Bioshock Illogic

* See also Choice (or not)
* See also Vague Written Story allows Distortion
* See also ADAM-Bomb
* See also War_Measures required ( concept apparently unrealized/ignored by the writers )
* See also Players_FORCE_FED_-_Ryan_The_Villain
* See also 'Twists' and how they are writer forced ...
* See also Protectors_Too_Soon
* See also Sinclairs_Consumer_Rewards_Program ( when Lore/Canon is warped for DLC )
* See also BS2_Observations
* See also Minervas_Den_Illogic
* See also MultiPlayer_Illogic
* See also NO_Autopilots_In_Columbia - Cavemen Don't Build Nuclear Subs
* See also Infinite_Stupidity ( FAR Too Many 'Just Wrong' Things In THAT Game )
* See also Gearz - When Things are just done Wrong ...
* See also Burial At Sea Illogic
* See also Know_Nothing_Artists
* See also BioShock_SOLO_Game_Redos WE CAN REBUILD THEM ...
* See also Depth for Real Issues
* See also The_Columbia_Chronicles
* AND OF COURSE INFINITE BS ( and the missing QuantumFuture )
* See also The_Quantum_Revolution - What really would have really happened in the Rest of the World.
* See also RetCon 
separate out all Rapture related stuff - separate page
pull all the Ryan being set up out of this page add toPlayers_FORCE_FED_-_Ryan_The_Villain
"Infinite BS and Its Writers - So Easily 'Ripped New Ones' About Such Game Flaws"
==A Hobby I've Had : TRYING TO RESOLVE/STRAIGHTEN-OUT THE GAMEMAKER'S ILLOGIC==
( Attempted with the least changes, and also considering that 'What people say' being perhaps different from 'What was actually so' ... )
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SOME Logic which Storytellers Need to Understand : Something which Requires a Prerequisite, It cannot be created simultaneously with that Prerequisite.
Something with Infinite's dodgy cosmology rules is not Storytelling. A Story has a beginning, middle and end. When you 'wave your hand' and override that, it ceases to have relevancy to most people.Science Fiction is really not so much about the Technology, but MORE about exploring the affects the Technology hypothetically has on People and Society. Fantasy CAN do the same thing, assuming it is consistent. 
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YES, THE BIOSHOCK WRITERS/DEVELOPERS SOMETIMES DID HAVE SOME STRANGE IDEAS ABOUT HOW THINGS WORK
((( Hey, for the REDO, Elizabeth now has to do that nasal activation gesture every time she opens a Tear. )))
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 "Too Weird or NOT Too Weird" ( That Is The Question ) :
* 'Tears' - Yeah those happen every day .... Wait !!! One just happened !!! ... Oh Hi Ken ... Why are You dressed as Harpo Marx ? ... OK, back to normal now. ... Freakin Tears, always interrupting when ur on the phone ...
* A Floating City that defies Physics -- You all do realize that all those Cartoons on TV and Movies aren't Real. Don't you ???
* Bunch of Crows fly out of your Hands after you drink a bottle of quack Patent Medicine -- That's called Hallucination ( I can still tell, cuz I never did drugs. ) They tried to Copy the 'Bees Hand' thing ...
* It is NOT 'a few lines' of game detail spew. Check out all the other trailers and detailed interviews ( I should create a page listing the whole passel of them. )
* Yes, genetic engineering could, within the laws of physics have you throwing Fireballs ( You never seen a 'fire-eater' spit flame ? And THAT was WITHOUT genetic engineering's help ). See the other [[Making Plasmids More Sci-Fi|posting on this Wiki]] on this subject explaining why it could work ( thus it being more Sci-Fi and NOT simple bad Fantasy 'magic' shit ).
* Ghosts ? That whole Lady Comstock thing. On the other hand Jack was 'conditioned' with fake images, his mind was conditioned to see with imperfect inputs. Why shouldn't he not discern between real and such images ??? Daydreaming as a side-effect of ADAM use ? Try reading some of the side-effects of many modern drugs these days.
"Dear Fanbois, your excitement is fine, but don't expect everyone else to have it for this game. Even in 'Magic', things can be done wrong/illogically/badly by some unskilled persons."
Infinite's Gamemaker's Betrayal for CA$H ? I understand very well the desire to milk the BioShock name to make money, and the use of Hype by game companies to try to sway customers. I also understand that it is easier to use Fantasy as a crutch when you have to make a Blast-fest/Slaughter-fest game, one for which the majority of Players don't 'give a wit' about realism or logic. It is the exceptional game company that DOESN'T resort to such things.
