It's an interesting idea, but it's been done, Metro 2033 and fallout are based on those facts.
I think, with the setting of bioshock, one should be more concerned on the philosophy that resembles that setting rather than the setting itself. The creators of Bioshock have explicitly said that the IDEA of what people would do in a theoretical setting was what created the setting itself. IE: when they made bioshock they didn't say "Lets make an underwater city, full of crazy people" they said "We want a game about crazy people, it would make sense if they were in a sort of segregated city as well, like one that was underwater". As well, the time period that the setting is set in, is also apparent from the philosophy. Let me explain.
Bioshock is set in the 1970's, this was during the cold-war where the whole framework of society was in question, this is about the arguments between communism, capitalism, Marxism and so forth. The philosophy that undermines the first Bioshock is the concept that what if a society was created by only the smartest and the "best" of society, a perfect society in which you get all the people who are "top notch", the best artists, scientists and so forth, all together in one place, not weighed down by the poor, the weak or the stupid. THIS is the philosophy that undermines bioshock, what if we segregated all these people and put them into one place, underwater, away from the rest of the world, what would happen? There would be no people there to do all the hard labor, like fixing sewage pipes and what not, who would do that? Everyone is over-qualified for jobs like that! As well, the free scientific and creative advancement causes rampant technological change, particularly in biological engineering (This was because genetics and biology was a big thing during that era of the 1970's) this creates plasmids, the civil war and the whole concept that undermines bioshock. The underwater part is just there as an element to that philosophy.
Bioshock infinite is the same, except it's set even early, in the 1910's. What was apparent during this time? The biggest thing that most people turn to is the fact that there was a whole bunch of racist ideals, the idea of the "ideal" and nuclear family that you see in all the old television adds from that time, and the idea of a good christian person, who was American and that America and Christianity and white people were the best people on earth. Women would cook in the kitchens and so forth. This was the philosophy that defined that time period, and it is also the philosophy that defined Bioshock Infinite, again the city itself is just a means to segregate this philosophy and to add an extra element to the franchise, but it's NOT what defines the franchise. As well, if you didn't know, during the 1910's there was a whole lot of advancements in science, particularly the formation of Quantum Mechanics, which has emphasis in Bioshock Infinite.
So if you wanted a game that was based in the year 2000, it would have to be a game that is based on the society of the year 2000. Lets think of what defines this society. The introduction of the internet allows for globalization, it allows for anonymity and more activism, revolutions and more "collective' attitudes. It is a time of free expression but MOST importantly, and something that would be used really well in a bioshock universe, it is a time of a FEAR OF TERRORISM. Perhaps if we created a society that emphasised the fear of terrorism, the ideal of unionism and collectivism, the concepts of anonymity and the government "protecting people from the bad guys". A society that is underground, that has a government that's ideals is entirely based on the ideas of "WE PROTECT OUR CIVILIANS FROM THE TERRORS OF THE WORLD, BY BRINGING THEM UNDERGROUND TO A SAFER PLACE" where something more SINISTER is going on, we have a rebel group that works online and in secret that tries to exploit the government for the sinister thing that occurs. Maybe what the government is protecting us from, is ourselves? Or maybe the whole fear that the government proposed to the city is simply made up?
So in short: Underground city where a government has strict controlling ideals in the name of "protection". We have a rebellion group that wears masks and is anonymous that tries to destabilize the government. The government is also really controlling the people for their own gain and that no protection is really required (this would go well with the whole Iraq war scenario, how it was in the name of protection when in reality it was probably in the name of oil). This I think would be a decent bioshock set up.
Topic: bioshock game ideas (Read 972 times)