Comments on: ON BIOSHOCK, AYN RAND, AND THE POLITICS OF POLITICS http://www.totalmediabridge.com/on-bioshock-ayn-rand-and-the-politics-of-politics/ Bridging the gap among all forms of entertainment! Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:32:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Calum http://www.totalmediabridge.com/on-bioshock-ayn-rand-and-the-politics-of-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-236 Calum Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:49:41 +0000 http://www.totalmediabridge.com/?p=94#comment-236 HA! I see what you did there with the "would you kindly". Clever. I'm trying to do as much research of objectivism, why the Right seem to hold onto it and why it's so divisive. I haven't had the time to thoroughly read Ayn Rand's magnum opus yet despite getting it for Christmas last year and I just need to say that when you come up with a story, when you're inspired by something, that usually just is the stepping stone to get the ball rolling as if you look at the making ofs and art books etc Atlas Shrugged itself was highly influential on the games. Not objectivism itself, mind - it is Atlas Shrugged that helped influence Bioshock. This is where a lot of people are getting confused thinking objectivism inspired it when it was just another work of literature inspiring another work of literature. HA! I see what you did there with the “would you kindly”. Clever.

I’m trying to do as much research of objectivism, why the Right seem to hold onto it and why it’s so divisive. I haven’t had the time to thoroughly read Ayn Rand’s magnum opus yet despite getting it for Christmas last year and I just need to say that when you come up with a story, when you’re inspired by something, that usually just is the stepping stone to get the ball rolling as if you look at the making ofs and art books etc Atlas Shrugged itself was highly influential on the games. Not objectivism itself, mind – it is Atlas Shrugged that helped influence Bioshock. This is where a lot of people are getting confused thinking objectivism inspired it when it was just another work of literature inspiring another work of literature.

]]> By: kjohnson1585 http://www.totalmediabridge.com/on-bioshock-ayn-rand-and-the-politics-of-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-125 kjohnson1585 Mon, 24 May 2010 16:22:05 +0000 http://www.totalmediabridge.com/?p=94#comment-125 Character - that's interesting. I never given much thought about the child-trafficking angle, as it seemed the game and the in-world stuff taken that side of events at face value. Of course, over-analyzing a game is a moot point, but considering that Bioshock seemed to bother to touch upon these elements, you would think they would explore one of these themes a bit deeper than "mere excuse to shoot badguys". While you have a good point about the mind control idea, I wish the game explored that angle instead of leaving the gamer to figure it out. Thanks for reading and commenting. Character – that’s interesting. I never given much thought about the child-trafficking angle, as it seemed the game and the in-world stuff taken that side of events at face value. Of course, over-analyzing a game is a moot point, but considering that Bioshock seemed to bother to touch upon these elements, you would think they would explore one of these themes a bit deeper than “mere excuse to shoot badguys”. While you have a good point about the mind control idea, I wish the game explored that angle instead of leaving the gamer to figure it out.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