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IT IS THAT FRICKING FAKE "THOUGHT EXPERIMENT" STUFF AGAIN !!!! :
Really, you are supposed to learn things from Thought Experiments. The only thing learned from any/all in Infinite BS was WHAT NOT TO DO MAKING A GAME, OR that : "HEY PLAYERS : Nothing You Do Actually Matters" -- As it is all just Predestined Fate with no responsibility, or that all you do in the game can be instantly Destroyed/Erased by Fantasy-empowered Meddlers 'to make a point'. 
Not a great epic story is it ? ----- So NO lesson learned ( except maybe for "2K" who Gave Levine the Boot ).
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Illogic be Legion -- Rapture's Storyline Isn't Exactly 'Watertight' :
Rapture's Welcome Mat :
Was it not rather stupid to leave a Bathysphere at the surface (Lighthouse Station) where it might be a bit of a clue of Rapture's existence?? ( Ryan is supposed to be paranoid, Right ??? Well isn't this evidence he wasn't quite as paranoid as they (the writers) tried to lay it on ??  Or just that they never bother much with logic when they get a plot going ? )
If that Bathysphere was sent there for his (Jack's) arrival ( in case it wasn't normally left there ), then that should have told Ryan his system wasn't as locked down and someone (Atlas ?) was upto something. I actually think the whole Suicide thing by Ryan should have really been a setup/scam against Fontaine/Atlas, where Ryan has figured it all out and turned the tables (faked HIS own death)  -- It certainly would have been a more Epic Twist, and could justify odd things like having a Bathysphere obviously there waiting for Jack.   Maybe, if the 'sphere' arrives suddenly, when Jack is there and Atlas tells him to 'kindly' get in ??   Maybe if it was one of the old Smuggling Subs ??
Maybe the whole Arrival Scene thing was just more 'memories', and Jack never left Rapture ??? 
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Original BioShock :
Jack's Hijacked Plane Arrival - Only a Gamewriter Would Create Such Bosh : '''
Jack hijacks the plane - the box he has has a pistol in it. There is the latitude/longitude coordinates of Rapture. 
Jack would have had to learn to fly a modern large plane, to somehow do precise celestial navigation manually to get near Rapture at night, AND to successfully crash the plane on the ocean with at least himself surviving. ( It would have been far more plausible parachuting out - but that's not as impressive a game scene ). 
Ryan later comments that it is very unlikely as an accidental happening. (( Consider : such a risky complex 'plan' would take a very good experienced agent with long years of training to actually accomplish. ))
Jack would have to have much training to do any/all of it. Jack would have to be warehoused while waiting for the plan to be activated. Jack had to be put on the plane. The WYK phrase is on a card to trigger the hijacking.
Jack (the Player) effectively murdered everyone on the plane ( at minimum on its crashing - we see no evidence of anyone else being alive after the crash ). 
"Ludicrous" is far too weak a word for this ridiculous 'story' contrivance.
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 'The Fix Is IN' - BioShock's Rapture A Poorly Contrived Failtopia :
Alot of the pre-'civil-war' developing 'misery' in Rapture seems quite contrived.  I would have attributed it more to the disruptions which Fontaine/ADAM caused, versus that 'downtrodden/forgotten Workers' stuff. They would have been originally told they would eventually need Other Work when the city was finished.  Crazy people (via ADAM) soon lose their jobs and crazy people are even moreso likely to blame someone else for their situation ( even more than they do in OUR World ).
Rapture's immigrants were told how the place (Rapture) was to work BEFORE they arrived or even accepted the invitation ( Weren't they told up front they could NOT leave ?? That should have been emphasized. ).    Construction workers had to know that City construction would eventually end, and they would need to get other jobs ( and there would have been far more (tech oriented) machine operators than hand laborers required in the building of Rapture ).  The selection process would have discarded people who likely couldn't adapt - Ryan wasn't stupid about this ( He couldn't be with all he had achieved ).
People can be retrained, and many real world people did just that ( ie- soldiers in the Real World after demobilization of W W 2 ) .  The original Games emphasized the 'whiners' ( to force their plot ), but really do not show the vast majority of Raptures Citizens who had No Problems with this issue ( as they had seen fit to look ahead and adapt and redirect their efforts toward keeping employed ).  
