Mind Control, Symbolism in Video Games: BioShock

Crazy post, talk about mind control. Then people all up on this piece defending it??! Nuts, get a clue. Then, someone is saying it's based on A Rand's writings? She's a fav of the sick freaks running the gov't and they keep pushing it down your throat.

Waste of money and time. Sorry that's it's "lame" to bash "gaming" -- but you're already brainwashed by buying this nonsense and living in front of SCREENS day and night.

Get some air, go for walks, read. Pick up a girl/guy at the coffeeshop -- anything but fund this nightmare of a society we have now. Youth are so concerned w/ their SCREENS they're totally disconnected from any real issues.

Sort of like the TITLE of this thread. Think a little more about how you're treating yourself and the country. I wonder what kids are studying in college these days, where they're working?

I wonder because we got a failing services economy. There's no production, growth or creativity anymore. "Playing" at your age should be w/ the opposite sex not a freaking joystick control.

/on thee edit: "playing" should also be MUSIC -- the truth of creativity, an unseen language. "Playing" should be creating painting, drawing, designing. You should love what you do in life. I doubt "playing" (get the quote drift yet? You're controlled by it, it's like a movie that keeps playing into your mind endlessly, repetitively) these games has anyone (aside from future designers, like that's what third world counties need, more video game designers, you're no better then the gov't at that pt) thinking about their individuality and potential to be a strong, creative citizen.

[edit on 24-10-2007 by anhinga]

People are not Pavlov's dogs.

Video games are a fabulous release from the rigors of our tightly-controlled society. Just because you do something in a video game that may be against the law or morally reprehensible in real life doesn't mean you're going to do the same things in real life. It's interactive fantasy with really good graphics. It's entertainment, and just because you partake in it does not mean you are any less intelligent, witty, or creative than anyone else. I personally feel watching television would be more detrimental to a person than playing video games.

I'm a member of a fairly well-known all-girl gaming clan and we play EVERYTHING. We have girls from all walks of life from teenagers to 50-year olds, and many of them are very, very successful at video games AND life.

Not everyone who plays games plays them 24/7. Some people have addictive personalities and partake of too much of a good thing. However, that's not the fault of the video games themselves; or the TV networks; or the Casinos; or other pastimes people get wrapped-up in or addicted to. It isn't right to have government or anyone else censor what people can say, watch, listen to, or play in a video-game just because some people have self-control issues.

Comparing to addictions like gambling is maybe the only point you made. So what, you could go on and on about a "group" of people into "gaming" -- you've lost to control groupthink. 1984 is 2000- seems when culture started to become this braindead. IT? Right, the jobs went to India and China and this is what's left.

Also, you almost bring up "feminism" as the "ism" that it is w/ your statement. Any "cause" becomes a product of the nwo when formed. "They all want to be the cause, this is a mouth that needs religion."

At least the internet is still a (mostly free) useful tool and probably many American companies running some decent biz, like here at ATS of course, but seriously -- is anyone else clued in to the headline of the thread? Let alone this and other games based on violent programming of braindead, subjective ideas without anything to offer to society or the individual a la music and/or the arts?

Mythbusters tested hypnosis, and found that if a person didn’t feel comfortable doing an action they wont do it, and will protest against doing it.

I think the only way that there will be any kind of mind control really is through genetics (as suggested on Bioshock) or on a really small level, some kind of subliminal messages.

I've heard this game contains rootkit or some sort of a program that's designed to spy on you and such (if you buy and install, that is).

But this is a very well great game, I recommend to play it, especially anyone who believes in biology.

I'm not implying that this game has taught me some things, but it can teach you A LOT. I would say it's an educational game, too.

Now, would you kindly let me thank you for making such a great thread?!

[edit on 24-10-2007 by TheoOne]

Originally posted by funny_pom
... if a person didn’t feel comfortable doing an action they wont do it, and will protest against doing it.

Excactly! But kids do feel comfortable with these games vdogames because they are prerdictable, that's why they're so popular.
You play them 10x and you have a clear idea what will happen IF..

