Hey Little Sister, What Have You Done?
"...Hey Little Sister, shotgun!"
My BioShock fixation has gotten so bad that I'm now singing Billy Idol lyrics to my television. Unfortunately, I'm not singing them to the game - I'm singing at the leadheads talking about the game. More specifically, about the Little Sister mechanic. Obviously, having to save or consume messed-up little girls as a major part of your game dynamic is going to draw fire, and I'm almost loathe to bring up the subject.
But as gamers, we can easily see how much effort 2K Boston put into minimizing the collateral PR damage of the little sisters, and into making it a meaningful but not traumatic choice for the player. And as happens so often with gaming, "choice" is the key word. The game practically beats you over the head with the fact that you're asked to make an ethical decision regarding the Little Sisters. You're begged to save them; they scream and backscrabble just like real children in an impossibly heartbreaking way. You are reminded time and again that they are real, that they are little girls, and even if you choose not to save them, there's absolutely no display of violence. Saving and harvesting are both non-aggressive animations, and a harvested Little Sister simply disappears.
It's as safe and soul-friendly a way to tell the story as possible while still keeping the integrity of the narrative intact. Yes, it's dark. Yes, it's mature. No, it isn't violent - not in regards to the Little Sisters. They can't even be damaged during crossfire.
So it isn't so much that I don't think the question of the Little Sisters should be a topic in the mainstream press, as much as I wish there were some way of cluing the mainstream in to what most gamers will be able to tell at a glance: BioShock is a game that embraces the danger inherent in pushing the creative limits of interactive media, but does so in as sane a way as possible.
Would you kill ‘Little Sisters’? Quincy company challenges taboos with game violence [Patriot Ledger]
tiny dancer
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 26 August 2007
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: 2k boston, bioshock, irrational, little sister
I have been setting them free. Well...until the xbox360 FROZE! Once i get back into the game I'll continue to set them free.
I've been rescuing them all. Something about using little children as a power source is just too unseemly for me to consider for too long anyway. Even so, the little sisters are great characters and anyone who's played the game out to the end protecting and rescuing them knows that saving them is deeply satisfying. Such a great game.
Best,
G
I've whipped my way though the game once already. Saved every single one. The good ending is awesome.
I'm working my way through again, this time on hard mode and harvesting every one of the little twerps. I wonder how it will change the story :D
After seeing the "Hunting Big Daddy" video, you get a real sense of how the game has changed in order to appease the PR gods. I personally think It would have been a much more difficult choice if the Little Sisters had been left the way they were. After drawing out the Adam from dead bodies, the LS then drinks from the other end of her syringe, choking and coughing on the stuff. REAL creepy.