A small minority can disrupt many things easily if allowed their way - especially if specifically organized to be destructive ( and being empowering with ADAM was more than conventional methods could handle ).  Ryan might not have liked 'feeding parasites', but he didn't stop Fontaine or Sofia Lamb ( and probably many others ) from doing so with their own 'charities'.  But NOTE the real lesson - Neither of those did it to help anyone but themselves - The True Parasite is someone who causes and facilitates Parasitism in others, for True Parasite's own personal benefit. 
Would Ryan have rejected Benevolent Societies - which VOLUNTARILY help others who are subject to unfortunate circumstances and stabilize society to a basic level, and head off greater problems that cost society more ?   If they fit in and didn't disrupt the rest of his City's operations would he really care ?
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Lets Have Consistent Logic Please :
Things happened in Infinite and Burial At Sea because the writers said so. The Logic ( the way the story world works ) is supposed to be consistent with itself. Without a consistent 'Story World' logic, no further analysis of it is constructive. You might honestly state that it is NOT consistent, so further : any real relevance to the Player is lost. This likely was a problem for many Players with BioShock Infinite.
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Hoisted On Their Own Illogical Petard ..." ( WTF is a Petard anyway ? and How is one to be 'Hoisted' ?? ) :
WHY would Fontaine go to the substantial trouble of using Ryan's genetic makeup/code/frequency/whatever allegedly to get past 'security' - When that security hardly yet exist ?? The turrets/scanners/patrolling Flybots - They weren't substantially added UNTIL the 'civil war' started - 1959, when Jack was 'built' in 1956 ( 3 years earlier, and had been planned/prepared-for even before to that ) ??? The full security lockdown of the Bathyspheres - Had THAT happened yet ?? Wasn't that another security measure that was part of the actions of Ryan took to tighten up security during the 'civil war'/anarcho-terrorist-rebellion ?? The Bathysphere to the Lighthouse was locked ? Great, then you can sit up there till you starve or freeze to death. The One's escaping (raft ?) to be lost in the North Atlantic hundreds of miles from anywhere ??? Wasn't it rather implied the 'Lockdown' of the whole system was to prevent Atlas's terrorists from using them ? 
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Was it some intended ironic slight to Ryan to be killed by his own son ? Seems a bit over-elaborated to expect Ryan to have a 'heartfelt' discussion long enough 'to find all that out' before being assassinated/committing suicide ? (Better would be Ryan being angry at Fontaine/Atlas, and seeking a more Proactive Revenge, rather than some stupid 'Blow up the city'Burn down the Forest - which a socialist government wanted to seize.) BS. BTW, didn't Jack just shut down that core anyway ?? Doom for Rapture yada, yada ...).
Far more logical to instead have the "BelowTree" computer console ( made by Fontaine Futuristics in 1941 it says ) in Ryan's office turn out to be a killer Transformer Robot, than have this long convoluted 'Jack' "Ace in The Hole"Stupid label, because the 'Hole Card' just needs to be whatever is required to give the 'better-winning hand', and an 'Ace' is not necessarily the right card for that. plan ( Yes, it might not be as 'epic'/twisty for Ryan's bizarre swan song ). Shouldn't Ryan have been already disappointed enough at all the turncoats and parasite weaklings in "His City" to have blown it up long before that ??
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Picking and Choosing :
 "To save one life is to save the world entire" - Talmud :
Picking and choosing WHICH life is not 'gone into' in that simple saying. 
They say "to save one life is to save the world entire". It is you who are their savior. - Tenenbaum
So simple a thing to utter, harder to actually have it be meaningful in a Slaughter-fest game. Doesn't address TAKING a life ( again, picking and choosing ). Jack has Killed a WHOLE LOT of People (Starting with an Airliner full of people the writers bypass telling you about) and has yet more Splicers to Kill - AND Big Daddies to 'free' each of those Little Sisters Tenenbaum ONLY seems interested in -- EACH REQUIRES murdering one Big Daddy who IS an innocent.
By Elizabeth : 
Like Tenenbaum, Elizabeth seems to have rather narrow 'blinders on'.
When by YOUR actions you DIRECTLY cause the deaths of thousands in your 'Saving one life', it is a bit problematic ethically ( and story-wise ) -- Particularly for someone who allegedly 'Can See the Future' and the story MISSES that rather large destructive outcome - conveniently - in Elizabeth's case to 'save' Sally ). She has BECOME COMSTOCK - and maybe BETTER that SHE also be extinguished by her killing Booker at that 'Baptism ). Self-Loathing and Self-Destruction would have been the EMO way out ....
