The Big Daddy from the first Bioshock is a clockwork monster, mercilessly protecting Little Sisters. To create a sense of guilt, players must feel responsible for not necessarily ideal circumstances, all without feeling cheated by the game designers into selecting sub-optimal outcomes. Shepard’s decisions can be well defended, regardless of consequences. When choice does have an emotional element, say in Mass Effect 2 for example, it may also merely present two justifiable options. Choice in many games is superficial and largely meaningless. In order to feel guilt, you must in some way feel responsible for unfavorable actions. Guilt is a difficult emotion to evoke in games. Bioshock 2 offers similar binary decision points, but by creating an intimate relationship between the Big Daddy protagonist and his Little Sister all grown up, the game evokes sensations of guilt and responsibility the first title could never have achieved. While the decision to save or harvest little sisters has a narrative affect, their presence seems more environmental than personal. The denizens of Andrew Ryan’s underwater city cared only for themselves, and it caused the Libertarian paradise to eat itself alive.The protagonist of the first Bioshock is an automaton within this decaying world. My first venture into Rapture revealed the dangerous affects of unmitigated self-interest. Warning: This post contains spoilers for Bioshock 2. As always, we welcome your thoughts on all the matters we discuss, and look forward to analyzing one of gaming's most powerful, yet intangible, abilities. Please have a look at the series' introduction as well its previous entries. This post is part of " The Sensationalist," a continuing series here at Experience Points in which we examine games' abilities to evoke emotions and sensations in video game players.
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