Old Ben

 is a person living in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

Background
Old Ben is right outside the entrance to the New Vegas Strip in Freeside when you first meet him. He warns the player not to go to the gate of the Strip without first talking with the gatekeeper Securitron first, or they'll get vaporized. After further questioning, he tells that he used to be in many jobs, such as a bodyguard, male escort, and a gun-for-hire, as well as a Butcher.

Interactions with the player character
During the quest Wang Dang Atomic Tango, the player can choose between him and Santiago to be hired as a prostitute for the Atomic Wrangler Casino. Old Ben can be persuaded through either a speech check or the Confirmed Bachelor/Black Widow perk.

(Note: If the Player has Chosen Santiago instead of Old Ben while also doing the Debt collection quest, Old Ben may be persuaded to join as well through a Speech-Check AFTER the quest is completed. He can then be found sitting at the Bar of the Atomic Wrangler, but still has the Speech Check dialog Tree available, providing an Infinite source of 50 XP, but if you have the confirmed bachelor perk the speech check will be replaced by the perk.)

Appearances
appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the story Ben tells about being a butcher, he states that people only develop the shakes from eating human flesh. This is because Cannibalism frequently spreads an incorrectly folded protein call a prion, or proteinaceous viron leading to such diseases as Kuru in New Guinea, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (aka: Mad Cow Disease) in Great Britain, Scrapie in the United States, and CJD (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease).


 * Done on XBox. An easy infinite experience glitch, requiring only a Speech level of 50, can occur with Old Ben due to a glitch in mission order. To make this glitch work, you must obtain the missions "Wang Dang Atomic Tango" and "Debt Collector" at the same time. First, finish the first three debt collections required by Francine, but leave the last one unresolved. Next, recruit all but one of your escorts for James' mission, choosing Santiago as the smooth talker. At this point, a glitch will occur, and it will count Santiago as the final person the debt was collected from for Francine's mission, requiring you to pay her a little over 380 caps from your own pocket. (You may still collect from the man in Vegas, although I have only confirmed that taking his hat works at this point.) The final part requires some testing, as I am not sure what order I did it in. The first, and less likely, order would be to talk to Old Ben and do his Speech check, then get the final escort, likely Fisto. However, I think you have to recruit Fisto first and complete James' mission. Whichever way works, the final step is simply to successfully finish Old Ben's speech check. From now on, every time you talk to Old Ben, the 50 point speech check will still be there and will always net you at least 50 XP. When Ben goes to the Atmoic Wrangler, which he does permanently after recruiting him, you may sleep in your free rented bed to boost the earned XP to at least 60 each time. This glitch is slow and tedious, and removes a lot of fun from the game, but if you really want an edge in the game early on, you can get infinite experience this way. I have since left the Atomic Wrangler and have not checked if the glitch auto-corrects itself.