FAQ

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Q: What kind of 'Epic Story' is this MMORPG supposed to have? (one the Player is part of ...)
A: This isnt "Lord of the Rings" (and even Lord of the Rings Onlines "epic plot" is only indirectly related to the books' story). Rapture ITSELF is Epic and the Players of the MMORPG get to see alot more of its wonders than those little excursions we made in the BioShock Solo games. The Epic story would be Rapture rising from its alleged ashes and the catastrophe that befell it.
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Q: Why isn't Rapture now "a Dark Wet Tomb" ????
A: Maintenance 'Big Daddies' kept the sea out, and Rapture was well built from the start. Some Factions in Rapture weren't so insane as to not try to do some repairs, and others kept the Power and Heat systems running. More than a few of the people who went to Rapture were exceptional and they managed to keep the place alive. And there were more than a bunch of half-insane Splicers who survived .
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Q: What will keep this game from Degenerating into the usual WOW type MMORPG ?
A: The Player Community will continuously be adding content via the Player_Created_Assets system and guidance from the Game Company people. It will also be designed from the start to be an entirely different type of game.
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Q : The MMORPG "Rapture Reborn" to take place in 1970 (?) Aren't the Splicers/Characters all getting a bit 'Long in the Tooth' ( old ) ?? 
A : ADAM apparently had affects upon normal aging of its users ( plausible, and helps with explaining why WE and the Ex-SPLICERS aren't all trundling around in wheel chairs, even by BS2 times ). 
Regenerative qualities have been mentioned ( and maybe was the basis for the Vita-Chamber ? MINUS THE GENETIC DISRUPTIONS ). Such would be Fortunate for us, IF we want to see some of the Characters from the first game still around ( and doing their amusing antics ).
1959-1970 is only 11 years
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Q: Players creating stuff for the game ?? Won't that become a madhouse?
A: Processes will be well designed particularly to avoid wasting people's time (both Players and Game Company employees). Strict clearly defined criteria for acceptance with systematic inspection/testing and quick rejection will be enforced and made plain to the people involved. Game Company employees will be the final arbiters of acceptance.
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Q: Where will these Creation 'Tools' come from ?
A: The Game Company will have to provide them or coordinate use of Open Source and other available tools. The final data would be proprietary to the Asset Creation System and the tools would be well integrated/combined to minimize wasted time/effort (routine tasks including validation to be done as automatic as possible). Ease-of-Use is to be maximized to make successful use available to the widest number of Players.
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Q: Will Eleanor (and Delta ?) be coming back ?
A: No (or maybe only in Flashbacks). But Tenenbaum will be part of the game's scenario ( the Cure for Rapture...). No doubt there will probably be mention (and history expansions) of Eleanor and Delta, as there would be for most of the familiar characters we saw/heard of previously. A great deal of Rapture's story will be elaborated upon.
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Q: Seriously is this all a Pipe-Dream ?
A: Most likely (for a game with even a fraction of the ideas I talk about). The features specified for this game are complicated, difficult, mostly non-existent in the Game Industry, and somewhat revolutionary. In other words, most game companies WONT risk it, and any that undertake it will have a significant/difficult task ahead of them (the first task being talking the money-people into funding it). But eventually there needs to be a way to get around all the limitations seen in the current Game Company produced MMORPGs, which leave Players starved of content and simply cannot keep most Player's interest for long..
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Q: Is Ryan still alive ?
A: Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. A decision needs to be made, as it would greatly impact the MMORPG plotlines. There is still alot of mystery and hidden truths about Rapture, which the Player might learn over time.
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Q: Is Rapture only the size of Disneyland (about 1/2 mile square) ? That mass of tall buildings (the Manhattan like cityscape) -- if it went on for miles wouldn't it hold alot more than 20000 people ?
A: It is supposed to be bigger than 'Disneyland', and the 'out the window' views were mostly for game effect. You would hardly need a Train system or even the Bathyspheres (to traverse only a few hundred feet) if it was that small. All the levels we traverse would have to be glued side by side to fit. Not all of Rapture is buildings of the size seen in those grand views. Notice in all the game level maps we go thru how squat and sprawling the building interiors are.
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Q: Will Splicers still be wearing their masks ? 
A: Yes they will, and probably many more variations of them (Player Creations), and new home-built ones to replace those that should have worn out by now. Ex-Splicers (NPCs and Players) probably wont, since they are no longer 'marked' by ADAM disfigurements. It is a design issue, as perhaps the 'normal' people may continue to wear them as a reminder.
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Q: Was Ryans portrayal in BS1/BS2 really a Strawman Argument meant to force an image of him as 'the bad guy' ?