As usual in The Real World, things wind up being a bit more complicated than which can be 'Fixed' with nice 'easy to quote' sayings like that ( That one is really meant more for all the 'little people' -- Rather than "Movers and Shakers" who's action CAN affect the lives of 'the many' ).
Saving Sally is fine, but at the same time Elizabeth SEEKS to destroy Booker/Comstock there as her Revenge. That is a case of 'uneven dealing' - rather Reprehensible ( forgiving him would have been far more 'kosher' karma-wise ).
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"Plot Time Compression", Even In BS1 - Where Too Many Things Happen in Too Few years : 
Tenenbaum, even with some Surface World advancements in genetics and techniques to assist her, is still in that Science's ( and certainly its further Engineering ) 'Caveman era'. 1953-1959 is hardly enough for the World's greatest genetic scientists (and engineers) all put together to achieve much in that short timespan.
It is really only a little better than expecting that EVEN MORE Technological Caveman Jeremiah Fink to have done anything of the equivalent.
I suppose we could invent a whole previous 'Secret Nazi Genetic Research ' connection to justify more advancements than really exist ( with some plausibility ).
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Logic ? 'What' Is Logic Conan ??? This is asked of Conan the Cimmerian in the Hyborian Age, not Conan O'Brien : What is Best In Life : "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." :
It would NOT have been particularly logical/smart/common-sense to LEAVE a Bathysphere at the surface station (Lighthouse) where it might be a bit of a 'giveaway' for Rapture's existence ?? ( Ryan is supposed to be paranoid, right ? - Well isn't this evidence he wasn't quite as paranoid as the writers tried to lay it on ?? ) Even after the Pheromone Control allowed easing much of the 'lockdown', THAT Station you would think would get the highest security.
If that Bathysphere was sent there for Jack's arrival by Atlas/Fontaine ( in case it wasn't normally left there ), then that should have told Ryan his system wasn't quite as 'locked down' as it ought to be, and someone ( Atlas ? ) was upto something. I actually think the whole suicide thing by Ryan should have really been a setup against Fontaine/Atlas, where Ryan HAS figured most of it out, and has 'turned the tables' (faked HIS own death) -- It certainly would have been a more Epic Twist.
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Cuz the Plot Says So :
The artistry and achievement of this MMORPG would be to NOT have to resort to "Cuz the Plot Says So", but instead to have actual reasons and cohesion of explanations for the bigger Rapture story.  The original material would preferably be adhered to as 'facts' ( for the most part WHERE THEY ARE FACT ). But there is much left unexplained, undefined and unspecified.  This allows for many additions to fill-in and MAKE the MMORPGs overall storytelling cohesive and explainable.  That would be the goal and a good challenge.
Of course, there are some original game elements which are contradictory, which cannot be explained away, and need to be revised/corrected.   Some details seen in the original story materials could be taken as 'partial or incorrect because it was presented as from some characters 'point of view' OR a faulty interpretation ( ie- many of the Audio-Diaries ).   For much of it, there are gaps, which if filled-in could drastically improve the games situational consistency and provide more realistic explanations of what should have happened.
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In Rapture, Whiney Wheels DON'T Get The Oil :
The BioShock Game writers make ordinary people out to be a bunch of Feebs ? Workers turn into destitute hobos with the least of economic issues ( Depressions happened in America every 2 decades, SO how did everyone possibly survive then ???? ) ? This seems stupid/ignorant-assumption for People who went through the Great Depression and WW2. With a mix of BETTER-than-ordinary/Capable people selected by Ryan ( Who is unlikely to have populated his city by scooping up homeless people, or those with inclination to be Welfare State dependents ).
But (writers) gotta have a "Hooverville" for Aunt Grace to whine about -- Maybe it can psychologically be attributed to exaggeration useful to her profession of 'Singing The Blues' ( which she did seem to do pretty well by herself ). But then who is the Audio Diary addressed to -- if it to herself then its what she 'believes' (?) ...
"Looking down their noses at us..." - But then envision what the place labeled 'Paupers Drop' looked like after Sinclair took that 'under the tracks' homeless area and redeveloped it -- It is a pretty fancy place if you remove the Lamb-era decrepid-ness and terrorist destruction ( and years of neglect under the Sofia Lamb regime ). Those New York style Art Deco building fronts ARE NOT something you find 'under the tracks' in a squatters camp.
