Mind Control, Symbolism in Video Games: BioShock

Mind control symbolism has been in movies for decades, but now advances in computer power has allowed it to be added into video games. Check out this piece on BioShock, a new game for XBox and PC. It literally has tons of symbolism embedded into it:

Symbolism Mind Control in BioShock video games

that game looks ******* rad, havent played a decent fps since halflife 2. in a couple years once hacked xbox360s are common place ill finally get to play this game

it's kind of scary that they can manipulate people like that

Man yeha that game looks good. And PCPowerPlay gave it a 10/10 - Masterpiece ;-P

Anyways yes there are alot of emotions involved in the game such as saving the little sisters or killing them for your own benefit. Play for good, play for evil. The choice is yours... They're trying to make the game as immersive as possible; -P

I cannot wait to play it. I get a new PC on Wednesday. I probably wont have enough cash to get a great graphics card then, but two weeks later. ca-ching. ;-P

funkandroid and darage both of you are missing the entire point. This video game was created to change your brain waves, brain patterns, and challenge all your beliefs about life.

Look at what it wants you to do, become as violent as possible. The violence carries over towards those you would normally think as innocent. Kill everyone for no one is innocent the game says. Little girls are not innocent, and neither are you the victim or savior. Humanistic relative morality replacing absolute morals. From what I read of the little sisters, I don't think you will be saving them.

Oh, yea sure it is only a video game. Played how many hours a day, week, month, year? What you put in front of you will soak into you eventually even if it doesn't the first few times you play.

The religious symbolism is disgusting. The little sisters go after the substance Adam (Adam and Eve from the Bible), and from what I seen more than likely this is in the blood. God said not to kill or drink the blood. The Bible did say the life source is in the blood.
I bet they reverse good for evil and evil for good. I'm sure there is much more in there.

Go ahead, waste your money on this mind control game. Let it warp you further. Then when the time is right and something happens to somehow cause a mass panic, you will already be trained from triggers in the movie to join a mass panic and cause as much damage, physical harm, and death as possible. When you are in your alter game mode, it won't matter who you kill either.

Happy gaming

Ok mysteryLady, Obviously . I guess you're not a real hardcore gamer? I gues you've looked into many studies about research into violent video games? Agressiveness? Bottom line is this: People understand it's jsut a video game, while interactive and can make you feel things at teh time, get you immersed in the game, the atmosphere, it all dissipates very quickly (within 20 mins) of leaving the game. SO while you do get immersed int he game and the game "can" change your brain patterns/brain waves as you call it. ONce you stop that's it. But yes they did make the game withthe intent of causing great immersion and making oyu the player have a moral dilemma on your hands. Choose to kill the kid for benefit, or save the kid and recieve a little benefit and they could be helpful later on.

Mystery Lady there is nothing wrong with having anything challenge your beliefs about life. I for one think it would be very beneficial for the entire world if people every day had their beliefs challenged. Especially the religious ;-P. Just take a look at your wording for instance. "god said not to kill or drink the blood". I believe a man wrote that. "The Bible did say the life source is in the blood. " Anyone could have figured that out. I'm sure many people died of blood loss in those "biblical" times...

To be quite honest that link is very biased writting, and i believe over reacting. and so are you.

DaRAGE, in what way do you feel that article is biased?

the game doesnt require you to be violent or harm the "Little Sisters" in any way. I've saved four of them so far and for it they tank me, reward me and continue to assist me. It doesnt force you to do anything any more then Grand Theft Auto forces you to beat prostitutes or climb a tower with a rifle and gun down innocents.

Bioshock totally rocks!!! This game is totally awesome, any hard core gamer should go out and buy this right away. I highly doubt this game will change my beliefs on life let alone change my brain waves. It is just really fun to play!! There have been loads of games like this that I have been playing for years, and I'm still a very peaceful productive citizen. Bagging on video games is about as lame as it gets.

I too found the linked article very biased and one sided, but then again I'm not a big fan of ultra-religious propaganda. I can say that I own Bioshock and the only complaint I have is that it makes my evenings fly by too quick. I start playing and I loss track of how long I've been playing; it's that good of a game.