]]> By: Character Sketcher http://www.totalmediabridge.com/on-bioshock-ayn-rand-and-the-politics-of-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-124 Character Sketcher Sat, 22 May 2010 21:49:38 +0000 http://www.totalmediabridge.com/?p=94#comment-124 While I didn't consider it from a very political perspective, I think you've identified what about this game felt so very bland to me. I had previously assumed this was a result of playing the game so very very late (about two months ago) after hearing so much hype about how it deconstructs the genre and so forth, but this makes more sense. The game is okay as FPS's go - it functions, it has some interesting dynamics, it's not too easy (until about halfway through the game when you have more money than you can spend and start mowing through things with an armory at your fingertips), controls are dodgy but serviceable - but the vaunted story just didn't seem all that interesting. It had potential. It could have drawn me in, I think, if it had ever tried to do so...but it didn't. The story seems to assume you're invested in it simply because your circumstances dictate it is necessary to your survival to get involved, but I'm a gamer: life-or-death situations are my main fare. This is not a convincing argument for why I should care about the political background of the people I'm currently shotgunning in their mutated faces. You have to sell me on it. The child-trafficking angle was more interesting than the economic slant of the society shipping them around. I found myself wondering if their similarities were a result of cloning or gene therapy, why they all had to be girls (There were audio logs that mentioned in passing the hosts had to be children, but I don't think I ever heard anything about why the children had to be female. Daddy's girls easier to train than making boys behave? Girls marginally easier for the adults to stand having around than zombie boys? What?), what happened to all the OTHER children - seriously, maybe I'm just not remembering it but I can't think of any indications of children existing in the city other than the Little Sisters, and no the toys and strollers don't count because for all I know they're just for show; there's never a sign that children actually made use of them there. Maybe the parents just brought those things under the sea with them as mementos to reflect upon in the quiet moments of regret they felt about leaving their old lives behind in the "real world" on the surface. I could go on, but I think you get the point: the dynamics surrounding children in the game fascinated me; the objectivism detail feels tacked-on and useless for plot by comparison. I could care less and the game makes very little effort to educate me on what objectivism is and why I should care. As far as I'm concerned Ryan just sounds like an incredibly aggressive capitalist, which probably defeats the purpose of that foundation in the game. The mind control element is probably the one thing that directly ties the game to objectivism in being the total opposite of it, as I understand it: given objectivism is all about the personal contribution of individuals in the system etc., usurping the minds of people to make them not individuals but tools is destroying that system and making it into simple tyranny of sorts, yes? Making the baseline objectivism makes this plot point the ultimate insult in turning that baseline on its head...which only matters if you care about the original system in place (I didn't) and otherwise functions as Standard Supervillain Plot for a game's purposes. Serviceable, but not ground-breaking. Good lord this got long. Good writeup on the game - thought-provoking. While I didn’t consider it from a very political perspective, I think you’ve identified what about this game felt so very bland to me. I had previously assumed this was a result of playing the game so very very late (about two months ago) after hearing so much hype about how it deconstructs the genre and so forth, but this makes more sense. The game is okay as FPS’s go – it functions, it has some interesting dynamics, it’s not too easy (until about halfway through the game when you have more money than you can spend and start mowing through things with an armory at your fingertips), controls are dodgy but serviceable – but the vaunted story just didn’t seem all that interesting.

It had potential. It could have drawn me in, I think, if it had ever tried to do so…but it didn’t. The story seems to assume you’re invested in it simply because your circumstances dictate it is necessary to your survival to get involved, but I’m a gamer: life-or-death situations are my main fare. This is not a convincing argument for why I should care about the political background of the people I’m currently shotgunning in their mutated faces. You have to sell me on it.

The child-trafficking angle was more interesting than the economic slant of the society shipping them around. I found myself wondering if their similarities were a result of cloning or gene therapy, why they all had to be girls (There were audio logs that mentioned in passing the hosts had to be children, but I don’t think I ever heard anything about why the children had to be female. Daddy’s girls easier to train than making boys behave? Girls marginally easier for the adults to stand having around than zombie boys? What?), what happened to all the OTHER children – seriously, maybe I’m just not remembering it but I can’t think of any indications of children existing in the city other than the Little Sisters, and no the toys and strollers don’t count because for all I know they’re just for show; there’s never a sign that children actually made use of them there. Maybe the parents just brought those things under the sea with them as mementos to reflect upon in the quiet moments of regret they felt about leaving their old lives behind in the “real world” on the surface.

I could go on, but I think you get the point: the dynamics surrounding children in the game fascinated me; the objectivism detail feels tacked-on and useless for plot by comparison. I could care less and the game makes very little effort to educate me on what objectivism is and why I should care. As far as I’m concerned Ryan just sounds like an incredibly aggressive capitalist, which probably defeats the purpose of that foundation in the game.

The mind control element is probably the one thing that directly ties the game to objectivism in being the total opposite of it, as I understand it: given objectivism is all about the personal contribution of individuals in the system etc., usurping the minds of people to make them not individuals but tools is destroying that system and making it into simple tyranny of sorts, yes? Making the baseline objectivism makes this plot point the ultimate insult in turning that baseline on its head…which only matters if you care about the original system in place (I didn’t) and otherwise functions as Standard Supervillain Plot for a game’s purposes. Serviceable, but not ground-breaking.

Good lord this got long. Good writeup on the game – thought-provoking.

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