{"id":3761,"date":"2018-02-14T12:14:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T10:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playlab.uta.fi\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2018-02-14T12:14:57","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T10:14:57","slug":"canonizing-bioshock-cultural-value-and-the-prestige-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/canonizing-bioshock-cultural-value-and-the-prestige-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Canonizing Bioshock: Cultural Value and the Prestige Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cultural value of Bioshock : the poster child of prestige games<\/strong><\/p>\n

Felan Parker <\/strong>explores in his article \u201cCanonizing Bioshock: Cultural Value and the Prestige Game<\/em>\u201d how Bioshock <\/strong>(2007) exemplifies a \u201cprestige game\u201d, and how the game solidified its reputation as one.
\nPrestige games are a special class of big budget AAA games that distinguish themselves from other blockbusters with their perceived artistic quality and ambitions. They\u2019re akin to prestige films, which represent the most prestigious Hollywood films. Historically in Western culture legitimate art has had to distance itself from the \u201ccorrupting force\u201d of the marketplace. Prestige films represent a \u201chappy medium\u201d between the lofty ambitions of independent art films and commercial big budget films. Similarly prestige games offer more \u201cartistic\u201d experiences within familiar AAA trapping. Bioshock is heralded as one of the major prestige games of our era, and it has served as a catalyst for critical discourse on the cultural and artistic merits of video games.<\/p>\n

Bioshock\u2019s position as a \u201cprestigious blockbuster\u201d is apparent both in the game\u2019s marketing as well as in its critical reception. Although words such as innovative<\/em> and intelligent<\/em> were used to describe the gameplay and Art Deco setting to elevate the game above more run of the mill first person shooter (FPS) games, the developers simultaneously emphasized that at its core, the game is a \u201ckick-ass shooter\u2019\u2019. Millions of dollars were invested in a marketing budget to help overcome the game\u2019s lack of previous brand awareness. The duality of balancing between commercial interests and artistic ambitions can be witnessed in the promotional material, which stresses the game\u2019s thematic depth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The storyline and its themes was one of the most hailed aspects of Bioshock. It was viewed as a game with \u201csomething to say\u201d. The notion that not only is the storyline interesting, but that it also covers weighty themes and poses serious questions helped to elevate the game above its AAA peers in the narrative department.\u00a0 The game however sets itself apart from other, more serious games with a message<\/em> through its nonpartisan stance towards the issues it raises. The attractive, easily marketable gameplay helped to sell the message and philosophical themes raised by the game to the gaming masses in a way serious art games were\/are incapable of doing.\u00a0 This is characteristic for a prestige game: taking sides in a divisive issue or sacrificing entertainment value for the sake of delivering a message would limit the game\u2019s mainstream appeal.<\/p>\n

While Bioshock was almost universally praised as a landmark title, it had its detractors. One of its criticisms that has resonated the most in wider discourse surrounding video games is the concept of ludonarrative dissonance. Some critics see a \u201cpowerful dissonance\u201d between the gameplay (ludo) and story (narrative) elements of the game, where in the game undermines its own story through the gameplay. Other writers see this dissonance as a deliberate subversion of player agency that turns the game\u2019s plot into a form of metacommentary.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The game\u2019s follow up, Bioshock Infinite (2013) <\/strong>met a more critical reception, even though it\u2019s also seen as a prestige game. The commentary surrounding Infinite speaks of grown expectations, one critic said that the biggest problem with it is that \u201cit\u2019s not 2007 anymore\u201d. The alleged maturation of the medium, brought forth by titles such as the original Bioshock, hasn\u2019t been steady and brisk enough for some people\u2019s tastes. For that reason, there\u2019s now a growing number of people who feel that the limitations imposed upon developers by big budget AAA development are no longer acceptable, and that the mainstream game industry is incapable of producing culturally valuable games. Industry commentators have started predicting that narratively driven single player experiences with prestigious artistic aspirations<\/em> are increasingly seen as an unnecessary economic risk within the game industry that\u2019s not worth taking, so the future of the prestige game is unclear. But for the time being at least, Bioshock has established its position as the posterboy of prestige games for the ongoing critical and scholarly attention it has received, and it\u2019s viewed as \u201crequired playing\u201d as a work of artistic and historical importance.<\/p>\n

Original article: http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com.helios.uta.fi\/doi\/full\/10.1177\/1555412015598669<\/a><\/p>\n

Picture sources:
\nhttp:\/\/www.firsthour.net\/screenshots\/bioshock\/bioshock-no-gods-or-kings-only-man.jpg
\nhttp:\/\/www.firsthour.net\/screenshots\/bioshock\/bioshock-bloody-machine-gun-splicers.jpg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cultural value of Bioshock : the poster child of prestige games Felan Parker explores in his article \u201cCanonizing Bioshock: Cultural Value and the Prestige Game\u201d how Bioshock (2007) exemplifies a \u201cprestige game\u201d, and how the game solidified its reputation as one. Prestige games are a special class of big budget AAA games that distinguish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[237],"tags":[274,556,345],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-research-highlights","tag-bioshock","tag-english","tag-game-research","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}