This class has been one of the most memorable, engaging, and enlightening I have taken both in my college career and education career. From the moment I learned in my first week that I could sign up for this class, I jumped at the opportunity. Video games have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and taking a class on the subject seemed all but a pipedream until then. Luckily, I can now say, with complete certainty, that this class has allowed me to both explore what I already loved about games, but also look deeper into all the ways they can be viewed.

Beginning with my personal background in gaming, I have found solace in these tin boxes and flashing screens for as long as I can remember. Growing up a long way’s away from my schoolmates and bereft of any real way to make friends my age, I naturally found myself making a home in these virtual worlds. In there, I didn’t have to be regular old me. I could be a hero of time, a warrior of light, or even a false shepherd. These worlds, in letting me walk in the shoes of these characters, allowed me to learn the same lessons they learned. Whether they felt joy or sorrow, I was right there with them. Without these characters, these stories, these experiences, I would never have developed into even a fraction of the man I am today. I am who I am, not just because of my friends and family, but because of Sora, Link, Noctis, Thancred, Snake, and countless more.

Despite this deep root in gaming from my childhood, I had grown rather distant from the medium coming into this class. High school led me away from the majestic odysseys of adventurers and heroes of legend, and into the proving grounds and arenas of competitive multiplayer games. Many of these games offered characters to attach yourselves to, sure. But instead of experiencing these characters’ stories, you are presented with a crystallized version of them, far enough into their story arc to have carved an identity for themselves, but not yet far enough to have found any semblance of closure to it. I, of course, still managed to find comfort and satisfaction in these characters, but at the end of the day, their personalities were little more than flavor or justification for their in-game kits and play styles. It was not until the pandemic began that I found myself in search of that same level of escapism a single-player story could provide. 

Entering this class, my primary goal was to find games that had escaped my sight over the past few years. I was excited to talk about these games too, sure, but I expected to come out of each with nothing more than a simple “yeah, that was good” and immediately move on to the next one. Edith Finch, however, saw that assumption and offered a calm “Hold My Beer.” If any game could represent the concept of a wake up call, the tragic tale of the Finch family and the near-anthological minigame format in which it is told would be it. This game shattered what I believed a video game story could be, and before I knew it, I was looking all around me in every game I played since for forms of storytelling between cutscenes. Before, I saw video game story only in the cutscenes in between the hallways, fields, and cities I had to run through to get there. Games are unique in that they are completely interactive experiences, and can be experienced at whatever pace the audience decides. It was only after I learned this that I began to lean into all of the sights, sounds, and senses that could be found in these worlds, and it only continued into the Bioshock games and Chrono Trigger. This class took worlds I had learned to live in and given me glasses for them, and I could not be more grateful for it.

Before I started this class I honestly did not know what to expect. I love playing video games but I never really looked much deeper into them. Since I took this class I have a different interest when I am playing these games. I think about the characters, the plot, sound tracks, there are so many things I think about now while playing that I didn’t before. I now think that video games can be considered a form of literature or even a film just like a book or movie. They tell stories for our enjoyment which both movies and books to the exact same thing. I never knew there was so much to learn while playing these games. It is crazy for me to think that these games can make a serious impact on your actual life. While playing these games we had to make decisions that can affect these characters between life and death. When doing this we had to be quick on our feet to decide what we were going to do. Now whenever I have to make a serious decision I play some of the outcomes in my head before making my decisions.

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My favorite thing about this class was that is was able to give me a chance to dive into a different realm of games that I never even thought about before. I normally was a big sports guy playing Madden, NBA, and MLB but I realized while playing all of these different games that they are just as enjoyable as the sports ones I play. These games have a different purpose to them in my opinion compared to sports games. When I play a sports game I am fully competitive to beat my opponent in whatever we are playing. It is very different when playing a game like The Walking Dead where you have to make split decisions that can determine a characters fate.

In my opinion, my relationship towards all the games I play has changed because of this class. Although I loved them before and I still love them now, I think that I am going to be a lot harder to please now that I know a lot more about games in general.  When I used to play it didn’t matter what it was I enjoyed it pretty much no matter what, now that I know what can make a game good versus bad it is going to change my thought process on how the game is.

If I am being honest I am not sure what the next game is that I am going to play. I do still really love to play sports games so I might just wait until the next MLB game comes out to play that but I am not too sure. There was also a fairly new call of duty that came out which looks very enjoyable so I might try that.

Overall, I did really enjoy playing so many of these games that provided me with so many different feelings. Although I was horrible at a few of them it was still great to get some new experiences. I think it was great we were able to have serious conversations and talk about how we felt about a certain game or scene. Hopefully everybody who takes this class in the future experiences the same feelings I did.

