BioShock Infinite Creator Discusses Real World Political Parallels

[Logan Westbrook]

BioShock Infinite Creator Discusses Real World Political Parallels

You can't get away from politics, even in a BioShock game.

If you've looked at videos of BioShock Infinite [http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-Infinite-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6EB70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319461283&sr=8-1] and thought, "wow, this really reminds me of the Tea Party," then have no fear, because you're most definitely not alone. Ken Levine, the game's creative director, says that there are plenty of parallels between real world events and the politics of BioShock Infinite.

Besides the similarity to the Tea Party movement, Levine said that the game's Vox Populi faction had a lot in common with the Occupy movements currently taking place all over the world. He noted, however, that Irrational wasn't directly drawing on real world events for inspiration. Instead, he said, it was a case of parallel evolution, where the same ideas and sentiments cropped up within America in an almost cyclical fashion.

He also talked about a BioShock game set in the future - and before anyone says it, no, he didn't just say "look at System Shock 2." He said that when a BioShock game was set didn't really matter, as people were pretty much the same whether it's 1912, or some far-flung date in the future where humanity is colonizing Mars.

BioShock Infinite comes out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2012.

Source: Complex [http://www.complex.com/video-games/2011/10/video-ken-levine-breaks-down-the-horror-and-political-influences-in-bioshock-infinte-live-from-nycc-11]


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[Tartarga]

I now demand for a Bioshock game to be set on Mars. I want to see a Big Daddy in space.

 

[Something Amyss]

Did he mention the founder of eBay wanting to create an actual floating city outside of international law based on Ayn Rand's principles? Because if it ever happens, it sounds EXACTLY like the prequel to Bioshock.

 

[Ruwrak]

Why -did- it halfly crossed my mind it looked like the Teaparty o.o

IM NOT ALONE!! Whiee

 

[inglioti]

I can't imagine the faction mentioned in Infinite would be any where nearly as stupid as the tea party movement.

Michelle Bachman: NO TAXES!
Sarah Palin: I READ ALL MAGAZINE THAT EVER EXIST
Rick Perry: DUNOLD TRUMP TOLD ME I SHOULD BE A BIRTHER

 

[Baresark]

I love the parallels to the Tea Party movement, there is a simple reason this exists....

Did everyone know that there was a Tea Party movement back in the Early 90's? NO, REALLY?!?
For real though, there is always going to be parallels because every few years a group of people pop up saying these exact same things. And then they get representatives that eventually see them enveloped back into the Republican party. Which will be the ultimate fate of the Tea Party as well.

If you notice, there are also some crazy parallels in Star Wars and Braveheart! Clearly George Lucas meant to tell the story of William Wallace in his own way!
/sarcasm

I hate when people see something that isn't there. Also, even though there is some parallels with the game and the misguided occupy wallstreet crowd, it's a phantom similarity because the game was in full blow development/post development when that started. But, it looks good to say, "look, our work just evolved alongside it so we must be doing really good work with this!".

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Nostradamus predicted a lot of things right about the 20th century.

They were also right about the 8th, the 17th and probably the 21st century.

Broad enough strokes will capture anything. And broad enough PR people will capitalise on every one of them.

"Mad man from the East that will hold the world to ransom" indeed...

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I find the thing about the Vox Populi interesting (I find the entire thing interesting in that a game with two factions in it have both as evil rather than good and evil), mostly because of how the occupy movement happening AFTER the Vox Populi were created, so it seems like an interesting sense of life immitating art that has yet to be released.

 

[octafish]

Remember Citadel! That's all I have to say.

 

[Something Amyss]

He's not the first to try <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasteading>this

Oh, I know, but it doesn't make it any less lulzworthy.

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Agh, this game looks so good, but I know I'll hate it (I despised BioShock). So... I'll just leave it off my checklist.

I'm curious: why did you despise it?

As for the links to the Tea Party and Occupy protests: Yeah... sure you did... You didn't just take broad concepts that you learned in college history and build around a hyperbolic version of that. No, you took your inspiration from two protest movements that had barely gotten off the ground by the time you well into the development phase or didn't exist at all...

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

Agh, this game looks so good, but I know I'll hate it (I despised BioShock). So... I'll just leave it off my checklist.

I'm curious: why did you despise it?

I'm probably more curious as to why you didn't

Seriously, the one redeeming feature was the story, and even that was just passable, managing to make new ideas seem cliché. The art style was dull (for a steampunk world, there's wasn't much steam... or punk, for that matter), the encounters were repetitive, the difficulty curve was non-existent, and the ending made me crack up.

Really, what did you like about it?

I enjoyed the environments quite a bit, mainly because you had ArtDecco and "American empire" themed architecture underwater. It felt familiar while also alien, the best setting for suspense and horror. For example: even during the daytime (and there is daytime in this game) there is little to no sunlight. Imagine what life would be like without sunlight: what would you, as a architect, have to do to make sure people don't loose it in these small, confined, and leaky places?

 

[Blind Sight]

I love you Ken Levine, but you're talking out of your ass. Besides of course the Americanized design choices of the Founders, I really don't see the 'major' similarities. The Founders are extreme nationalists, while the majority of the Tea Party, although supporting notions of 'American values', are somewhat anti-nationalist due to their large distrust of big government. The Founders' religious fanaticism and xenophobia can be seen in some examples of the Tea Party, such as Bachmann's claim that American Christian culture is superior to all other cultures, but whitewashing the entire group as that is inconsistent and biased. I know plenty of non-Christians and 'open borders' immigrant supporters who are trying to work through the Tea Party, but mainly in the municipal and state-run groups. The movement largely emerged as a challenge to government overspending, not some inherent nationalist fervour.

Same goes for the 'Occupy' movement being similar to Vox Populi. Firstly, the Occupy movement is completely inconsistent when it comes to actual political belief. There's everything from Marxists to Ron Paul supporters involved in it, it's completely ideologically random most of the time. Considering that Vox Populi are anarchist socialists, who believe (and I'm quoting the wiki): "...in communist ideals of everyone sharing everything, which eventually comes to mean that everything should belong to them. A member is heard shouting, "Your homes are ours! Your lives are ours! Your wives are ours! It all belongs to the Vox!" This is also completely inconsistent to the real-world parallel he mentioned.

I'll admit there's limited similarities, but that really doesn't cut it considering that both groups commonly argue the complete opposite of their 'real world' counterparts. Anyone with a basic understanding of fringe political ideas knows that the comparison makes no sense. This is right up there with the people who say that Bioshock represents an Objectivist society, when in reality it fails several core tenets of Rand's work. I'd say yes, that Andrew Ryan's philosophy has elements of objectivism present, but overall the society presented in Rapture is more consistent with anarcho-capitalism then Randian capitalism (and there is a difference).

/Political science major rant.

 

[Vie]

I now demand for a Bioshock game to be set on Mars. I want to see a Big Daddy in space.

"Look at you, plumber. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my cities corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, objectivist business magnate?"

 

[dfphetteplace]

I wish I liked Bioshock. The story seems cool, but the game bored me so much!

 

[maturin]

"You can't get away from politics, even in a BioShock game."

Stupid tagline of the year?

You can't get away from politics, even in the game series that makes blatant comments on political ideas.

 

[gwiddison]

It was the founder of PayPal. And the idea isn't his. The "Seasteading" movement has been around for years, he's just the first person with real money who's put his support behind it. But there are no plans for plasmids or Big Daddies. I'm guessing this will be less a libertarian utopia and more an off-shore tax haven for the rich. Eventually they'll get tire of sinking money into a ridiculously impractical venture and the whole thing will be abandoned.