At a 100x you fairly well know how it works, and it becomes about reaction instead of decision.

Vdogames have reach a complexitivity and a graphic interface, that for some people do substitute reality.
This, virtually conscious reality, has a huge advantage compared to the real reality out there> Predictability !!

You're really not sure what happens if you out there follow your hunch or 'that feeling'... defeat can not be wiped away with hit the 'new game' button.

It is a kind of escapism getting so realistic --all the while it out there is getting only more unpredictable-- that there's less and less reason to slip back.

No urge. Tomorrow is a new game.

As for symbolism, it is everywhere in manmade structures, you see it in a cityscape, even the agricultural run landscape. As it is in anything made by man.

Why do you think a coke bottle looks like it does?

reply to post by anhinga


Whether someone who plays video games has "lost control to groupthink" would be your opinion, and you're certainly entitled to it. However, you're offered no proof that video games are subversive at all, or have any mind control properties.

Just because a piece of entertainment utilizes symbolism isn't proof. Symbolism is used in tv, movies, & books as well. Their presence alone isn't some kind of smoking gun.

A lot of our culture IS brain dead. I know people that spend 6 hours in front of their boob-tube at night, and anyone that watches "reality TV" for 6 hours a day is probably not that clued-in to the bigger picture.

Furthermore, I'm pretty sure everyone who replied to this thread is "clued-in" to the title. They just don't agree with you, and more than that they really like gaming and wanted to share their own experiences with BioShock...a game I've never played by the way. I HAVE played every single Grand Theft Auto release, however...and beat them. I've also never been arrested, never been in a fight, never had detention or was suspended when I was still in school. I've played the violin for more than 20 years, and I also write music and used to sing in a band. I have a good job, and a loving husband who is ALSO a video-gamer and we spend good, quality time together playing video games. I pay a great deal of attention to what is going on in the world, and educate myself on a continual basis. I know a lot of serious video-gamers and they are some of the most savvy, educated, and sharp-witted people I know.

Let me ask you this, anhinga. Have you ever played video games? Do you have objection to all games, or is it just Bioshock and other games that depict violence and or what you consider to be brainwashing?

And then there is this:

Any "cause" becomes a product of the nwo when formed. "They all want to be the cause, this is a mouth that needs religion."

I apologize, I am not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying all causes are part of some kind of "NWO"? And anyone who has a cause needs religion? I'm not going to speculate because I'm really not sure what you're trying to get at.

This is very silly, excellent post btw, thelibra. I too love Bioshock, and find some peoples' reaction to this "article" very humorous. It's clearly a criticism of Ayn Rand and Objectivism, and I've been a big fan of Ayn Rand's work since Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead were required reading way back in high school. My mother even told me Atlas Shrugged was required reading WAY back when she was in high school.

I think most Americans ~25+ are familiar with Rand's work because Objectivism got very popular in the US in the 1980s. I hope it's still on reading lists for high-schoolers, should be.

I think the author of the article didn't pay much attention, if she played the game at all. Perhaps it's the first video game she ever played. There are other much better and more legitimate analyses floating around the web, and I think her whole "trigger" angle is silly.

I'm not very big on anything that isn't soccer or martial arts but this game was a blast. I don't know how but I'm amazing at video games and this carried my attention all the way through for an entire day.

I think the choice of letting you "harvest" the little girls for instant gratification or spare them for an overall better outcome is a testament as to who you are, not what the game IS. It also has a fable aspect or sense of karma when you reach the end. Your actions and your course in life will ultimately determine where you end up in life.