Chrono trigger was one of the most interesting introductions to a game I have ever had. It started out extremely difficult and I honestly had no idea what I was doing. It seems that the game has such an old feel from the beginning that is why it made it even more difficult. This was the first game I have played ever that I actually had no idea what I was doing and it seemed there was nothing I could do about it. Games nowadays will guide you in the right direction but not Chrono Trigger.

I think that Chrono Trigger is not too bad for a game that came out in 1995 but the graphics are probably the worst I have ever played with. I know that we are very lucky that in 2021 the game play and graphics are so good but it just shows how far video games have come since the 1990s. I would say my favorite part about the game is the soundtrack. It is really interesting to see a game from so long ago still have a soundtrack.

Chrono Trigger although is very old honestly did meet my expectations and maybe even exceeded them. My favorite part of the gameplay was most definitely the trial scene. I had no clue that anything I did was going to have an impact on me. I had no clue an old game like this would even think to do something like that so it shocked me. After playing half of Chrono Trigger I am definitely interested to see where it is heading next.

Trevor Smoot
Professor Nyland
ENG 281
10/21/21
Analytical Essay
In the video game, What Remains of Edith Finch was a game full of questions and mysterious stories. Playing as Edith, the purpose of the game is to find answers to all the unanswered questions she had about her family before she left with her mother as her mother tried to abandon the curse that her family had living at the house. Edith searches for stories that explain her family’s past and how they perished as the game progresses to explain why she is the only one alive in her family. Because of the narration, the various objectives and games used to tell the story, and the overall curse towards the family, the game mechanics enhanced the experience of fantasy throughout the game.
The narration was a huge piece to tell the story in What Remains of Edith Finch. The creators used multiples narrators to establish what was being explained throughout the story. When talking in the present time the creators would use the main character Edith as the narrator. She would tell you descriptively what she was seeing to establish the setting and the overall story of the family members that were lost. I feel like this is because in case if or when she died because of the curse, her point was to give her son who was about to be born a true story of her family because he would be the only one in the family left. She didn’t want her son to have questions in his head like she did when her and her mother left the house for good. An example of this would be; “Molly always seemed like a girl I could imagine being friends with. If she hadn’t died in 1947.” Edith would explain moments like this about every character to give her son and the people playing a good description of who and what her family was like.
The creators would also implement her family as the narrator when you were playing the games and objectives to figure out there story. I believe this was used to bring it into of a more past tensed flashback. If Edith was the narrator throughout the whole game, how would you know if what she was saying was true? She was eleven years old at the time she left, so how would her telling the whole story be accurate? I think it was good that the creators did this because it brought more of a fantasy piece to it. A great example of this would be Molly’s story. When was put in as the narrator when Edith was in the room. Molly’s mom didn’t let her eat dinner due to it being too late. So she would eat all these interesting things like gerbil food, and toothpaste which I don’t believe is something anybody does. But when she turned into a cat that made the fantasy experience very interesting. Molly would state; “I turned into a cat! I tried to be quiet but the bird was really scared. Mom and Dad didn’t even look at me. I jumped and I almost got her. I could tell she was getting really tired. Now I was up in the big tree. I promised Dad I wouldn’t climb it anymore. But all I cared about was eating that momma bird.” This quotes explains fantasy tremendously and events like this make the game so interesting. No one ever turns into a cat, no one tries to ever eat a bird. Molly would also turn into other animals like an owl, a shark, and a tentacle monster before transforming back into her regular self in her own room. She turned into these animals because she was so hungry she transformed into animals and ate their prey. The curse eventually gets her that a monster eats her as she says she will be delicious. But the fantasy in that piece of narrating makes it so descriptive, and interesting to play. It keeps you on your feet for what next unrealistic fantasy world event will happen next. The narration of What Remains of Edith Finch really stood out to develop the experience of fantasy to the game.
The various objectives and games in What Remains of Edith Finch also portrays fantasy while playing the game. We previously talked about Molly’s story about how she turned into multiple animals that eventually lead to her death. That was a gameplay to where you had to go different places to eventually lead her back to herself which eventually killed her. Another objective was Gregory’s story. When you are in the bathtub and the random bath toys were just jumping really high without even touching them it was unrealistic but it you had to stack them all up in order to figure out the objective. It eventually killed him as it made baby Gregory drown in the bathtub which lead to his death. These objectives and little games you had to play experienced fantasy to me because those are things that wouldn’t happen in real life. But these events made the game interesting because you wouldn’t know what abnormal event would happen next when it the next character was explained. Quality fantasies in games keep you on your feet and in the game What Remain in Edith Finch made me have a very good experience with it.
Lastly, the overall game mechanics of the curse made the experience of fantasy stand out to me. The Finch family was cursed that ultimately ended in each of their deaths. What made the curse so interesting is that the game creators found a way for each family member to die in a different way and in all different ages. This made it scary for the family because they never knew when the curse was going to get them which eventually lead to their deaths. For example, Odin died in a shipwreck at age 57, Molly died of self-induced food poisoning at age 10, Barbara got murder at age 16, Calvin fell from a cliff which was falling off a swing at age 11, Sven was crushed by a dragon shaped slide at age 49, Gregory died of drowning at 1 years old, Gus was hit by debris during a storm at age 13. Sam was knocked off a cliff by a deer at age 33, Sanjay died from an earthquake at age 36, Milton disappeared at age 11, Walter was hit by a train at age 53, Lewis committed suicide at age 22, Edie died from possible suicide at age 93, Dawn of illness at age 48, and Edith from child birth at age 17. Some of those causes of death seemed realistic but some also portrayed fantasy in ways that kept the player interested. Where the experience of fantasy comes in is the story of Calvin. First, he has a broken leg due to his cast on his leg, so what would he be doing swinging on a swing especially that high? Second, who would put a swing for children to swing on right next to a cliff? Some of these questions gives the game player what if this wasn’t a curse but what if it was self-inflicted? The same example would be Molly and herself induced food poisoning, they could have easily fed her dinner but they didn’t. I feel like in the real world that would’ve never happened but the game used the fantasy to make the game interesting. The creators of the game What Remains of Edith Finch use the game mechanics of the curse to make the game a very interesting game to play.
To conclude, the game What Remains of Edith Finch used game mechanics very well to give the player a great experience of fantasy throughout the entire game. This made the game very interesting and very fun to play. Fantasy is an interesting topic to read and analyze if the storyline is good. The creators did a great job with that and made it so it didn’t have any boring parts. But, this game brings questions to the player once the game ends. One question would be, if Edith didn’t go back to the house to find all of the unanswered questions about her family, would she have really died? Was the house the only place that was cursed? That is something that will never be answered because Edith’s son is the only one in her family that is alive because of this curse and what happened throughout the entire game play. Overall, the game What Remains of Edith Finch was a great game to play and analyze using the experience of fantasy throughout the entire game.