For an upbeat forward looking place like Rapture, doesn't it seem kind of the wrong place for a 'Blues Singer' to come to ? As mentioned elsewhere most 'artists' in Rapture really didn't have any reason to be there ( unless they were truly fearful of 'The Bomb' ).
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BioShock - Its Over-Contrived Story Could Have Been Far Better With A Little Care : 
One thing you have to understand about Bioshock 1 and 2 - was that they are blast-fest FPS First Person Shooter game genre games, set in a PURPOSELY create Dystopia/Fail-topia ( The_plot_says_so, cuz you gotta kill lotsa people without it being immoral or 'wrong' ). Insane Mutants are the Politically Correct targets du jour. 
Ryan rants against "altruism"; ( ex- [url] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18NWnxRmjI [/url] ), yet his very building of Rapture as a city for others to thrive in. Altruistic - is it not? He is a billionaire who could have built an Eden for himself alone ( apart from the servants and friends ) if he had wished.
The developers make him a patsy for their desired failure of Objectivism and Capitalism. They have Ryan do extremely illogical things -- For someone who was a successful industrialist ( ie- someone who WOULD know how to handle 'workers' and create successful projects/solutions ). But Rapture MUST FAIL, or there would be no game ( of the typical FPS slaughter type anyway ... ). So they sloppily put together the plot situation, systematically setting up Objectivism/Libertarianism and Capitalism as 'a failure'. What they contrived/fabricated though was not quite logical and ignore the attribute of what a more Objectivist society would include.
Construction workers supposedly are out of work and fuel rebellion, but why would Ryan let them in to stay with that very predictable outcome ? Workers would have been told the city's construction would eventually end, and they would HAVE to move on to new occupations in Rapture ( and it was made VERY clear up front to everyone who went to Rapture that NOONE could leave ). Such things would be planned for, and Ryan would NOT be ignorant of handling the eventualities. But it is far more simple to intentionally pre-create Rapture broken - it is all supposed to FAIL - the plot says so, so it was MADE to fail. Period.
ADAM is discovered, and soon is shown to have terrifying long term effects. Yet, if you follow what the game designers lay out, most people in Rapture suddenly started using it wholesale ( the common sense of REAL people seems discounted by the designers ). And THEN Ryan takes over the ADAM industry and continues its sales, when it is ALREADY known to have side effects making people deformed and murderously insane, creating Splicers who will threaten the whole economy/society's survival.  (( Yes, sure, its sooooo logical that Ryan would encourage even more dangerous ADAM use and more Splicers to be running about in the streets. ))
The designers give Ryan no better alternatives to the problems ADAM has caused. They load the deck against him. They have Ryan declare "I make only one law" ( Which makes it sound like Rapture has 'NO LAWS' ). Smuggling he makes illegal and a capital crime, as it effectively is Treason because of the risk to the Secrecy the city NEEDS to survive.  No Laws ? How can you have a modern city without any kind of commercial contract enforcement (via laws) ?  How can you maintain any order in the streets if anyone can do whatever they want ?  Contradicting, the game story has 'Constables' in Rapture. What exactly are these Constables supposed to enforce when they maintain order - IF there are 'No' Laws ??   It is a sloppy writer contrivance -- the City could hardly get built under such a societal system, let alone sustain itself for over more than a decade.
Any significant social institution, to maintain order, is avoided/minimized by the writers in the story. Security - is made to look like a bunch of goons working for Ryan, and crazy homicidal machines. The 'City Council' ( which should have been an institutional center of authority ) is basically without power, and is portrayed to only do what Ryan wants ( consider nothing much is shown of its previous activity BEFORE the Terrorist Rebellion starts ).
It is very convenient that Ryan never could invoked public health measures -- When Fontaine starts foisting the addictive substance on the population ( Oh, there must be self-responsibility ... The criminal who is pushing the stuff  "Is just an entrepreneur, so Let the Buyer Beware", yada yada ... ). It is so odd that the ADAM-caused insanity doesn't seem to ever be noticed after YEARS of ADAM use in Rapture, but it manifests itself just as Ryan has Fontaine pinned for the crime of Smuggling. Too late (conveniently) ADAM is finally understood by all to be the creator murderous insanity - oddly, JUST IN TIME for Ryan to be blamed for it. Then after a terrorist attack the whole city gobbles down every bit of ADAM 'To Protect Themselves' against the Splicer anarchists Atlas the alleged Liberator is facilitating.
