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bioshock

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Sun, 2009-12-20 17:24

It that must no... It that must not be named's picture

bioshock

If you like EP you ought to try the FPS game "Bioshock", which is a pretty good source for EP ideas. Basically, bioshock's plot has that a monomaniacal genius named andrew ryan decided he was tired of being constrained by the morality of the small and of being hit on by the so called "parasites", which seemed to be everyone who wasn't andrew ryan. So he used his vast wealth to construct an ultras libertarian city beneath the atlantic ocean called "rapture" (as in 'rapture of the deep") where he and like minded people would be free of petty morality, "parasites", etc. Well, things went for a while until a scientist made a discovery on the ocean floor that lead to unlimited ability to make genetic modifications in humans, called "splicing". Now people could literally buy super powers via genetic modification. Too bad that apparently too much splicing for too long seemed to lead to disfigurement, insanity and worse. You get dropped into rapture after your plane crashes in 1960, only to find out there are some things about yourself you didn't know. The plot and ideas from bioshock could fairly easily and painlessly be grafted into EP and might make a decent adventure or mini campaign where a habitat full of radical exhumans or something similar went down the path of rapture.

—

"I learned the hard way that if you take a stand on any issue, no matter how insignificant, people will line up around the block to kick your ass over it." -Jesse "the mind" Ventura.

Sun, 2009-12-20 23:17

Zophiel

Re: bioshock

Or you could go back to its ancestors, System Shock and System Shock 2. There's plenty of EP compatible goodness there. Bio-engineering, mad seed AI, even endoptics.

Mon, 2009-12-21 18:01

It that must no... It that must not be named's picture

Re: bioshock

Zophiel wrote:
Or you could go back to its ancestors, System Shock and System Shock 2. There's plenty of EP compatible goodness there. Bio-engineering, mad seed AI, even endoptics.

True, dat. Plus system shock 2 is now abandonware and freely available, and anything that can be called a computer these days can run it like rush limbaugh running for a bottle of oxycontin. Still, in some ways I think bioshoc is still a good seed for EP due to the idea of the isolated extremists setting themselves up in an isolated habitat and then basically destroying themselves thru their own ideals run amok. I mean, in system shock it's all SHODAN's fault and we have to save the world from the evil insane AI yadda yadda yadda. But in bioshock the people of rapture mostly screwed themselves. Also, the plot to bioshock is kind of a slap on that ghawdawful book "Atlas shrugged", and anything that slaps on that is a good thing...

—

"I learned the hard way that if you take a stand on any issue, no matter how insignificant, people will line up around the block to kick your ass over it." -Jesse "the mind" Ventura.

Tue, 2009-12-22 02:01

Zophiel

Re: bioshock

It that must not be named wrote:
Also, the plot to bioshock is kind of a slap on that ghawdawful book "Atlas shrugged", and anything that slaps on that is a good thing...

While I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure I agree with the analysis. I think the message was a lot more nuanced than that. After all, it was the gangster not the utopian who really destroyed the city. Andrew Ryan wasn't a nice guy and there was plenty of bad in Rapture, but arguably no more than anywhere else. Before things really went nuts, it was actually something of an Extropian paradise. Private property, individual ambition and law by contract were the rule of the day. It took Fontaine breaking what little social contract there was to turn it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Tue, 2009-12-22 17:39

It that must no... It that must not be named's picture

Re: bioshock

Zophiel wrote:
It that must not be named wrote:
Also, the plot to bioshock is kind of a slap on that ghawdawful book "Atlas shrugged", and anything that slaps on that is a good thing...
While I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure I agree with the analysis. I think the message was a lot more nuanced than that. After all, it was the gangster not the utopian who really destroyed the city. Andrew Ryan wasn't a nice guy and there was plenty of bad in Rapture, but arguably no more than anywhere else. Before things really went nuts, it was actually something of an Extropian paradise. Private property, individual ambition and law by contract were the rule of the day. It took Fontaine breaking what little social contract there was to turn it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Eh, Ryan was a megalomaniac and when you learn the history of rapture it was obvious his insanity was just looking for an excuse to boil over. Fontaine basically was more successful that ryan, and it drove ryan nuts that things weren't going the way he wanted. Ryan justified what was done to the little sisters by implying they were as responsible as he was. Yeah, right. He also went along with suchong's plan to use pheremones to control the populace in order to keep things the way he wanted. There was a lot of resentment against ryan too, that lead to the revolt. If not for fontaine it would have been something else. Ryan was a whackjob even before he got to rapture, as evidenced by his bragging about burning down a forest to keep it from being nationalized.

—

"I learned the hard way that if you take a stand on any issue, no matter how insignificant, people will line up around the block to kick your ass over it." -Jesse "the mind" Ventura.

Wed, 2009-12-23 06:14

Zophiel

Re: bioshock

It that must not be named wrote:
Eh, Ryan was a megalomaniac and when you learn the history of rapture it was obvious his insanity was just looking for an excuse to boil over. Fontaine basically was more successful that ryan, and it drove ryan nuts that things weren't going the way he wanted. Ryan justified what was done to the little sisters by implying they were as responsible as he was. Yeah, right. He also went along with suchong's plan to use pheremones to control the populace in order to keep things the way he wanted. There was a lot of resentment against ryan too, that lead to the revolt. If not for fontaine it would have been something else. Ryan was a whackjob even before he got to rapture, as evidenced by his bragging about burning down a forest to keep it from being nationalized.

That's what I liked about the game, there were plenty of ways to see it. Sure, Ryan was a "bad guy". Its interesting to note, though, when you're talking about Ayn Rand, that the failures of Rapture came not as a direct result of following her ideas (Ryan's ideas in the game) but as perversions of them. The basic concept of free commerce, free will and private ownership of anything you create weren't inherently the problems. Its when Ryan violated those exact rules to keep from losing control of Rapture that it became a warzone. Of course it also showed that an Extropian community can be just as brutal and repressive as any other.

Wed, 2009-12-23 13:11

It that must no... It that must not be named's picture

Re: bioshock

The thing is that if ryan hadn't fought fontaine, fontaine would have taken over rapture and turned it into a dictatorship anyway.

—

"I learned the hard way that if you take a stand on any issue, no matter how insignificant, people will line up around the block to kick your ass over it." -Jesse "the mind" Ventura.

Thu, 2009-12-24 03:12

Zophiel

Re: bioshock

It that must not be named wrote:
The thing is that if ryan hadn't fought fontaine, fontaine would have taken over rapture and turned it into a dictatorship anyway.

Which says more about the power of a charismatic leader than it does about the Rand (Objectivist, is it?) style of governance.

Wed, 2009-12-30 18:45

urdith

Re: bioshock

There was a very interesting video made on Bioshock and Objectivism. It is a tad long, but it has an interesting perspective on the philosophy and how it impacts Bioshock. Objectivism is all about charismatic, intelligent people acting without moral or governmental fetters holding them back in some ways. The key problemis the assumption everyone will benefit from unfettered action because people are inherently good and said Randian heroes have everyone's best interests at heart. Fontaine is the great flaw in the phillosophy: he does not want to build anything, he just wants to destroy and take. And without moral or societal restraint, he can do so freely.

—

"The ruins of the unsustainable are the 21st century’s frontier."
— Bruce Sterling