Gaming is a passionate space. Every developer, producer, director, promoter, and gamer is an artist who has carefully practiced their craft to present the community with their creation. With that art comes meaning and there is a deep-rooted meaning behind every major franchise.
One of the most well-crafted franchises in the gaming world is Bioshock. The Bioshock franchise has given players intricate worlds to explore with tons of layers should they choose to delve deep. Every game is an ode to players who want to explore meaning in their games and the last game of the franchise, Bioshock Infinite is no exception.
Bioshock Infinite: A Game That You Can Feel
It is easy to comprehend a game that pits one singular entity against an army. However, Bioshock Infinite is much more than that. Booker DeWitt, the protagonist of the game, is not only facing the city of Columbia but himself as well. He is skeptical of his past actions and looks to escape, or rather, drown the memories of the past by attempting to choose a mission that will settle his ‘debt.’
In this journey, he encounters Elizabeth, a girl full of life and willingness to partake that Booker has been missing his whole life. Throughout the game, we are shown flashbacks of what made Booker lose control of his life, and when the end rolls around, we are introduced to the concept of choice and the human experience beautifully portrayed by the medium of the multiversal construct. Every choice you make, and every door you open leads to a thousand other doors that can change your life for the better. The only thing you need to do is be brave enough to make a choice. Yet their actions mean nothing all the same.
Inherently, the city of Columbia is alive with people who are blissfully unaware of what is actually happening around them and as you progress through the game, you can feel and draw connections to humanity. However, to better explain the lesson in Bioshock, one will have to delve deep into the earlier games.
Rapture vs Columbia: Self vs Society
Rapture, a city built entirely underwater, away from prying human eyes. Comparisons were drawn to Atlantis when people first saw it and since then it has stayed in the minds of Bioshock fans. However, Rapture’s appeal wasn’t in its unique steampunk infrastructure or the Adam it produced. It resides in the philosophy of the city itself.
Opposite Rapture, we have Columbia. A selfless city built high up in the sky where its citizens are happily unaware of everything going on around them. In Columbia, there is no sense of self, things are done only for the betterment of the city. Yet both cities suffered the same fate. Both are in ruin. Are these cities different yet all the same? All the signs point to the latter half of the statement but why should you concern yourself with it? What’s the ultimate lesson behind the Bioshock franchise?
Bioshock’s Ultimate Lesson
Bioshock emphasizes the differences between Rapture and Columbia repeatedly, yet both great cities end up falling due to an individual’s action. Andrew Ryan’s “Would you kindly?” and Comstock’s baptizing of the whole population no matter how noble in their minds was feeble. What was destined to happen inevitably did befall both creations, which is total destruction.
While there are differences on the surface between these two cities, there aren’t as many as you might think. Both games emphasize that without your involvement, the in-game events wouldn’t have happened, but that’s not true. Whatever the players do in either game does not matter because the events themselves are meaningless.
The actions of players in this game, among a sea of infinite multiverses, mean nothing. That might be nihilistic but to some, it is an optimistic philosophy. Why? Because knowing that nothing you do actually matters, you are free to do whatever you want that matters to you.