SO CONVENIENT : For years, Ryan was unable to pin a huge Smuggling operation on Fontaine - quite unlikely in a place as small as Rapture.  Fontaine's gangsterism is somehow completely missed ( his murdering of business rivals and strong-arming those in his way would be in Rapture rather hard to ignore/overlook ).  Doing something about that crime earlier would have stopped the criminal's rise, his Splicer gang/army would never have happened -- It is quite convenient, quite contrived - so that problematic realism is avoided by the writers.
Later, there is a 'civil war' in-progress, with an enemy (Atlas) seeking to destroy/steal everything Ryan has built, making the Chaos/Disruptions his Splicers have caused, somehow Ryan's fault.  The economy is being wrecked, people WILL starve or be murdered in the streets.  Ryan finally puts War Measures into place, and then all you hear in-game are voices griping about how Ryan has compromised his principles/philosophy ( instead of agreeing with such protective measures and calling for him to EXTERMINATE THE Terrorist Element ).  You have to realize, this population largely arrived in Rapture just after WW2, so they would have had better understanding than most Players and the Game Designers (who make the characters mouth THEIR Contemporary point of view).   Ryan (as an Objectivist) had done little interference at first, allowing people time to work out the problems themselves.  After the threat grows worse, he finally takes direct action to end the destruction, and HE is now labeled (by the writers) a 'Tyrant' ( AND is given Little of the very-probable support for what Ryan is doing/called upon to do ).  
Ryan as the writers' story contrivance is "Damned if He Does, and Damned if He Doesn't". 
Many of Ryan's "loyal" supporters (in the game) abandon/betray him, or even seek to kill him ( and side with Atlas who stands for things most of the people in Rapture LEFT the Surface to get away from ).  How convenient. Such loyalty. Such contrived stupidity.  McDonagh's --- "Lets hand the weapon of Splicer Mayhem to 'Fontaine's boys' " is one of the stupidest of all.   Why not have him instead say : "Lets shut that whole F*cking POISON Industry down" ??? (T hey could have had that intention in the story, BUT still with it not happening 'soon enough' for the required game mayhem to still occur ).
The most absurd thing of all : Andrew Ryan effectively committing Suicide by ordering you (the Player) to kill him while under the Mind Control he has discovered.   At that point, Ryan has already pretty much won the %27civil_war%27, and is closing in on the bad guy (Fontaine/Atlas), whose Splicer army has all but been neutralized/turned against Atlas ).  But Ryan suddenly is a QUITTER -- AFTER he has mostly restored Order, and NOW has a chance to rebuild HIS City.  HE now could control the ADAM and Splicers, and then Find a Cure for its negative effects or even eventually eliminate it totally.  Ryan FAKING HIS OWN DEATH, like Fontaine had, would have been an Epic Twist - one HUGE THING the designers/writers/Levine completely missed.
All so absurd.   Bioshock's (the game's) logic holes can be explained simply by a "good enuf" mentality on the part of the designers/writers/Levine, who could have made a much more cohesive/logical story -- IF they cared to ( AND actually with little extra effort ).   Great games achieve such things.   Instead, BioShock pulls the 'stupid' Player around by the nose, via a hackneyed story and induces the Players to see 'enemies' ( They need targets to shoot, of course ), and to yank them through some crude plot  'Twists' and the largely meaningless 'Moral Choices'.    
All in all, it resulted in a fancy Shooting Gallery with all the ducks 'tied in place'.   Game of the Year ... ??? That's Grading on a Curve ( just evidence how game makers these days have hit a mediocre plateau ? )
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Story Distortions With Intent - "The Disappeared" :
There can be all kinds of chaos during 'wars' (and terrorism), and moreso with ADAM insanity ontop of it. Even in a small closed City, people could/would disappear.
The game writers seem intent to imply that these pictured people were 'disappeared' by the alleged 'tyrant' Ryan, even though it is NEVER actually said that was true, or possibly why. ( As one of the most effective methods of terrifying a population - is not just to murder people randomly in the Streets, but to make them disappear entirely. Both the Soviets and the Nazis used that tactic). 
But it does seem strange that it is pictures of the same people over and over ( within the display and in every one of the spots they are posted ).
Atlas/Fontaine might use such 'disappeared' tactics with his Splicers to achieve his goals. Large numbers of citizens would not support Atlas ( Most people like order, and not starving, and not being threatened and murdered, and didn't have the complaints of some malcontents Atlas 'employed' and amplified/used to foment unrest with ). He would need to terrorize THOSE PEOPLE to control Rapture. 
