So in reference to my Bioshock related article, Flawed Morality, I got this in my inbox.

“Okay Steven let’s talk. There are three endings to Bioshock one good, two bad. These are based on if you save the little sisters or not, though if you think about it, Jack was not raised in Rapture, he does not have thous ideals as the normal people in it do. The big Daddy’s protected the little sisters from people with low morals, and ever since that first little sister, they have been watching you too. Jack was not raised in Rapture he’s different in his mindset and the game gives him two options, he could be a saint because he went through all that, all of that struggle and anger and still came out with his morals, he was still the “good guy” no matter how much blood was on his hand from the crazy people that lived there. Or he could have lost his morals, all that he was is gone, he gave in to the madness that was there and now that he went top side there is no stopping the insanity. That is what I think the endings mean. Might not be right but my view on it.”

First, thanks for sharing computerbutt. But I don’t agree. I think you are mistaken in your Bioshock facts. There are audio diaries from Dr. Suchong that prove his involvement with Fontaine and the development of Jack as a weapon against Ryan. Suchong mentions how nearly from birth the child was experimented upon and injected with every possible form of plasid enhancements. Suchong also subjected Jack to the mental conditioning that leads to the “Would you kindly?” In another audio diary Suchong mentions how fast the child is growing. “Baby is now a year old, weighs 58 pounds, and possesses gross musculature of a fit, 19-year-old”. Jack was raised in Rapture, by the crazies that were Suchong, Fontaine and Tenenbaum. For all we know Jack could be two, possibly three years old. He was grown from the beginning to be a weapon. He has advanced muscles and strength that make him seem adult. But he had no life on the surface. They were fake memories. Jack was sent to the surface only to come back down.

Which is why I think the endings of Bioshock are so detrimental to the rest of the game. The only person with an understand of conventional morality in Rapture is the player. Ryan is obsessed with Objectivism. Fontaine cares only for his greed. And Jack was raised in a lab in that beautiful, sunken city. He has no understanding of right and wrong. Jack was raised to kill. Bioshock giving the players multiple endings based upon the flawed morality system of the game is terrible. It’s running up to the finish line miles ahead of the competition and then just stopping, turning around and going home. Bioshock lacks the conviction to follow its story and the ideas it wishes to present out to their very end.