Pamela Brown
Game Summary
The game Bio Shock is one that is one of the first person shooter games and is published by 2k games. The game was published in 2007 and was originally made to be played on the Xbox video device and on also was playable on the computer. The setting of the game is in the underground city known as the rapture where the main character “Jack” lands and tries to discover the past of the rapture and tries to escape as well. Jack uses weapons as he tries to beat the objectives and as he goes through different levels of the game and he is also given equipment for survival. The game is a popular as it relates to real life human decisions being made by the main character and involves different task to be completed.
Article Summary
In the article the author attempts to relate the game to different anthropological concepts and show how the game has significance to the way humans function in society. The author states that there are three main levels that the player jack encounters and relates them to how these three levels affect the choices the player makes as well as the choices that we make in society. Throughout the article the author discusses that social behavior happens in three different levels such as what people do, what they say they do, and the guiding laws and ideals that affect behavior.
In the first level involves what people are doing throughout the video game. Throughout this level in the game there is much going on, the main character Jack is being hit with much confusion and distractions by others such as Atlas who wants jack to kills the little sisters and the other character Ryan who is trying to sabotage jack. The author argues that it is at this level with much interaction between different characters that makes the game relevant to society and the different choices being made by people. This influences that action that the player makes by what’s going on around him.
The second level is the point at which the player deals with personalities and the motives behind people actions. The players deals with different characters and their motives which either helps him in the long run or hurts him as they all have something on their agenda. Through this perspective the author tries to compare this level of the game to society and the actions of people and their words can be a conflict on what is actually happening or going to happen.
In the third level of the author suggestions for the events of social behavior is the objectivism or ideals of society. This part of the article deals with the rules that limits or set boundaries to the player. The objectivism is that the individual is the powerful force and that there are no rules that controls or governs the way at which the game can be played. The author argues that in this level is where the individual gains power and is freely able to govern itself with having any higher power to limit its power.
Discussion
It is interesting because there were actually no discussions or comments left on this article. I thought it was a very interesting topic and I agree with the author that it is through those different levels of interaction that we as human are able to make the choices that we make today. The last level of the ideals that govern the power of the individual reminded me our society today. As citizens we actually have a lot of power as an individual and as a state. But still there are rules and laws that govern how we interact with each other and the choices that we do make in our daily lives as well. I think the author brought significant and relevant point about the game and how through video games that we some of the same issues played In the past made relevant to the future and present. While we think we are playing just on the video games it really shows us samples of how our society in govern now and the way at which we interact with people.