The choice of morality vs. greed in Bioshock

“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us” (Andrew Ryan, Intro to Bioshock). Bioshock is a game that centers around a dystopia by the name of Rapture. Created by a lunatic named Andrew Ryan, he brought along with him the smartest and most creative minds he could find in every aspiring field. The city laying beneath the surface, was not subjected to rules and regulations. What once started off as a genius’s utopia, quickly turned into a hellish nightmare thanks to the greed that infected the citizens. Bioshock delves into the reality of sacrificing morality to satisfy humanity’s greed for power and self-preservation, with the display of absolute carnage that is witnessed not only in the world but in the characters that are discovered along the way. From innocent children turned into creatures to appease a ravenous hunger for power. Along with the choices that the player is given to either indulge themselves with enhancements or make a different choice and choose morality over rapacity.

From the very start of the game the player is faced with bloodshed. The state of rapture is appalling. There is instability wherever you look including leaks inside the city, fires, oil spills, dead bodies, and mentally unhinged citizens. With the use of the audio tapes the player is able to learn of the terrible fate of the people that lived/still live in Rapture. Brilliant minds turned to maniacs, with the hunger for power. Some of the people were innocent victims caught in the crossfire either being shot for ATOM or being cut up for experiments. For example, the player is able to see the absolute torture inflicted by Dr. Steinman. As he operates on a horribly injured woman, surrounded by his failed surgeries for perfection hanging from the walls.  The citizens that are still living resemble monsters more than humans. With some even crawling on the walls and screeching like creatures. The only thing they can think about is satisfying their addiction to ATOM and they will try to get it no matter the cost. Whether that means attacking other citizens, or even attacking children.

