Episode 12: User Testing and Moral Choices in the Bioshock Series
Unlocking Games
English - November 04, 2016 01:41 - 38 BytesVideo Games Leisure Education Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Bioshock is one of the most critically lauded games of all time. Released in 2007, today it still holds a place in Metacritic’s top 25 games ever.
The game’s story, all about an underwater city that fell victim to a mix of Objectivist thinking and superpowers, is still largely hailed as an unusually mature experience among games. But does it deserve that praise? And did Bioshock: Infinite improve on anything when it showed up in 2013?
This week we talk about Bioshock’s approach to moral choices (especially in comparison to Papers, Please), transferability of training, and whether or not the studio’s approach to user testing made any sense.
Show Notes & Links
During recording I couldn’t remember how many Little Sisters are in the game. There are 21.
Bioshock Collection on Metacritic
Ken Levine’s Rolling Stone interview
The effect of a persuasive social impact game on affective learning and attitude
Persuasive Games, by Ian Bogost
Early interviews and articles about Bioshock: Infinite’s 1999 mode: Engadget | Game Informer | Irrational Games
How Many Test Users in a Usability Study? By Jakob Nielsen
Other games mentioned in this episode
Bioshock 2
System Shock 2
Spec Ops: The Line
Metal Gear: Solid
Mass Effect
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Papers, Please