Gameplay Journal Entry: 7

Let me start by saying Bioshock Infinite was and still is to this day my favorite game. For me, this game is the reason I’m even pursuing this as a career. It's the game that got me into video games. I have played this game three or four times though I can't say how much I love it and suggest it to my friends. This game has political and social views from the cult church to the political head that is more of a dictator. You learn through the game that this man has been in power and is a corrupt man, we know he must be stopped and we are hired to save a woman named Elizabeth from him. The game starts with you in the middle of Church service and are told you must be cleansed so you get cleansed which is more like getting drowned and waking up in a garden. as you continue forward you come to this festival and have to decide to kill or save a couple, a black woman who was found sleeping with a white man. This brings the social fight against racism. This is a minor issue in the game but it becomes a catalyst that pushes you into being the “ bad guy”.

I would say this game gives a good experience to learning about the political and social views because it isn't the main focus of the game but is used to move the story along and give the player food for thought as they play. As well as ties into the ending where it becomes evident as to why this has played out the way it has. “Creating embodied experience of public policy issues is very difficult, and our current methods for doing so are either too meager or too detailed. (Bogost playing politics )” Bogost’s opinion is there isn't a middle ground. It's hard to make that definitive answer since it's based on the original idea of the game. If the game is meant to be political of course it's too much if it's meant to have themes, of course, it's not enough. I do feel Infinite may be a great middle-ground since it is a background theme throughout the whole series.

Work Cited

Bogost, I. (2006, September). View of playing Politics: Videogames for politics, activism, and Advocacy: First monday. Retrieved March 03, 2021, from https://firstmonday.org/article/view/1617/1532