Little Sisters were created with the sole purpose of satisfying the citizens addiction for ATOM which is used to biologically enhance them. The Little Sisters are a mixture of orphans, and children that were ripped away from their homes. Morality was thrown out the window when it came to these children. Not only where they taken away from their families, they were taught to distrust their mothers and love Big Daddy’s with the use of electric shocks. They spent their time crawling through dark tunnels and leaving only to retrieve ATOM. In order to become suitable enough to retrieve the ATOM they had to go through the painful procedure of having a slug implanted in their stomach which turned once innocent little girls, into deranged monsters. They only think about retrieving ATOM from dead bodies and completing the job they were given. Once they are too old to complete their purpose, they are disposed off permanently. The citizens of rapture attempt to constantly kill the Little Sisters for their ATOM, which is the reason that Big Daddy’s were created to protect them. Innocent children are subjected to endless suffering, and delusions just to satisfy humanity’s greed in rapture for power and indulgence.

There are multiple choices in the game that the player is given. From big decisions such as the choice to either harvest or rescue the Little Sisters to smaller decisions such as looting corpses. Almost every single body that you discover or create in the game you are able to loot. Whether it is a splicer that just attacked the player, or an innocent human that died to horrible torture. A choice of morality, or receiving power in the game in terms of ammo, first aid, money, etc. A choice that all of the monsters in Rapture are given, yet they always choose greed. The question is, when it comes to you as a player are you going to make the same decision as the monster before you? By deciding to harvest the children, you are able to have greater advancements in the game by acquiring more ATOM. The game itself asks the player to weigh this moral dilemma as it can be seen that the horrible monsters in rapture choose their self-preservation over morality. Whether you decide to follow in their footsteps or make a different choice is completely up to you. But the consequences of your actions cause the little girls to die, and for the others to fear you. In the end your decision also leads to Jack taking over the surface world and turning into a splicer himself after harvesting the rest of the children in Rapture. But if the player decides to follow their morality over their greed for enhancements and power in the game, they are able to save them. Jack instead is looked at as a savior instead of a villain. At the end of the game Jack goes to the surface taking the little girls with him and providing them with a normal life that they were never able to experience in Rapture. They can grow up and be there for Jack in his final moments of life, he is given the family that he always wanted.

Constantly we are surrounded by the greed of humanity. From the poaching and killing of endangered animals for their tusks and skin, to the pollution of our air and water sources from huge corporations to cut costs. Humans become so desensitized to the violence and injustice that occurs in our society. Bioshock allows you to view it from a different lens. Instead of seeing humans commit atrocities, we see monsters. We are able to see the destruction, bloodshed, and carnage that is created when humanity decides that morals can be pushed to the side to satisfy one’s need for power. As stated by Jonathan Thornburg Rapture, is “the end result of completely unrestrained capitalism, where the owners have power over the rest, and the ends (money) justify the means (literally dangerous business practices)” (Thornburg, par. 16).  In the game, we are seeing the greed for power, justify the horrendous acts committed in Rapture. Children being abused, and manipulated to satisfy the ravenous addiction to ATOM that infects the citizens. Once normal creative people, turning into murderous monsters. The player given the choice to partake in the insanity or to make a different decision. The question is, are you going to partake in the greed that has taken form in humanity, in the game and in reality or are you going to choose another path?

Bibliography

Thornburg, Jonathan. “BioShock: The Failed Experiment.” Medium, SUPERJUMP, 8 June 2021, https://superjumpmagazine.com/bioshock-the-failed-experiment-9d8909d06591.

Coming into this semester I had a fair amount of experience playing video games but I never sat down and thought about what makes them so great.  After playing the games we played in class this semester like The Walking Dead, Bioshock, Chrono Trigger, and many more I got to really think about how good video games can tell a story and teach us real life lessons.  What was even better than this was hearing what the rest of the class took out of playing the games and discussing topics that really made us think about what the games were teaching us and how they apply to real life.  A question that many people were forced to ask themselves in the beginning of this semester was does video games fit into common literature?  At first I didn’t really have a full answer to this question but now the answer seems much more clear.  Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.  When it doesn’t fit in it is usually more like a painting, it is something you experience and make you feel a certain way but doesn’t really teach you much.  When it does it is in my opinion much better than any book or movie, this is because when you are playing a game you are given much more control of what happens inside of it which really amplifies what the creators are trying to get across.  I am looking forward to what I can learn from video games in the future whether it is revisiting games I played before or new ones that i find in the future.

In my 3 to 4 months in this class, I have learned that there is a lot more that goes into both creating and playing a video game than what the average gamer realizes. Before being a part of this class, although I enjoyed video games, I never really thought of them as much more than a video game.  Over the course of the semester, this class has taught me how to truly appreciate all aspects of a video game. From the way in which the story is told, to character development, and even realizing the role game mechanics play, have all been crucial factors in my understanding of video games as literature. 

