering of in-line assembly language (which C++ allows), esp for rendering. If the engine does not provide all of the features your game requires - a 98% probability since it is written for the general case - you'll need to write some "native code" in the guts of the engine itself.Maybe you want Instagram-like post-processing filters, to switch on at sunsets or you want the render engine to automatically detect when the local device is a flat screen TV, instead of a monitor or enable the physics engine to use a different constant for gravity when you travel to the moon base. Those changes all require the team to edit the base engine code, also known as the native code. It is the scary, deep, mysterious bug generating code that challenges even superstar coders. "Weird, every time my character puts on a hoodie, the language preference switches to French and Halley's comet appears in the sky?!"7. ScriptingMost game engines use a second kind of programming service for routine, gameplay events, generically called script. In some systems this second kind of code may be interpreted at run time or it may get compiled; it may be a real language like Python or it may be a C-like invention of the engine creators, like Unreal script.In any case, this will be the main tool for creating gameplay actions and activities. Often times, this takes the shape of a huge number of "functions" that designers can call, with If, Then, Else loops like "Umbrella" - If raining equals True and Has_Umbrella equals True, then play open_umbrella animation and sound, else set get_wet to true.8. AI SystemsMy limited human intelligence can not tell you very much about the arcane world of artificial intelligence, but open world games all use it.Once you are able to change native code and create gameplay script, both can be combined to make some AI routines for the game's NPC's (Non Player Characters).Rather than discuss the smart enemies that can defeat most human players, let's start with something basic, like pedestrians. The AI system will generally make evaluations of the situation (Am I on an area I can walk on? Is the nearest traffic light green? Is anyone shooting near me? Am I on a collision course with anything?) then apply one or more possible actions (walk_straight, turn_at_corner, lookat_phone, lookat_store window, flag_taxi, run_away, take_cover) in the service of a goal ( walk a looping path, search for cafe, avoid danger) that is part of a schedule (sleep, go to work, go to lunch, return to work, go home)At the level of an actual AI enemy there would far more complex evaluations and behaviors for managing ammo, flanking, using cover and so on. Often this can include casting invisible rays to check for obstructions or in-path objects before moving or shooting. As you can imagine, AI requires NPC's to have many properties that the code can check or change during gameplay. These might include things like group membership, friend or foe, angry, reputation/renown, aggression toward player and many more.8.5 Interlude: BusinessAs Matthew suggests, to construct a game at this scale requires a team of hundreds and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars.Looking at GTA IV, we see that it broke the records for best single day and seven day sales numbers. By 2011 it had sold more than 15M units. That suggests revenue well above $500M. Subtract maybe $200M for costs to produce and market and you are left with a nice profit. >2:1 ROIStill there is a risk. If the new game cost $300M, the number of unit sales required to break even is high. They must be a huge success. While I think they are ok, if sales were just a little slow, the harm could be amplified by putting a drag on Take-Two's stock price. This is a case of go big or go home.9. User Interface & InputGames do very little until a human player acts on them. That requires 3 levels of human-to-machine interface.The first level of interface is the hardware user interface - Xbox controller, mouse, keyboard, screen, Occulus Rift, surround sound system, Wii remote or cybersexual haptic feedback device.There are some important considerations around the equipment that couples human to machine. Over the last several years we've started using remotes or cameras that sense player positions with mixed results, while TV makers got all excited about 3D TV until we remembered that headaches are no fun. Head mounted hardware is coming up and it will be briefly interesting until we run out of liniment for our stiff necks.Because of Flow (psychology) the best option is almost always the least invasive, smallest movement choice. Though the limbic system (limb movement) can play a role in the brain chemistry rewards we get while playing a game, flow is more important and it requires tight coupling. So subtle little key clicks and button presses from any number of slack, lazy, slumping postures is better than pretending to swing an invisible tennis racket at the cat.The second layer is the graphical user interface including all on-screen instructions, clickable, dragable objects, legends, scoreboards, text chat, inventory, graphics setting and load/save screens. This layer takes real mechanical and electrical input from the player and virtualizes it, into software. Of course, clever user experience and interface designers are very important to smooth, intuitive game play.At the thrid and deeper level of handling user input we find code that watches cursors and key for activity. When a change in state is detected, this system determines what input the player provided and goes spinning through the on-screen objects to determine what was "hit" by a click.Recall that even 3D games render out to flat 2D renderports / graphics buffers, in real time. While in 3D we know an enemy is hiding