Ryan had jails in Persephone to dump people working for Atlas. With the violence that Atlas's minions caused, it was a prudent act. Apollo Square looks like it was closed off because Atlas hid there frequently, and it was too much of a warren to control directly -- not quite a 'concentration camp', more like an uncontrollable hazardous slum ( the kind police avoid), best walled off to protect the rest of Rapture. 
Ironic would be : Most of those people in the pictures had been 'disappeared' by the actions of Atlas, while at the same time he encourages/orders his minions to create such walls in his propaganda campaign.
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Consider that many Splicers faces may no longer be recognizable, and if insane, enough might not be able to disclose/remember their identity. So, many of the 'Lost' may have simply become nameless (and faceless) Splicers.
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The Writer's Vague Illogical Way To Drum Up Class Warfare :
The Deck is Stacked. The given story details are just assumed to be the case ... Basic Economics is ignored/avoided in the game. The REAL Laws of Economics are almost as rigid as the Laws of Physics.
The "Wealthy" are trapped in Rapture as much as anyone else. There is a reason it is called "The Social Contract", because there are two sides to it. Wealthy people have ALWAYS had to mind this. The 'wealthy' can starve, freeze to death, have their toilets eventually plug up, or be shunned to death quite well when they didn't compromise and instead played too nasty. 
The 'Rich' would not lower the rents ? Then THEY don't collect any rents from all the 'poor' who can no longer pay fixed 'high' rents. Lack of Paid Maintenance eventually destroys the Wealthy's property. Upkeep payments continue to need to be paid by the 'rich' whwther they have income or not.
The 'Rich' didn't pay sufficient wages ? Then noone competent is working for them and they go out of business ( Or anyone skilled goes into business for themselves - a freedom which is allowed in Rapture ). 
Prices can go up for the Rich when things no longer get done - Money becomes worthless when a majority of people start bartering. Customers all shift to buying/trading for basic sustenance and avoid buying things from other stores the 'Rich' are likely to own.
'The Rich' didn't catch fish. The fishermen (and farmers) had the upper hand if you want a truly manipulative pricewar ( or a counter to 'the rich' being too greedy ).
"The Rich" also then find nobody trustworthy to guard/protect their property. 
The 'Rich'/ 'Wealthy' have the most to lose. HISTORICALLY they have been through such things before, so know that it isn't worth it to try to 'control' things unfairly. They still have lots of stuff and WANT their lifestyle to continue, but that is only allowed as long as Society functions.
If you want to a Dystopia setting for a game, then you should do it with realistic details instead of alot of lazy inconsiderate writing.
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Hanging Around ... :
"What ?" You ask - About all the walls of "Have You Seen Me" pictures, or the people seen hanging in Apollo_Square ? How many of those were casualties of Atlas's murderous rebellion - Ordinary people who wouldn't support Atlas's new Reign ? ( Elsewhere : "Gene Traitor" ( labeling hanged bodies ) does NOT sound like something Ryan would say/state, and we do see those hung corpses *AFTER* Fontaine/Atlas was now 'in power' ... ) 
Atlas probably 'set to work' eradicating Ryan supporters AND just anyone who resisted. His sociopathy now becomes empowered with ADAM-Powers and soon insanity. Exactly how long were YOU (as Jack) 'Out Of It' at Tenenbaum's Safehouse ?? ( While she put your head back together. ) Must've taken at least a Week just for the Little Sisters to drag you through the vents all that way. "Zees Tings Must Be Dun Berrrry Kerfullee. Yes ??? ..." 
Consider : Even before Atlas's taking control, we (Jack) are likely walked through areas which Ryan does not directly control, and we see corpses everywhere - so many killed by Atlas's terrorists/anarchists.
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A BS1 Truly Ignorant Scene : The Crashed Airplane Body Scene :
With that hole Open to the Sea, cut via the airplane tail section crashed through the viaduct. It IS wrong because that whole interior space WOULD HAVE BEEN instantly filled with the water rushing in ( Hundreds of pounds per square inch Pressure would cause it to fill almost instantly with a hole that big ) AND just as impossible - that aluminium airplane hull supposedly (laughably) holding out that water pressure ( IT would be crushed like an eggshell ).
