Where do they sleep?

Black Mesa Archive The Cafeteria
#1

Black Mesa is a gigantic research facility placed out in the New Mexico desert, far away from any civilization.
Yet, we never come across any “sleeping place” or living place for the scientists and the guards. Some of the military forces live in Barracks which are close to the area(?) due to the training facility over there.

So… Are everyone who works at Black Mesa taking their car from Santa Fe, then uses the tram system (listening on that voice) everyday, or do they have somewhere to sleep in the facility?

#2

There’s the (unseen, but mentioned) Level 3 Dormitories, where at least some of the science personnel live.

Additionally, in Anomalous Materials one scientist tells another that he has to “come in this weekend”, indicating that there is a town not too far from the facility that its personnel routinely travel to. This is substantiated by the evacuation instructions in the radio announcement in Office Complex, which sound like they include a fairly densely-populated area and establish a radius of 75 miles around the facility.

#3

Well, there are various references to dormitories throughout Half-Life and it’s expansions. In Half-Life, the tram announcer mentions that Gordon’s tram is inbound from “Level 3 Dormitories”- which, I might add, is also one of the locations visited by Dr. Cross and Dr. Green in Decay. We also hear a mention of an “Area 8 Topside Dormitories” during the tram ride introduction in Half-Life Blue Shift. So we know that there are at least 2 dormitory facilities within the BMRF (unless you don’t count any of the Gearbox expansions as canon, in which case there’s only one), although considering the size I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few more scattered throughout the facility.

Hopefully that was the answer you were looking for- otherwise, I might have accidentally made a fool of myself.

#4

Well, can’t you guy add such an area to the Pre-disaster chapters? Would be interesting to see how a living area for the scientists would look.

#5

I at least am not really in the business of adding whole new areas (especially since that would conflict with the Blue Shift, Opposing Force, and Decay mods I know other people are working on) but when those mods come out and if they meet our quality standards and the producers allow it, we would restore them.

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.