behind a curtain, in the 60 2D frames that fly by in a second, anything obscured by the curtain has been culled for better performance - the enemy, the wall, the mountainscape outside and the rest are not there now.When the correct target is identified, the click is passed to a specific game object. Clickable objects, from virtual buttons to NPC characters know how to handle a set of user input message, to trigger actions.10. Camera ControlOpen world games make you the movie star. They use a cinematic style of presentation that follows a familiar ruleset for telling a story visually. In film and TV, the best camera operators and editors are totally transparent - they never draw attention to their existence by always showing you just what you want to see. One challenge of open world games then, is to code camera objects that have similar skills to a good human camera crew.You mostly see yourself in 3rd person, moving and talking. There are wide shots, 2 shots, over the shoulder shots, reverse angles and reactions shots, like those in a film. At times you switch to first person views, for using iron sights or scopes, for instance. One of the trickiest things the camera control code does, is keeping the camera far enough away from the player to get an appropriate shot, while avoiding collisions with the environment - walls, trees, etc. Even when you run through tight spaces.11. MultiPlayer ConsiderationsThe trailer mentions, but does not discuss on-line play. On line, multiplayer functionality greatly increases the complexity of the game tech. Here are just a few examples:Ed and Ted want to play together online. Ed has Google fiber into his house and Ted has DSL with one eighth of the bandwidth.Ed is in Kansas and Ted is in Oregon, 2 time zones apart which complicates selecting the right server and server ping times (lag).Once they enter the game, Ed shoots at Ted.To accomplish this,The server periodically tells Ed's client software where Ted is standing, so he can be drawn at the correct location, on Ed's screen.Ed aims and fires.Ed's client software contacts the server to say, hey, I've fired a shot, from point A toward point B (a vector) toward Ted's last known location.The server replies, ok, but he has moved 1 meter west.Ted's client is now drawing a muzzle flash, so he speeds up.Ed still sees Ted where he was a half second ago, still in the bullet's path.When the projectile arrives, the outcome must be resolved in a believable way for each player.Schrodinger's Ted.Some systems use server side hit detection, some use client side hit detection and other use a hybrid but all are tricky systems with variables beyond control - changing ping times, electrical outages from storms, different local router/switch/modem devices, ISP bandwidth limits and more.This list doesn't even consider the potential of differences in content. Maybe Ed bought the Pro Pistol Pack DLC. On his client, he sees himself holding a fancy engraved .45. Ted didn't buy any DLC, so what shall we draw in Ed's hand, on Ted's client? Nothing? a plain 45?11.5 NoticeApologies to people that have seen too many notifications, saying I've made more edits to this too long answer. This is the last blast, but in a way, even more critical to making a successful open world video game. Now that we got making assets down, we move to even higher skills12. Project ManagementYou expected the producer type to try to convince you that his work was super important, right? Well, I believe it is and I wouldsay it is even more important on very large projects with big teams. Certainly I respect Valve's Gabe Newell and his forward looking approach, but I still see a lot of value in coordinating and facilitating game teams.For a game like this, your team could easily be around 300 people. 80 artists (environment artists, character artists, concept artists, riggers, animators, texture artists, UI artists, FX artists, prop artists) and about 80 programmers (engine programmers, client and server programmers, database programmers, graphics programmers, gameplay programmers, audio programmers, 3D math and physics people and mAI specialists) plus 80ish designers (map/environment/level designers, systems designers, gameplay designers and narrative designers). There will also be a dozen producer/project manager/scrum master people, some sound designers, a few composers, recording engineers, writers, admins, embedded test leads, a pod full or marketers and community people and a few executives.So, if the average, fully-loaded, monthly cost of each person was $8500, a team-hour (like a meeting) costs $16,000; a team day costs $127,000; a team week costs $640,000 and a team month costs $2.55M... or a Kia, a 911 Turbo, 2 Lambo Aventadors and a Bugatti Veyron. Waste gets expensive faster than a fast car.I am a big believer in the Agile methodology known as Scrum, especially for the first half of the development cycle. Three week sprints, working on the most important parts first, ending with a review of everything we completed, to inform planning for the next sprint, the following day. Small tasks only (2D or less) created buy the workers, can be scoped, but must be finished, daily stand up meetings, commitment, player focused, Army-buddy teamwork. That is the best pre-production phase yet devised.Later, when you get your core playable - your vertical slice- and you move to production mode, you can get a little more cut and dried about tasking and cut back on the incense and peppermints. We know how to do this, at this point because we solved for all the scary stuff. Now it is just work.Finally, when you start booking print ads and scheduling interviews and making swag for trade shows, feel free to return to a waterfall-like traditional schedule. They will not change the