Bioshock and Utopianism: Represented through Plasmids
Bioshock is one of the most critically acclaimed and revered video games in the history of the medium with its gripping narrative, setting, sense of immersion, and gameplay loop that helped it stand out amongst first-person shooters of its time. One of the game’s signature features is the Plasmids mechanic, where players take control of several powers ranging from electrocuting enemies to telekinesis in order to survive the game’s foreboding setting of Rapture. Beyond being a fun mechanic for players to experiment with, it also functions on a narrative level as the Plasmids help communicate one of the game’s central themes: The fall of Utopianism, which is defined as the belief or pursuit of a state in which everything is perfect, no matter how unrealistic it is. Early on in the game, players learn that Andrew Ryan sought to create Rapture as a utopia separate from government control so that people would live their lives apart from morals established by the surface world. Unfortunately, after the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material that granted citizens the ability to use Plasmids, Rapture fell into disarray with rising tensions and civil wars between the upper, middle, and lower classes of society. Once players start taking control of Plasmids, they will start to get a sense of how ADAM serves as a harbinger of sorts to the downfall of Rapture as they see the city’s remaining citizens as deformed, psychotic beings who are craving the material as if its a drug and how it alone proved that government control is instrumental in keeping a society in check and ensuring that it won’t collapse in on itself. What this proves is that Bioshock expertly demonstrates its value-conscious design through Plasmids as well as how they play a role both in gameplay and story.
Authors Jonathan Belman and Mary Flanagan describe games as value-conscious when “designers have considered the moral, social, and political resonances of design features in a systematic way” and “explore themes and work with constraints that are often outside of mainstream, entertainment-focused designers’ concern” (57–58) The opening level of Bioshock in its entirety, where players set foot in Rapture, gain the Electro Bolt Plasmid, and encounter one of the game’s Little Sisters, showcases this value-conscious design well because it plants the seeds as to why this city ended up the way it did through gameplay and minimal cutscenes. When players collect their first Plasmid, it is supposed make them feel powerful as they can wield electricity to gain the upper hand in combat, but they quickly understand how ADAM is a valuable material in Rapture that is turning its citizens insane, which is only further emphasized when the Little Sisters come into play as they harvest the same material, implying that ADAM is what led to the city’s demise. This gameplay element is further enhanced when players learn that Rapture was a place where science flourished as Plasmids were invented and citizens used them to their hearts’ content, only to result in disaster as there was no form of government control to establish a set of laws and morals dictating what should and shouldn’t be done with this new material, conflicting with Andrew Ryan’s vision of a utopian city. In a single level, Bioshock expertly communicates the dangers of Utopianism by contextualizing Plasmids through gameplay as players try to escape what amounts to a living manifestation of a man’s corrupted ideals that are forged by a resentment of the political norms of the early to mid 1900s.
Source:
Belman, Jonathan and Mary Flanagan. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2010; 4 (1), p. 57–67