These are all factors that I noticed, but never truly appreciate when playing a video game. A good analogy that illustrates my newfound understanding of video games would be to think of it as a big-picture puzzle. Each aspect of a game is a puzzle piece, and although you might be able to make out what the picture is when some of the pieces are missing, the experience and full-picture you get when the puzzle is completely filled in is one of a kind. This is how I have learned to think about video games. It takes all aspects of a game to be deeply thought of, well developed, and put together perfectly in order for the complete experience of the game to be felt. 

I know I have told this story a thousand times, but coming into this semester, I was a heavy PvP gamer. I have not played many RPG games and just did not enjoy them as much as other games. However, I believe the most valuable thing that changed my mind about my approach to video games this semester was hearing my fellow classmates’ stories and opinions about games they have played. Being able to listen to them tell their stories with such passion and opinions really made me feel like I was missing out on an entirely different side of video games. 

As a result, I have been inspired to try new things when it comes to video games. Rather than playing the same 3 games that I have downloaded on my console, to branch out and try something new. Bioshock Infinite is a perfect example of this. If you were to ask me to play this game a couple of months ago, I would have told you no simply due to the fact that it is a single-player game. However, after playing this game in class, I absolutely loved it! I am excited to start this new journey. First up on my list to play is Skyrim. I have been recommended to play this by a couple of my friends and I also heard one of my classmates talk about it during a class discussion. 

Once again, sending a huge shoutout to both Professor Nyland and all my classmates for not only allowing me to see, but also encouraging me to explore this new side of video games!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to explore the endless possibilities of an underwater city? Well, Bioshock allows you to do just that, only in a more grim and gory way. Bioshock is a 1st person shooter game created and published by 2K games, that emerges the player in an action-filled, storytelling gameplay. Throughout the game, the player explores the underwater world of Rapture, which was created by a wealthy businessman named Andrew Ryan. Ryan created Rapture with the goal of it being this perfect, utopian society that is an escape from the real world. However, the player learns early on that Ryan’s so-called utopian society is quite the opposite. Through the application of recurring themes, strategic use of nonplayer characters, and various game mechanics, the world of Rapture is well established as a dystopian society born from the unsuccessful attempt to create a utopian society.

During my playthrough of Bioshock, I noticed the common theme of an unhealthy aspiration for power amongst the people of Rapture. Evaluating the characters from a top-down approach beginning with the leader of Rapture, Andrew Ryan’s morals align similarly to that of someone who is driven solely by the desire for power. One of Ryan’s main goals when creating the underwater city of Rapture was to escape the constructs of the typical governments and societies above the water. In doing so, Ryan invited a select group of skilled specialists to come to Rapture and continue their work with the hopes of advancing their studies even further than before. However, this specific criteria of only skilled specialists as candidates for Rapture was corrupt in itself. Having a society of only people who were really talented in one specific field was not sustainable because there needs to be people who do the small, everyday tasks. Anyone who was not highly skilled in a profession was looked down upon and considered to be less of a contribution to society than the rest. Ironically, Ryan’s so-called utopian society began to parallel the exact society from which he tried to escape because of this formation of hierarchies and social classes. These social classes led to greed and an unhealthy desire for power amongst the citizens of Rapture. The character in which this desire is most evident is Frank Fontaine. Fontaine was a member of Rapture who led a rebellion of the lower class to overthrow Ryan’s reign. Fontaine’s longing for power was so compulsive that he went to the extent of creating an alternative persona named Atlas, in order to hypnotize and lure the player into killing Ryan for him. John Robertson from Arstechnica’s gaming blog argued that, “If Ryan had been prepared to relinquish that power and allow objectivist ideas to truly flourish, then it’s possible Rapture could have continued unhindered” (Robertson). However, I would have to disagree with Robertson’s argument because Ryan giving up power wouldn’t change much as far as Rapture’s success. If Ryan were to step down from his leading position in Rapture, there are still power-hungry figures like Fontaine who are lurking in the shadows, waiting for the chance to seize this power. This universal aspiration to possess power that exists in Rapture, hinders characters’ morals and makes it impossible for this world to ever be successful as a utopia. 