date of E3 because you are running late, so make that a hard date on your calendar. Count backward from target launch data and get those milestones chiseled in - alpha (first winnable/completeable), beta (asset, content and code complete), test candidates, localized test candidates, gold master candidates and the release version (and probably first patch too).The team is an engine that consumes tasks at a variable rate. Run the engine hard and wear it out fast, run it too slow and it stalls, fouls and wastes fuel.13. MarketingI am not a marketer, but I sit near them. I work with them and sometimes we disagree. We come from different worlds, but you need the best ones you can find. There is nothing sadder than a great game that doesn't sell because the public wasn't informed about it.14. Theory & DesignThis is the game version of the Olympics. Great design can forgive some bugs, some older graphics tech or overcome weak marketing. Fun wins; more fun wins more.There have been some debates going on in the industry about the place of narrative in games. I've had some pointy ones here on Quora. Though I side with ludology, rather than a narratology, we all love a good story. But...I strongly believe that personal, interactive experience is the parent of narrative stories. Narrative implies a narrator, telling a flattened version of their interactive experience from the past. Narratives are data compression. They leave out branches.Personal action is greater, IMO. It is what we do differently than movies. Emergent story - your story, in the present tense. You are the author, we are just the party planners. You are the rockstar, we are just the backing band. You play, we'll follow your lead.Open world games are the premium proof of the player's authorship. Sure, writers and designers create many possible scenarios, variations and branches, but if the player does not feel like they are making their own way through the game world, it is not an open world game. This is our new literature.Many thanks to patient readers.

“Chile was the most stable and prosperous South American country, but heading into 2020, it is collapsing financially. What's the story?”UPDATE: As of 07 December 2019, the government of Chile is reporting a drop of two percent in the year’s GNP, and predicting a recession if the disturbances continue. Damage to public infrastructure is calculated at US$4.5 billion, US$1.5 billion in damage to private businesses, some 300,000 jobs at risk, and nearly 20,000 small and medium size businesses on the brink of collapsing. This is in addition to many more millions in demands against the government for its failures to meet its obligations to protect “the free exercise of economic activities.”There are also at least 26 dead in related events and over 20,000 arrested, mostly charged with looting. That’s not the work of “peaceful protests.” But Western media excuse this as a mere social movement.Note: images are from various media, used just like everyone else on quoral, and added to mollify the censors and the mods.Before discussing the present [October-December 2019] events, it is important to note that similar, albeit smaller scale, uprisings in Chile have become somewhat common. Some of the features of these earlier events are similar to what is currently going on.Some related history….2010: In the Magallanes region of Chile the natural gas prices are very low, and are heavily subsidised by the national government, through taxation and public monies. As a result of the low prices, construction has typically avoided adequate insulation and instead homeowners and businesses rely on burning excessive amounts of comparatively cheap, subsidised natural gas.When the first Piñera government attempted to reduce the amount of the subsidies, and to encourage modern energy conservation practices, the residents revolted, even though the actual subsidy reduction amounted to only pennies.This rebellion (locally called a “paro”) resulted in considerable self-destructive economic and physical harm to the region, barricading roads and preventing access to ferries and airports. Thousands of foreigners became trapped, some unable to leave Tierra del Fuego, others stuck in the Paine national park or in Puerto Natales. The Chilean Red Cross and the Chilean armed forces created an “air bridge” wherein the Chilean air force evacuated many hundreds of people on military aircraft. However, the continuing regional “rebellion” resulted in two deaths, the sending of additional police forces to the region to restore order, and the threat of martial law and the arrests of the many criminals involved, along with millions of dollars of damages to the local and national economies.Later analysis determined that much of the damage had been intended to undermine the Piñera government, which failed to control the rioting and damage. Piñera’s weakness was duly noted by the opposition. This regional revolt was a prelude to the 2019 events.Image: Tourists trapped during the rebellion, being evacuated by the Chilean military:———————————————————————————————————In 2012 the PS (socialist party) mayor of Puerto Aysén organised another regional revolt, building on the experiences of the previous events in the Magallanes region and Piñera’s weakness and unwillingness to take decisive action.Rather than a single point of complaint, this rebellion involved objections to fisheries conservation measures, the “high cost of living” due to inflation and distance from food producing areas, complaints of regional “isolation” (from people who had freely elected to live in the isolated region), the inconvenience of having to use better Argentine highways to reach other regions of the country, and demands for free firewood from the government.The rioters