I've been an avid gamer for a long time and just because I "kill" a person in a videogame I have yet to want to in real life. So I am not a big supporter of the idea that violent video games make you violent in real life.

Crikey. The article isn't religious in any way. The author is actually a massive video game fan also! He also is playing BioShock!

It's merely observations based on fact. Look up mind control and CIA - they used the same symbolism in their experiments.

Some of you guys are really too paranoid for your own good. By your logic the Halo series is training me to kill aliens in an upcoming war. Seriously, don't let your thoughts on conspiracies make you too paranoid to enjoy things. I almost laughed at that article it's so dumb.

*goes to play more Bioshock*

WARNING, MILD SPOILERS: There's nothing in here that you couldn't have already read in a preview article of the game, or found out within the first few minutes of playing the game, but it might ruin the surprise of anyone who hasn't read anything about it at all and wants everything about the game to be a surprise.

I wouldn't call myself a Bioshock Expert, but considering I've read every article on it I could find for the last 2 years, bought the game, have been playing it since, I think I can address a few concerns this article raises that the author of it is apparently completely unaware of.

First, the entire premise of the game is based of the writings of Ayn Rand.

For those who have no idea who she is, she founded the tenants of Objectivism, which is, that the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest is prime, and to achieve this there must be a pure laissez-faire capitalism. In a nutshell, Ayn Rand wanted zero controls on business, zero controls on capitalism, zero restrictions on the human mind and body. Those of you who fear a NWO takeover are fearing Objectivism, and frankly, with good reason. Objectivism is what results in government being controlled by the likes of Halliburton, Enron, and other hyper-rich, mega-powerful, criminal enterprises.

Second, the entire plot is about why Objectivism failed.

The founder of Rapture (the underwater city) wanted to create a world free from government control and taxes, where the only ruling ideals were the meritocracy of whomever was best at industry, science, and art. Everything went fine until the discovery of Adam, a genetic-enhancement that could allow one to become smarter, faster, stronger, more agile, etc, but there was a limited supply of this resource, controlled by one man. Whereas before the playing field between social classes was equal, as all were human, and the only denizens brought to Rapture were those at the peaks of their profession, there were now literally gods among men, creating an impervious inequality, where the power was held by only a few. This led to wars amongst the denizens to obtain Adam, to make themselves as powerful as their counterparts, and ultimately the degeneration of paradise into dystopia, and still further to the destruction of that dystopia and the collapse of civilization as we know it within that city.

Yes, there are Biblical themes within the game. It's called "Irony of Situation"..

Remember, Objectivism. The founders and denizens of Rapture disdained God, and the concept of a power higher than themselves. The city is called Rapture by the founder because as far as he was concerned, it was the only true heaven. The fact that it actually became a Hell on Earth is called irony. More irony in that Hell is generally associated with fire and flames, and yet it sits at the bottom of the ocean. The genetic material everyone fights over is called Adam, because it is the beginning of man's true potential in the eyes of the discoverer. God created humans (Adam), and humans created...mega-humans through "Adam"... it's irony, get it? I could go on, but I hope to god the point has been taken.

The little sisters are an excercise in "verbal irony".

Again, this is nothing more than a clever literary element. You have a cute little girl in an Alice in Wonderland style dress and haircut, and she bounds around merrily, talking to "Mr. Bubbles" about the "Angels" that she's found. Mr. Bubbles is a giant hulking robot called a Big Daddy, and the Angels are dead people from whom Adam is harvested. The girls themselves are genetic monstrosities forced into service by their protective Big Daddies.

The decision to rescue or destroy the girls is a "Moral Choice".

If you rescue the girl, you get X amount of Adam, and she runs free and disappears. If you harvest her Adam, you kill her, and you get twice as much Adam. Since the amount of Adam you have determines how far you can improve your body and mind, and thus, your chances for survival (to say nothing of the amazingly cool godlike powers you can get), the temptation to harvest this Adam is incredibly strong. My wife and I left the game on Pause the first time this choice was offered, and we literally sat there, debating the subject back and forth. Ultimately, I decided that if I harvested the Adam, I was no better than the monsters I was constantly trying to fight, and look where it got them. So I rescue each girl I come across, even if I barely survive.

