IFS: Reading, Writing, and Speaking in the Digital Age

The original Bioshock is the epitome of the video-game medium as an artform and as an essay.  Billed as un underwater Atlas Shrugged, Bioshock makes a commentary regarding hyper-capitalism, child labor, human augmentation, and the ever growing struggle between the great and the small.  It is the year 1960.  A plane crashes under mysterious circumstances over the Mid-Atlantic.  A lone man finds a spire on which to cling.  And through an audio recording, he finds a city ravaged by ideas half-cooked.  It is called Rapture.  In place of stronger and cheaper steel in the U.S. are super-human augmentations fathoms below the ocean.  Ghosts of those that the city claimed speak to the player, and call for him or her to battle ideologies in his or her head.  The video below contains audio

recordings of Andrew Ryan, the city builder, and his Ayn Rand-like ideals.  The game makes bold statements in every political, moral, and ideological direction, and points out the importance of the individual and his thought through the story and the gameplay.  Whereas most games force a specific play style upon the player, Bioshock is entirely hands-off.  One does not even have to fire a gun to play the game should he or she wish to hack terminals to crawl stealthily through the city.  Environmentally aware players can shoot lightning from their fingertips into an occupied pool of water, or send fire to a gas pipe to cause massive damage to the denezens of Rapture.  More straightfoward gunplay is also an option.  The emphasis on player choice sharply contrasts the plethora of political ideas and moral boundaries being thrown at the player, and it serves to further highlight problems in creating a utopian society.  Giving the player an immense amount of munitions, power, and thought provoking subject matter in the gameplay reinforces the story motif that a powerful man cannot create a perfect city based upon radical ideals.  To quote a line from an audio log, "someone's gotta scrub the toilets."  Put simply, Bioshock is essayistic in every fiber of its being.  It takes stances on political topics while also acknowledging the other side.  It poses interesting questions that it leaves the player to answer.  It is self-centered with its viewpoints, but also allows for interpretation.  It is art in the most pure sense of the word, and it is among the very best examples of non-traditional digital works matching if not superceding the artistry found in this world.