barricaded entry to and from the region, keeping food and fuel supplies from entering, and again trapping foreign visitors. Rioters damaged at least one ambulance aircraft removing injured persons. The “paro” again resulted in millions of dollars in losses and damages and caused some businesses to close or relocate.It was also determined to be deliberately organised to undermine the Piñera government. In both the 2010 and 2012 disturbances, the Piñera government acted with conspicuous weakness, eventually caving in to rioter/protester demands, setting the stage for the 2019 outburst and equally weak government response.Barricades and mob violence in Aysén 2012:2012 - Santiago, which logically had nothing to do with the distant Aysén region disturbances, nevertheless used the occasion as an excuse to create the same sort of havoc to be seen in 2019. The observed rioting and violent protests in regions not affected by particular issues serve to confirm the generalised “anti-government” nature of the opposition.The response to the 2012 events revealed once more that the government was inept and toothless in predicting or dealing with violent demonstrations orchestrated by these elements :——————Fast forward to 2019:And bear in mind that the present situation is amazingly complex, and cannot easily be described in a few quoral paragraphs. Note that no single explanation accounts for all groups, and parallel or complementary observations may not necessarily be contradictory. But there is the thick of it:——————Clue number one: Many of the media internationally continue to incorrectly report that this uprising [October-December 2019] is over a tiny increase in the Santiago metro fares. The increase was on the order of about US$0.04 and insignificant. The metro itself is heavily subsidised by tax monies. But it was a clever propaganda measure to gain the sympathy of the usual Western media while inciting mammoth hooliganism and millions of dollars of damages to the metropolitan transport systems.Clue number two — and this will be on the final: The vandalism and destruction and looting have continued unabated since the rescinding of the small tariff increase.Clue number three: a significant portion of the population is easily incited to mob frenzy levels. This is true of many countries, particularly emotional Latin America. The same people that voted themselves the “happiest country in South America” will turn on a dime on an agitator’s behest, and seek to destroy that same government that brought them that level of satisfaction just a short while easier.Clue number four: Again - this is Latin America. The undeniably most violent region in the world.There are so many factors and interests involved in the current disturbances that a book would be needed to properly examine the context and extent of the matter.Clue number cinco: “We demand it but we won’t pay for it.”That is much of the current debate in a nutshell. It’s part of the excuse to vandalise the transport system. That factor is essentially the same as was seen in the 2010 and 2012 disturbances: the unwillingness to pay for goods and services. This is aggravated by the acculturated criticism of the privately owned business that provide goods and services, itself a feature of a combination of the teaching of the universities and the legacy or residue of the Allende years.This breaks down into other features of the culture of many here. One is the expectation that many goods and services should be subsidised or even provided directly at no user cost by the state, from tax monies. There are people who are demanding a significant retirement pension even though they did essentially little or nothing to contribute to a fund for that retirement. The culture of entitlement.Another is the resistance to the fact of externally driven inflation, the effects of which are often childishly perceived to be nothing less than local capitalist greed, and the reason to take to the streets, to unwittingly worsen the impacts of that inflation.Cultural insight: Those actually familiar with Chilean retail will recognise the problem of extensive “robo hormiga,” —- unconvincingly translated as “ant theft” but actually large-scale petty larceny. It costs Chilean supermarkets some 10 billion pesos a year in theft (the source cited below calculated this effect at US$250 million). Besides “conventional” shoplifting, enormous numbers of people will take food from grocery shelves and partially eat it while shopping, then leave the remainder within the shop and of course won’t pay for it. This is another expression of the cultural predilection for avoiding payment for goods and services, also called theft. It is summarised as something like, ” mamá, they have all this stuff, it won’t hurt anybody if I take a little bit….”Or, as someone in Chile once described this common Chilean perspective, ”los frutos de los exitosos deben ser compartidos por la fuerza con los menos enérgicos” (”the fruits of the successful must be forcibly shared with the less energetic.”)Socialist-controlled legislatures in Chile have habitually prevented the significant criminalising of such theft. Businesses respond by hiring armies of security personnel and surveillance machinery, adding the cost to the prices on the shelves. (A surprising but encouraging event: in December, most of the “opposition” or socialist candidates agreed to a marginally tougher anti-looting law).https://www.diarioconcepcion.cl/economia-y-negocios/2019/03/23/supermercados-pierden-10-mil-millones-al-ano-por-robos-hormiga.htmlThe business of the widespread looting in this country, including the “organised looting,” is hardly restricted to any portion of the political spectrum. Media in early December noted that a community council member