The entire game is a nested moral allegory of Man versus Self

Can you resist your basest insticts to walk a higher moral road? Will taking the high moral road and shorting yourself on at least half of your potential power, in a godless, amoral city filled with godlike monsters, allow you to survive? And if so, what is the lesson that may be learned from this? Simple: not only is Pure Objectivism incredibly destructive to civilization, but that adhering to a human sense of morality does lend to a pragmatic win over godlike self-interest.
The very monsters we fight to survive against in the game are very monsters that we the protagonist can become should we walk the low road.

That is what the game aims to teach.

All the weak links and stretching ties to try and make the game about mind control are, frankly, so much rubbish. It's a great game, with a fantastic story, and yes, there's a lot of symbolism and irony to support the plot and moral of the story. Both of those elements are standard building blocks in good literature.

[edit on 8/23/2007 by thelibra]

reply to post by thelibra


Wow...that was an awesome post man. It's a perfect explanation of the game. Nice job.

[edit on 24-8-2007 by MHSdefend]

this game looks really cool, im sure these games can change our thinking patterns, but i dont think its the government controlling it, i dont see how making people desentisized can really be of any use to anyone

Originally posted by Liste
DaRAGE, in what way do you feel that article is biased?

Look i dont know. When i first read it i felt it was totally biased and one sided. But now i've reread it, it seems to be ok and jsut stating facts as you seem to put it.

But anyways. Thelibra did a great post at explaining it very well ;-P

I never knew about the cia water experiments etc...

Gaming has never caused me to be violent. I think it may more intensify an already violent person, by the "brain changing". Anyone who allows a game, movie or music to cause them to change obviously has some issues already. Plus these games to come with a warning label; discretion advised for a reason.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
the game doesnt require you to be violent or harm the "Little Sisters" in any way. I've saved four of them so far and for it they tank me, reward me and continue to assist me. It doesnt force you to do anything any more then Grand Theft Auto forces you to beat prostitutes or climb a tower with a rifle and gun down innocents.

exactly, its only wrong when they catch you.
im still yet to have the Australian military chase me down, police are easy but!

there is nothing that forces you to do anything. it is your own initiative that causes you to take perticular actions, killing the mutants makes the game easier because there is less chance of you dying, killing little sisters rather than saving them gives you more of a reward but may cause compremise later on, in this case it is all about your own moral judgement. it depends on the person as to how they react to the game. you dont have to kill anyone if you dont want to (rather than Ryan, but he kind of forces you to, mind control :/) also i must note that the game also shows the removal of mind control and the freeing of a slave to the higher power, who then removes said power.

Originally posted by Mystery_Lady
funkandroid and darage both of you are missing the entire point. This video game was created to change your brain waves, brain patterns, and challenge all your beliefs about life.

Look at what it wants you to do, become as violent as possible. The violence carries over towards those you would normally think as innocent. Kill everyone for no one is innocent the game says. Little girls are not innocent, and neither are you the victim or savior. Humanistic relative morality replacing absolute morals. From what I read of the little sisters, I don't think you will be saving them.

Oh, yea sure it is only a video game. Played how many hours a day, week, month, year? What you put in front of you will soak into you eventually even if it doesn't the first few times you play.

The religious symbolism is disgusting. The little sisters go after the substance Adam (Adam and Eve from the Bible), and from what I seen more than likely this is in the blood. God said not to kill or drink the blood. The Bible did say the life source is in the blood.
I bet they reverse good for evil and evil for good. I'm sure there is much more in there.

Go ahead, waste your money on this mind control game. Let it warp you further. Then when the time is right and something happens to somehow cause a mass panic, you will already be trained from triggers in the movie to join a mass panic and cause as much damage, physical harm, and death as possible. When you are in your alter game mode, it won't matter who you kill either.

Happy gaming

I've played many many hours of Bioshock, and I'm not a warped sociopath. Not only that, but I for one saved the little girls. Sorry, but you only are controlled by something if you let it. There was an experiment I read about (will try to dig up the link) about hypnosis and suggestion conditioning, and it showed that you can only be hypnotized if you have a desire to perform said action... or something along those lines.

There is nothing sinister about bioshock. It's a work of playable fiction created for the enjoyment of the player and to provide income for the company who made it.