A: Ryan was largely portrayed one dimensionally, with vague mentioning of most of the actions he allegedly took, omitting many he would have, and not explaining the situations that precipitated them. Much of what you hear about him is from biased Audio Diaries. He also was shown doing illogical things - inconsistent to his Philosophy and entire Life's history. The whole "there is only one law in Rapture" thing itself is absurd as Society and City cannot operate in a state of simple anarchy, so there very well were MANY 'laws' that governed Rapture, and which Ryan largely maintained.
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Q: All this detail about rebuilding things and real objects and such. Won't that be tedious or uninteresting ?
A: The game detail will be increased and logical, but nowhere near 'real'. The City's repair/rebuilding is to act as a motive for game activities where you go out to find the stuff ( versus just selling it all to a generic vendor ). It also allows for more varied situations where the local scenery/terrain is effected by the objects within it (ex- faulty wiring) that will make for a different/changing environment ( YOU finally decide to fix that wiring in your Team NPC Barracks, and maybe learn some interaction detail you can take advantage of out in the adventuring part of the world. )
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Q: The game's Creation Community will have all the Quests and Missions documented. Won't THAT allow alot of Players to simply Cheat ( It will ALL wind up accessible/exposed Online ) ?
A: The Quest system has a fundamental mechanism of Auto_Generation variations for the Quests/Missions, so that pertinent details for applying of the same quest/mission (to different players) will use different locations, deal with a different experience along the way, have different props, opponents and loot. The Situation of When/Where/Who the Quest is given will also vary. It would not be usual 'mannequin quest-giver'/static-detailed "Quest" ( which 100000+ other Players are given verbatim, at exactly the same point in their level advancement ). Many of the MMORPG quests would vary to the Players abilities and the world circumstances/state when it is played.
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Q: All this saving Splicers stuff. Won't there be any shooting any more ?
A: There will still be lots of guns and weapons ( including many non-lethal as you might expect ). The combat will be less fatal, with more partial damage effects -- You still have to disable your opponents. There would be additional things to kill like ADAM-enhanced vermin as well. They will likely be trying to kill you.
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Q: Will there be any Child Murder which tainted the original BioShock games ?
A: No. There will not be. The original lack of imagination which led to fabricated Empathy and offered a so-called "Moral Choice" employing in-game Child Murder will be corrected.
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Q: Look at all this BS (here this Wiki). Is this guy insane ?
A: This is a 'Thought Experiment' of exploring where computer gaming could/should/needs to go. Ignoring the genre specifics, the mechanisms could be applied to most other MMORPG genres and also to the production of Single Player games. Personally, I don't think 2K would be capable, by inclination/skill/opportunity, to do anything like this and they are unlikely to release the existing games assets/rights/etc... that a Rapture MMORPG would need.
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Q: Are you insane ? How could any Game Company create such a complicated game world and all the content you mention ?
A: No. The PLAYERS will create most of it ( the mechanism, tools provided by the Company will wind up only being a small part of the whole ). Players, in sum, have a thousand times more Time/Imagination/Will than all the employees of all the game companies put together. THAT is why it is important to make it possible for them to apply that Time/Imagination/Will to build proper games.
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Q: Wont this result in alot of watered down repetitive muck, since most Players have mostly seen cost-limited pablum in the MMORPG games already published ? Won't these 'Creators' for the most part simply stitch together some simple thing and then get bored with it ?
A: That is why there is a major Collaboration element to the Asset Creation System. Non-working Garbage will be filtered out, and proper Assets will only be allowed when they meet operational standards. Simple duplication or duplication with XYZ substituted for ABC will be blocked ( or perhaps reworked to automatically facilitate variations of the original ). Exploiting an efficient toolset, some number of really creative Players can be turned loose and actually be able to create something the way they actually want it, with far fewer limitations and difficulties of the typical afterthought/secondary "mod'ing" that exist on even the best MMORPGs.
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Q: Will this Rapture have anything to do with BS:Infinite or that Columbia place ?
A: Absolutely NOT. BS:Infinite is pure (and bad) fantasy, with alot of addled pseudo-science, which the writers did not even consistently apply. The bizarre linkage they make to America 1893-1912 ( and supposedly to real History of American Society) is even more divergent from reason, logic and especially fact. A Splicer's Fever Dream would be more cohesive, and make a better story. BioShock IS science-fiction, and SO there will be no Multiverse BS, nor impossible physics. The only 'quantum' stuff will be the theoretical mental gymnastics certain inhabitants propose in their free time. 
The Cat Is Alive.
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Q: Will there be a Game 'Store' ?? 