The use of nonplayer characters, more specifically how their actions correlate to the social constructs of Rapture, further institute the idea of Rapture as a dystopian society. All of the NPC’s we meet in Rapture are allowed and even encouraged to act any way they please. As long as they did not make contact with the outside world, their actions went without consequences in this society. One of the first nonplayer characters we meet who takes advantage of this aspect of Rapture’s corrupt society is Dr. Steinman. Steinman is a doctor who provides cosmetic enhancement services for the people of Rapture. However, he gets so carried away with his practices to the point where he develops an unhealthy obsession with this idea of manufactured beauty. When the player approaches Dr. Steinman in the medical pavilion, one of his voice cues states “With genetic modifications, beauty is no longer a goal or even a virtue, it is a moral obligation” as he repeatedly stabs the lady on the table (Medical Pavillion). Dr. Steinman’s obsession with creating beauty has hindered his morality to the point where he genuinely considers a mutilated body to be art. His actions are symbolic of the low standard of morality that exists within this dystopian society. Similarly, Sander Cohen is another NPC who exploits this social tolerance of Rapture’s loose morality for his personal pleasure. Cohen was a leading figure in the art industry in Rapture before its decline. However, when Rapture began to fall to shambles, so did Cohen. One of the first things Cohen asks of the player when he is introduced is to kill his disciples for him, which he eventually entices the player to do. The player later comes across their dead bodies covered in concrete and holding up his art pieces. When the player approaches these figures, Cohen tells the player, “When I am dust, this is what they’ll point to! My quadtych! My masterpiece” (Fleet Hall). Cohen illustrates his moral capability to have his own disciples killed, manipulate their bodies to prop up his art, and call it his masterpiece. These psychotic attributes are not just present in one character, but are consistent in almost all of the nonplayer characters we meet in Rapture. Even if these deranged characteristics were something that the NPC’s already possessed before entering Rapture, the corrupt social constructs of this dystopian world is what allows these traits to become magnified since there is an accepted lack of morality in this society.

In addition to themes, and use of NPC’s, the dystopian world of Rapture is also symbolically developed through game mechanics and how the game is played. The player is introduced in the game as Jack, someone who is supposedly entering Rapture for the first time. At the very beginning of the game, after exiting the bathysphere, the player seemingly has free control to roam and explore Rapture. However, as soon as the player spawns in there is an arrow that appears at the top of the screen. This arrow is pointing in the direction of areas in Rapture that will progress the plot forward. While there is nothing stopping players from completely ignoring the arrow and exploring one area of Rapture before the other, it is in our nature as humans to follow this source of guidance. Bioshock does an excellent job of playing on natural human tendencies in order to indirectly guide the player in this game. This indirect guidance hidden in the mechanics of the game is also prevalent in our interactions with Atlas. Atlas is the character that we interact the most with during gameplay, as he is the one guiding you throughout Rapture. If you don’t immediately do what Atlas “kindly asks” of you, you can hear an annoyed tone in his voice the next time he speaks to you. This is significant because what seems to be a minor game mechanic, is actually something that has a deeper meaning because it all ties in with establishing this dystopian world of Rapture. As previously mentioned, Atlas is not a real person, but only Fontaine’s made up persona. The relationship between Atlas and the player resembles that of a leader and a follower because of how Fontaine’s controlling characteristics are leaking through to Atlas’s character. This superior and subordinate dynamic is a relationship that appears constantly throughout the world of Rapture both directly through application of theme and NPC’s, but also indirectly through different uses of game mechanics. 

The world of Rapture was never destined to be a utopian society as a result of the characters’ tendencies to always make decisions solely based on what was best for them. These selfish tendencies become evident thematically over the struggle for power, through the actions of nonplayer characters, as well as via specific game mechanics. While this establishment of Rapture as a dystopia is important in understanding the goal of Bioshock, it is also important to apply it to our lives. Andrew Ryan’s original idea of creating a utopian society was unsuccessful simply due to the fact that they were humans. Humans are far from perfect, so trying to place naturally flawed beings into what is supposed to be a perfect society, is a recipe for disaster. This is an important ideal to live by. You aren’t perfect, the person next to you isn’t perfect, and no one will ever be perfect. Once people are able to truly understand this concept, it’ll allow for a happier and healthier way of life. 

Overall, not much has changed in regards to how I view or play video games – except that now I acknowledge that some can be considered literature. I’ve been playing them since I was like, 4, so video games have been a part of my life ever since I gained consciousness as a toddler.

However, the class gave me an opportunity to play some games that I probably wouldn’t have even thought about beforehand. I’m usually a fan of strategy and shooter games, and most of which I’ve played weren’t really “story-heavy” (with a few exceptions here and there).  The Walking Dead, What Remains of Edith Finch, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, and Chrono Trigger; even though none of these games were what I’m used to, I genuinely enjoyed all of them. I always knew there were some games out there with deep and heavy story lines (Like Kingdom Come: Deliverance) but I didn’t know there were so many out there.

I’ll definitely continue to think about video games through a literature lens. There was a whole different aspect of video games that I hadn’t really experienced prior.