of the center-conservative RN party from La Calera, in the Valparaiso region, has been jailed for organising a looting ring, even using his own employees and providing at least one automobile for the thefts. Yet despite the nature of these crimes, the extent of the possible penalty he might expect would not exceed five years in jail. The Chilean legislative environment practically promotes these crimes.It would be quite incorrect to suggest, as is done so often in the US and European media, that the looting is done “for necessities.” The Carabineros and PDI have noted that those participating are typically middle class and many arrive in late-model automobiles to participate in the looting of products that include alcoholic beverages, high-end clothing, electronics, and similar items. The police have identified and confiscated dozens of such private automobiles used by their owners in the pillaging of shops large and small. One example of the reporting is here:[PRENSA] Saqueos sobre cuatro ruedasClue number six: Another aspect in this disturbance behaviour is evasion. Much of the country is enamoured of evasion — of taxes, of fares, or whatever cost feature can be easily (and illegally) evaded. You see this in tax evasion, which is a great deal more widespread than many are willing to admit. You see this in fare evasion — on the Transantiago transport system, fare evasion has been as high as 40 percent of the users for some operators. I had a recent amusing conversation at a Chilean business not long ago while the principals were complaining of government corruption while at the same time were conducting an illegal tax-evasion transaction. And such culturally accepted evasion is the marginally prettier step-sister of simple theft. Today we see “evade” in the conspicuous graffiti around Santiago.For those who might wish to further study the evasion/theft of services question on the Transantiago transport system, the two concession operators with the worst evasion levels were STP (46.6% fare evasion) and Vule (40.2% fare evasion).Summary: a very large portion of the Chilean population ( ojo, not everyone, but a disturbingly large minority) habitually acts criminally in avoiding paying for goods and services that it receives, and this factors into the recent attacks on the Santiago transport systems. Such theft of services would continue even if the form of government were changed — it is simply deeply embedded in the culture of that large minority. (The Argentines speak of “Chilean thieves” as if the phrase involved unnecessary redundancy. )Translation , in the context of the disturbances: a large portion of the Chilean population objects to paying for goods and services that are provided by privately owned businesses, particularly larger businesses that — ironically — offer economy of scale pricing advantages to consumers.————————-It’s significant to note that the majority of the population in Chile would like to be free of this “uprising” and the disturbances and violence that keep them from getting on with their lives and work. After all, they recognise that their economic system has provided them with the highest standard of living in all of Latin America, considerable economic opportunity commensurate with personal effort, the highest standardised-test scores in the region, comparatively low unemployment, and until these riots, low levels of inflation. Much of that is about to change, for the worse.Unfortunately a significantly large portion of the rest of the population is still living under the seduction of the imaginary promise of the socialist paradise of the Marxist Allende years, of which they believe they were robbed and must now address. Let’s call them the “Nuevos MIRistas” after the MIR of the 1970s — the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, (Revolutionary Left Movement). Do your own homework on that one.Another quite disturbingly large portion of the population is simply anarchist in nature, destroying for the sake of destroying and never mind the consequences (this is sometimes locally known as “paga Moya”). There is a long history of anarchist sentiment and violence in Chile, something largely underappreciated in most political commentary from outside the country, and it is loosely linked to the better known anarchism of the 1930s in Spain. Writers in Chile often characterise the domestic variant as “anarco-comunismo.” Somewhat ironically, there is a substantial Chilean anarchist “organisation.” About 20 years ago there was even a “Congreso de Unificación Anarco-Comunista.” So we must not discount the contribution of this element in the violence, arson, and other disturbancesYou see evidence of the “circle-A” anarchist symbol all over the graffiti sprayed on every square metre of the walls in Chilean (and many Argentine) cities. The themes typically include identifying its enemies as “the state” and “capital” and virulent anti-clerical notes. These, along with the ubiquitous “kill the police” and “kill the president” messages, coupled with calls for free abortion, the burning of churches, anti-immigration sentiment, and alternative grammatical practices in the Spanish language. And of course, the ever present theme of “evasion.”Several foreigners have been killed in the disturbances, evidently during looting. At least two Colombians and two Peruvians are reported dead. One Ecuatorian was reported shot dead during the looting.Many of the disturbances outside of the major cities have been traced to agitators from the Santiago area who travel to other regions to organise construction of barricades to restrict movement, looting, and other vandalism. The PDI have noted that these mobile agitators move with considerable stealth and briefly lodge in places that don’t demand