A: No outside money would be allowed to intrude into this game. None of the Store/Paid-DLC/Pay-to-Win, which pollutes other games. No 'Nickel and Diming' the Player. Future things like '3D' printing of stuff from the game would be by pattern only ( and paid to your local supermarket's (future) 3D Printing Machine ). 
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Q: So, When will this game be coming out ?
A: As soon as the game industry 'gets off their asses', and moves the game technology forward in a significant way. If they don't do it, other Media will surpass them an take the Public's attention/interest, and they will largely be out of business.
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Q: We want MORE Sander Cohen !!!! Will ... ?
A: Yes he could be like Count Dracula and ALWAYS return. Vita-Chambers, Faking Deaths, Impostors ... I'm sure such a popular character can be brought back ( not just in Flashbacks ).
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TO BE Player Created Content or 'NOT TO BE' Player Created Content ??? :
Q: Is it possible to get enough Players to do enough Creation Work for the amount of content needed to keep a MMORPG going ? Look at what Mod'ers in other games produce. You generally have to reject more than 95% of it as unfit to use. A MMORPG would need hundreds of times as much good material as games that have the Mod'ing as an option/bonus.
A: Part of the planned process for this MMORPG would be to use large numbers of 'Player Creators', before the game 'Worlds' 'officially' start up, to process alot of the existing Solo Game (BS1/BS2/MP/DC) Assets into the 'dictionary' of useable Objects. The game company will do some work ( more of setting up first good Tools, and then the game story framework, and the auto-generator logic -- The Initial_World_Composition ). That would include building the 'Seed' Map which defines the shape of the pre-built City ( many of the solo-game location verbatim/converted to the MMORPG's modular system ) AND the further Game World sections that will self-build. The Players would make use of all the creation functions/tools/process in this phase so to be 'up to speed' - ready for when the worlds go operational and more content is to be added.
Editing Tools would employ these Objects ( building blocks simpler than typical '3D' line/facet editing ). Lots of tutorials for all of it. So really the HARD PART is to create and get WORKING the MMORPG system that supports this all together ( which is largely the Game Companies task ). FUNDAMENTALLY there would be with ALOT of testing assisted/accomplished by the Players -- trying to use everything TO PROVE IT IS PROPERLY USEFUL. The Game Company is expected to fixing things (TO MAKE THEM PROPER) to be most useful to the Players.
Alot of the games 'modding' will also be on simpler individual component Objects/Assets ( instead of somehow expecting entire complete game levels ). So that will take alot less effort on one Players part to add something to the game which is useful. If you (the Player) can Only do a little, that still can add-in to help Build the game (Many Hands ...).
The more complex Assets (like Quests/Missions) will probably require much more Company Involvement to create the initial Asset sets and many Template Building Blocks ( and additional Content add-ons for a period after that ) before enough Players become competent in making more such add-ons ( but they eventually will ).
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This kind of Player Collaboration (particularly ONLINE) is largely new territory for game companies ( certainly in the extent it is here Proposed to be used ), and no doubt there will be many problems to overcome. But I would think there would be more than enough capable Players ready to JUMP at a chance to create stuff for the Game World. Making that easy to do, so that they are not disappointed, is one of the most critical aspects ( and unfortunately the easiest thing for a game company to botch ).
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Q: Isn't there a Risk that this MMORPG system or even its development Tools and methodology will be so good that everybody will use it for everything else and BioShock will 'wither away' ? 
A: Yes, but it would still open up a new BETTER Generation Games into the World.
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Q: How the Heck do I Think of ALL this Stuff ? Yes, How ? :
A: Just look at normal life and some part of Rapture Past/Present/Future might/should include some aspect of it.
How much of it is 'relevant' to 'the story' ? The MMORPG has a much wider story than the Solo games, (RAPTURE IS THE STORY), and presents a much bigger list of characters, locations, and props than the little vignettes we saw in the Solo games ... Portraying in a much more complete way is the goal.
The MMORPG is the 'Canvas', but the MMORPG's "capabilities" are the 'Paints'...
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Q: 29000+ Edits ?!? ...
A: YOU try creating a good-sized WIKI and see how much work it adds up to. There is also nothing more disconcerting than having your "Publish" SAVE 'Click' generate an Error and a whole lot of your detail Work disappearing into the BitBucketBitBucket -0 http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/bit-bucket ( so frequent "Saves" in the process is a good idea ). Consider that this Wiki has over 600 article pages ( most being many pages of text/pictures ). There have been format revisions re-applied to all those pages several times over the years. This WIKI is heavily (manually) cross-linked, which added more editing work. Simple spelling fixes and grammar adjustments add up.
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