The goal is to have fun. And nobody can't determine for you what that means.
Here are some of the moments, from back when I played in August-September, that from a few months perspective I remember as most enjoyable:
When I first saw a suicide bomber.
When I got stuck in a cave near the Glow with a crippled leg and a handful of ammo. Stranded, far from any civilization. This had some feel of an adventure.
When I once travelled into the barbaric northlands to a place called Den. I wisely entered from the east side and, armed with my trusty laser pistol, managed to kill eight Russian bolshevik bandits, who were camping at the western entrance, before I got killed by a sneaking minigunner from a few hexes away. Then I came back and we exchanged a few friendly words.
When I thought I was screwed when I had encountered two Polish guys who had attacked me, for some reason thinking I was Russian. They learned I was Polish too when I was looting their corpses.
All my squabbles with Brother Arminius concerning the (non)existence of the Rat God.
When a well-known craftsman of upstanding reputation, Martin Blues, got mistakenly outlawed by the authorities of NCR (flagged for blocking or something). Me and several other people of good will decided to form a cordon around him to protect him from a bloodthirsty mob. The situation was soon resolved as the NCR authorities realized their blunder.
The New Reno Fight Night.
The days of my mentats addiction. But the best of it is how it ended. A GM comes to town, seeing a new target for nagging I come up to him and it goes something like that:
- *vomits* Man, I'm feeling all groggy, give me some mentats!
- There, I removed your addiction for you.
- What?! I was roleplaying! Give it back!
When, being convinced that plasma rifle is removed from the game, I demanded from skejwen-the-brahmin to show me one as a proof of its divinity before I would become its worshipper. Later that day I saw a plasma rifle...
When me and Drakonis were hired by the divine cow to escort its barter alts to various towns. Such a responsibility... ;P
When we were about to do one of Drakonis' roleplaying expeditions. We gathered a party of ~8 and were heading to Mariposa base to uncover its secrets. Finally, after some 20 minutes of preparations, we moved out from NCR. The expedition ended when the whole group was slaughtered like pigs at Mariposa entrance by just ~4 grid campers because of a huge lag. "NOT JUST EPIC FAIL. LEGENDARY FAIL." - Drakonis
When one late night I wanted to upgrade all my laser rifles at the NCR workbench. "Hmm, should I take them all at once? It might be risky. Ahhh, what could possibly go wrong at this hour and you've got to be an idiot to get yourself killed in NCR..." I walked inside NCR walls and my 200 hp char got insta-killed with a pistol... The killer took the rifles with his alt.
When I was in a party to hunt some SF caravans and we encounterd another, equally strong, party. We spawned right into them. Both sides got anxious. Both didn't want to lose gathered loot and were declaring peace. Both didn't trust each other. "- OK, so after we kill NPCs (it was TB) you go south and we go north. - Fine." And so it ended. Would have been more dramatic if it was RT, but still an awesome standoff.
In general, it was usually fun to do some TB co-ops or just hang out at the NCR bazaar. No need for specific goals. Ahh, got a little sentimental...
Screw all that, I heard that the ultimate goal will be to collect all the vault-boy figurines.