The next game I’m going to play is Rimworld. Rimworld is a “story generator” where you control a number of people (called pawns) and you have to build a settlement with the end goal of either building a ship to get off the planet, allying with the Fallen Empire faction and being invited to ship to leave the planet, or any number of modded end-game goals. It’s a kind of strategy game with unlimited replay value and an unlimited number of colony themes. One colony could be a group of average people who just want to leave the planet, another could be full of people who worship mountains and can’t stand sunlight, another could be full of genocidal tribespeople who despise porcupines, and another could be an agricultural trans-humanist (cyborgs or people with cybernetic enhancements) drug empire – the possibilities are endless. If you can think of it, you can make it happen.

Overall, I enjoyed the class. I got to experience story games that I probably wouldn’t have played otherwise and showed me that video games can be considered literature.

The Future of Storytelling in Gaming

When it comes to various single-player games with an in-depth story, the immersion factor through gameplay plays a significant role in interpreting the game’s overarching themes. In games like Bioshock and What Remains of Edith Finch, the immersion aspect of their gameplay mechanics enhances the interpretation of the themes and messages covered between the lines of the game’s main story. In both games, Bioshock and What Remains of Edith Finch, their game mechanics assist the theme relating to its commentary regarding the real-world issue of drug addiction. Bioshock’s gameplay mechanics are powered by an in-game substance called ADAM, which the player needs to complete the game efficiently. As for What Remains of Edith Finch, the player controls various characters within the Finch family leading up to their unfortunate demises, which attributes to the heavy drug use of one of the characters I will be covering.

What is ADAM?

For those who may have never played Bioshock, you may be asking yourself what exactly is ADAM’s importance to the game. According to Bioshock’s fandom wiki, “ADAM is a chemical substance that can rewrite genetic material, allowing the user to alter their bodies, their genetic makeup and their natural abilities without any direct limits whatsoever aside from their imagination.”. The website also described that ADAM does this by supporting the formation of potent stem cells that can differentiate into any cell type, including various unnatural ones. In one of the audio logs hidden throughout the game (another mechanic), it was shared with the player that the discovery of ADAM was catastrophic given its negative effect on the city of Rapture.

“ADAM acts like a benign cancer, destroying native cells and replacing them with unstable stem versions. While this very instability is what gives it its amazing properties, it is also what caused the cosmetic and mental damage. You need more and more ADAM just to keep back the tide. From a medical standpoint this is catastrophic. From a business standpoint, well…… Fontaine sees the possibilities.

The text preceding this paragraph was a transcript of Dr. Tenenbaum’s description of ADAM’s capabilities and the damage it has caused the inhabitants of Rapture. The audio log mentioned that ADAM caused users cosmetic and mental damage due to heavy addiction to the substance. Those effects may seem minor at the surface, but there are various side effects from the drug. Throughout my research, there was one side effect that caught my eye the most, hallucinations. As the player progresses through the story, they learn more and more about the back story of the city of Rapture and the main character through various forms of media. Jack, the main character that the player is controlling who is himself a user of ADAM. Later in the story, Jack begins to encounter ghosts that represent the past events within the city. Regardless of how one plays Bioshock, they have to consume ADAM to get through the game. Our character eventually suffers from hallucinations and other side effects like memory loss, paranoia, and varicose veins, which inadvertently represent drug addiction in the world of Bioshock.

ADAM’s discovery was a complete accident as it was initially intended for the betterment of Rapture’s citizens. In Hitchcock’s article about ADAM, it states that, “the earliest known human contact with any of the sea slugs occur when one bit a dockworker in Rapture who had previously lost the use of his hand to a serious injury. Shortly after being bitten by the slug, his hand unexpectedly recovered. The strange occurrence got the attention of one of Rapture’s scientists, Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum. When she spoke to the dockworker, he still had the sea slug, giving Tenenbaum a lead to begin her research.”. Dr.Tenenbaum eventually discovered that the substance could heal and change the consumer’s genetic makeup; she saw this as a major medical advancement. However, others viewed this as a business opportunity. Individuals like Frank Fontaine took advantage of this business opportunity and mass-produced the substance to the people of Rapture, marketing the substance as “evolution in a bottle” because it provided Rapture’s citizens a fast and easy method to change their bodies’ physical and cosmetic features. Demand for ADAM eventually up ticked as users of the substance started to gain an addiction to ADAM. The main antagonist Frank Fontaine exploited this addiction, which leads to the story’s primary conflict between him and the other main antagonist Andrew Ryan which in simple terms was a struggle for power to pursue their own selfish goals.