proper identification, making the surveillance more difficult.Of those participating in the so-called “peaceful demonstrations” (which inevitably end in violence) there is some doubt that they really understand what their lemming-like participation is all about. In a recent survey here, nearly two thirds of the population had no understanding of the actual provisions of the current constitution, though that does not prevent this segment from insisting on… a new constitution.There is no single “cause” in these disturbances, as the protests range from objection to the toll roads, the retirement system, the funding for health care and education, labour laws, tax law, and dozens of special interests. Anyone with a gripe or perception of a need or desire seems to feel justified in breaking some windows or supporting those who do.Clue number seven: Some have suggested a degree of “class warfare” and there is probably some validity in that, though not yet in much actual shooting warfare but rather in other ways. There is no question about the traditional friction between economic classes by comparatively small numbers of people, but recent events have aggravated old conditions. We have seen at many cases of the lumpen setting up roadblocks to delay the passage of motorists. Some victims take it good-naturedly. But in other cases it’s an attempt to humiliate those perceived to be ”cuicos” or ″ABC1″ (which is Chilean shorthand for those with higher incomes) by demanding that they get out of their vehicles and dance ( “el que baila pasa” — he who dances can proceed). I’ve recently personally observed school children in crosswalks in otherwise tranquil towns mimicking this, interfering with traffic while saying “el que baila pasa” to drivers. It’s basically a revolt of the vulgar proletariat of the sort seen just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It’s not a healthy thing, a quite illegal and dangerous form of mob rule, and these practices will eventually result in further violence.Social media of course are used as tools for organising the disturbances, along with lists of which demonstration reflects which cause is presumably represented:Clue number eight: There is also the aspect of the Mapuche “movement” sometimes classified as terrorists in several southern locations (considerable arson, several people killed). In some of these areas the threats to both police and residents are such that movement is severely restricted and dangerous. Visible elements of “solidarity” with the Mapuche terrorists are seen in so-called peaceful marches as well as the considerable graffiti and showing of flags.Contrary to the content of local and international reporting, the great degree of looting, violence, and damage to property and infrastructure is not limited to a small number of “violentistas” but rather involves large numbers of generally urban-area students and other young people up to about age 29. These are primarily drawn from middle class families and some foreigners from elsewhere in Latin America.A curious social tenet has emerged in the past 20 years which posits moral rectitude to justify theft as an acceptable response to one’s own failure to achieve sufficient economic success. In the US this is sometimes considered “entitlement.” This is seen in the participation of the middle class in large-scale looting, involving the theft of not the “necessities” but rather high-end clothing and electronics, appliances, alcohol, and conspicuously (and noted in images in local media) the theft of large-screen televisions. Late-model automobiles belonging to middle class looters are being used in these thefts and local media have carried stories of police recovering vast amounts of stolen merchandise from middle class residences.As of the end of November 2019, the government and media are reporting nearly 2,500 looting events since the beginning of the disturbances, and many of those sites were also burned.Let’s face it: this uprising is to a large degree criminal in nature. Since the beginning, over 20,000 people have been charged (not just arrested) in serious crimes related to these events, and most of those have been charged in this looting. This is a reflection of the inveterate criminal nature and values of an unfortunately substantial minority portion of the population.The depth and extent of the disturbances are considerably greater than what are being reported in international media. The Chilean government is attempting to rebuild its “country image” (which was always false in any event) and some of the local media are cooperating by deliberately understating the magnitude of the uprising.Media here are reporting that the Chilean stock market has collapsed and the CL peso is rapidly devaluing (depending on the dates you consider, the devaluation over the past 12 or so months appears to be about 20 percent). Growing unemployment has already been noted as hundreds of shops have been looted and destroyed, throwing thousands out of work. Of course, this is the intent of the opposition.Inflation, capital flight, and further misery will follow.Post script: 12 December 2019I’m back in Chile. In Punta Arenas. It was once my favourite city in Chile, and in all of South America. Now it looks like a bit of a war zone. Shops are shuttered, closing early, some are so damaged from the rioting that they are closed until further notice. The farmacia/pharmacy/drugstore/chemist shop I used not so long ago, suffered from all its glass destroyed by the vandals. It’s been reopened with steel plates instead of glass, looking more like a vault than some place you’d go to buy Ibuprofin.The anarchists have sprayed their signs on everything, like stinking street dogs marking their territory with urine.It’s depressing.