I thought it was the most human game I've ever played.

i bought bioshock when it came out and played it. its a pretty rad game. kinda creepy with some of the concepts though. everyone should get it



digitalgrl

************WARNING MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS*************

In my opinion the game has a lot of references to the current war on terror. Fontaine was upsetting the balance of Rapture so Ryan set out to have him killed (USSR vs USA?). Fontaine faked his own death and came back as Atlas, he then setup up a terrorist like cell that formented a civil war (terrorists the new threat?). The people then started buying more fontaine futuristics EVE plasmids, for which ADAM is needed. So Fontaine/Atlas was in effect war profiteering from the chaos (Haliburton etc?). The population also went insane because of the overuse of ADAM, this in turn made them easier to manipulate (media, consumerism, the need for oil?). In order to combat Atlas, Ryan turned Rapture into a police state and the people sacrificed more and more civil rights to keep the "terrorists" in check (phone tapping, CCTV, Fox news, chemtrails etc?).

I think the choice whether or not to kill the little sisters is similar to the debate whether or not to use embryonic stem cells. If you use embryonic stem cells they're much more useful then adult stem cells, however, you have to destroy a life to do it.

For the record, I completed Bioshock in a week and killed every little sister. Why? Because it's just a game, I also wanted it to be harder the second time round. Instead of it being a game trying to control your mind, I saw it as a warning about mind control and the moral decay of society.

***MORE SPOILERS***


I like some of your ideas, but I think you may have mixed up some of the time-line and, subsequently, finer points. Fontaine was a criminal before Ryan had his company "nationalized" and was "killed" (became Atlas) before the chaos broke out. I don't recall any indication he was actually making serious cash once he "died" and his company was taken over.

I see Fontaine/Atlas as more of a megalomaniac fronting as a Marxist to further his own goals. He was certainly an evil guy, but he knew exactly what he was doing. Ryan was a good-intentioned man whose project became too successful too quickly for even he to comprehend.

Once Ryan fully realized you're his son he even tried his best to snap you out of Fontaine's control when you first met him - the guy was a genius and surely knew if he failed he'd be killed - but he still tried.

I think you make a little much for a case for modern-day parallels, and I'm very confident the game was more of a cyber-punk take on a 1950's novel - how science could have been without all our silly government controls, even back then. Wasn't exactly Xanadu, but I guess that's the point.

To: thelibra and AlphaHumana,

Apparently you guys don't grasp the "rational" part of "rational selfishness" - which is precisely what Objectivism promotes.

You see, reason is logical - that is: non contradictory. If you are selfish, then your highest value is your own life. Being rationally selfish, in the context of interacting with other people, LOGICALLY you will no USE force with others because that would be approving the use of force against yourself - which would be a contradiction to your values.

DUH!!! Goddammit, use your brain.

If you are not self-ish, then you are self-less. DIP#S, use your brain to take selflessness to it's ultimate conclusion of complete self destruction.

Objectivism is harmony.

Collectivism is destruction.

If you can't grasp this... do the world a favor and just kill yourself.

This game looks awesome!!

It's really too bad I don't have a pc yet, but as soon as i get one you can bet i'll be buying this game!!

reply to post by Catfish


Was the experiment done on a fractured mind? The perfected mind control process uses multiple personalities, created using trauma, these separate personalities are (if done properly) completely blank. They have no concept of reality before their creation, I'm sure you can see why hypnosis would be incredibly easy given these conditions.

If you ask me Bioshock is very sinister. I think there is something to be gained by its publication, the blatant uses of mind control symbology intertwined with fiction makes those who don’t or don't want to believe it is happening find it easier to ignore the observations of those of us who have dug deep and found the truth. They dismiss things we know to be significant as mundane and un-important or common tools of good storytelling. By solidifying the idea of mind control and its symbology in fiction this is all it will ever be accepted to be.

The main symbol of Bioshock 2 is the Butterfly; anyone who knows about project MK Ultra will understand its real significance.

Reply to post by Anonymous ATS

I think you limit your concepts there budro. If a person is truly selfish they will not care what they do to anyone else as all they would care for would be themselves. Also truly self people tend to follow the "do unto others before they can do unto you.". And sorry to disagree even further, but, collectivism created and is civilization. But, as with anything too much of it is bad. Some individualism is required, but as with collectivism too much is bad. And sorry have no plans on killing myself.


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