Bioshock

In Bioshock, while still working for Atlas (Frank Fontaine), the player eventually runs into Dr. Tenenbaum. This encounter is also the player’s first time seeing a little sister. “What is a little sister” you may ask. A little sister was a key factor in Fontaine’s mass production of ADAM. They were used to recycle the substance from its past users’ dead bodies and hold it within their bodies for exponential redistribution. Atlas advises the player to kill the little sister at first sight, letting them know that they contain the extra ADAM that the player desires, which gives them more abilities. Dr. Tannenbaum shortly appears as a player is currently watching a splicer attempt to kill the little sister. She then kills the splicer and threatens that the player will follow the same fate if he attacks the little sister. She offers an alternative for not killing the little sisters by giving you a smaller amount of ADAM and gifts that come later in the game. At this point, the player is given a choice each time they encounter a little sister on which side to listen to. Upon Learning this, the player must consider whether it is right or wrong to kill the little sisters to obtain more ADAM. With this knowledge, if the player decides to kill the little sisters, it now makes them no better than the splicers who habitually commit such immoral acts to obtain their fix of ADAM. The actions of the splicers are similar to how individuals in the real world who are entirely consumed by their addiction resort to extreme measures to obtain the next fix of their preferred drug. On the other side, a simple connection will be abstaining from using ADAM or committing immoral acts to get more ADAM in Bioshock. This ties to general abstinence from substance abuse.

What Remains of Edith Finch

On the contrary of Bioshock, What Remains of Edith Finch’s story does not revolve around one gameplay mechanic. The only thing that remains constant throughout the game is the words of the controlled character helping the player navigate through each level. Therefore, both games are pretty different. What Remains of Edith Finch covers the stories regarding each family member of the finch family and the causes of their death. Since we talked about how gameplay mechanics assist the game’s commentary on real-world drug addiction, we will be covering one of the characters of the finch family Lewis, Edith’s older brother.

In What Remains of Edith Finch, the character Lewis represents the effects of withdrawal from addiction. Upon entering Lewis’s room, it is apparent that he was a pothead and was addicted to the drug from the presence of the mass amount of paraphernalia in his room and the main character’s narration on her relationship with him. Once we begin reading the psychiatrist’s letter, his story begins from her perspective. The psychiatrist’s letter is then read to the player as they control Lewis at his cannery job. From the start, the player learns that Lewis was newly sober and that being so caused him to realize the monotony of his daily life. This realization causes a pattern of his mind wandering at the most random times. The player’s job as Lewis is to cut the salmon heads under the guillotine during this level using the right stick to control Lewis’s right hand. Eventually, after doing this task for a bit, the left side of the player screen fogs up. At first, the player may not realize what is going on. However, at some point, it becomes apparent that the fog covering the left side of the player’s screen is a daydream of Lewis’s, and the player can control this daydream by moving the fantasy character within it with their left stick. When prompted, the player learns that they cannot progress through the fantasy without cutting more salmon. As the player progresses through his daydream, the screen gets covered more and more, causing the player to see less of what they are doing as far as cutting the salmon. Eventually, the player loses sight of what they are doing in the real world, meaning they too are mindlessly working at the canner, thus demonstrating they have also disconnected from the real world in the same fashion as Lewis. Soon enough, the player will see the body of Lewis in the real world and its unconsciousness to the real world. Now the player can progress through the fantasy with no holdups, which eventually leads the player to the ending of the dream where Lewis is crowned as king, requiring him to bow with head down. Unfortunately for Lewis’s case, doing that was the real-life equivalent of him putting his head under the guillotine used to cut the fish.

This level’s mechanics made the player use two different halves of the controller to control Lewis’s imagination and his real-life job simultaneously, which becomes second nature to the player without any need for visual feedback to his reality. The player was put into the shoes of Lewis Finch, who was actively suffering from his newfound abstinence from drug abuse which he initially gained a heavy dependence on. This was the game’s representation of one of the struggles of life, post-addiction. That being that newly recovered users have a hard time finding an alternative to the drug’s sensation it initially provided them. Whatever is in place for the addiction may not fill the void that was created from the user’s newfound abstinence.

Gaming is placed under a broad misconception that it only serves as a pastime and contains little to no literary value. Gaming has evolved since its invention, growing from simple text games and Minigames to games with full-fledged stories and titles meant to simulate counterparts of the real world. Like movies and books, gaming can depict any theme or lesson that the writer sees fit in the same fashion, if not even better, when gaming and literary tools are blended throughout a game’s story. With now, gameplay mechanics being what writers for gaming should look more into for making much more compelling stories that will surely leave lasting impressions like Bioshock and What Remains of Edith Finch.