That whole thing about that lightweight air-frame, which is hardly more than tinfoil, smashing the heavily constructed viaduct structure ( something constructed to be secure against the NORMAL 280 pounds per square inch Sea Water pressure ) is equally preposterous. If the window glass is so brittle, then there ALSO would have been constant destruction EVERYWHERE in Rapture -- from the start in 1946, obliterating too much of the city.
Its great looking story/scene (tying in the airplane), except they could/should have come up with something plausible to have the same STORYBOARDED SCENE effect INSTEAD of this contrived technically-impossible claptrap. ( A deattched Engine cracking a window might have served - except you can't "walk through" that ).
(( Rapture was NOT Supposed to be Fantasy. 'Artists' can be such fricking incredibly ingnorant Dufuses and Managers can be careless tards.Woody Allen Joke - "What do you mean by 'Such'" ? ))
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 "Uprising" or "Terrorism", Not 'civil war' :
Was Rapture ever really in a 'civil war', or was it more simply being menaced by a destructive/disruptive mob, many mentally-unhinged by ADAM-abuse, encouraged by Anarchists, largely committing acts of terrorism - roused into unrestrained rage and pushed to forward a power grab by Atlas (Fontaine) ? If you disrupt too much in Rapture everyone dies ( much less damage is required than on the Surface -- It doesn't take that much or that many to cause catastrophe ). When Food, Air, Heat, Electricity fail, there is environmental collapse, and Rapture becomes a "Cold Wet Dark Tomb". 
Ryan seems to have done a sufficient job of preventing that from happening. BUT when Ryan has Atlas 'on the run' by the time of BS1 THEN the writers turn him into a "Surrender Monkey". What solutions did Atlas ever offer any majority of Rapture's citizen's ? How many sane people could he really sway to his side ? Perhaps only ADAM_Addled people would listen - When given undeserved and insincere promises, that would only sway a minority (but enough to bring mayhem to Rapture).
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"I begged Mr. Ryan to hand Fontaine Futuristics over to Atlas's boys" - McDonagh Audio Diary
Why to Atlas's boys ??  They had no claim on it .  Is handing property to some other people supposedly better than a government seizure/takeover ( and as mentioned elsewhere adjusting things after the emergency is over ... )?  
Also isn't this handing weapons to the enemy ( a bribe to make them 'act nice' ? ) ??   The same terrorists who murder citizens and are trying to destroy the city ??  How well did the Developers think about some of these game story assets they created ?   A mistake?  Rather they meant "Fontaine's boys" ? ( If he had any. He doesn't strike me as someone to share power, or have a strong second-in-command who he would fear might 'off' him and take over ).
How about close it down as a public health hazard?   Nah. - instead shoveling on the "Ryan is bad" stuff ( complaining about strong actions taken during a war ?? Clueless about the realities of what a real 'war' situation like that is ? ... ).  They never seem to have Ryan's doings being explained as actually being logical (and the way things happen in the real world), and not even allowing Ryan to do some obvious alternatives. 
But - "The Plot says so."  The gamewriters can be sloppy/lazy/careless in their content with the typical History ignorant Players for which they make these games for. 
Such obviously-contrived circumstances are NOT found in 'great' storytelling. 'More story' ( than your typical game ) does NOT equal GOOD STORY. 
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That TOO Handy Radio :
The Sinclair MetaPhone ( One of those useful products that Sinclair specialized in ... ) - a Radio Phone, being a bit of a "brick" -- which actually that 'Radio' Jack carried around with him WAS ALSO. 
Boy oh Boy, Jack musta been fumbling around with that huge brick in his 'other hand' all the time ( See Walkie-Talkiehttps://swisscows.com/image?query=WW2%20Walkie-Talkie -- those old war movies with the soldiers using the big WW2/Korean war Walkie-Talkies ??? ) Even today, most people have to hold their celphone up to their ear and mouth to use.
So Jack left that Radio ON to be able to receive Atlas's (and everyone else's) communications all the time ??? You know how noisy that can be - the 'squawk' and static sounds - Perfect for attracting the attentions of every Splicer in the vicinity. So its mighty Strange how that wasn't the case, yes ? 
Elsewhere I've explained those 'Radios' are actually part of a repeater system -- interconnected via cables ( due to how miserably Radio Waves go through Water and Cement/Metal walls ).
Perhaps, besides the areas you traversed ( in BS1 ) NOT being in Ryan's Secured parts of the City, they were also places where Atlas could be sure he could tap into the local Radio access.
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Too Early Little Sisters, Again :
( Also See Protectors and Gatherers Too Soon )
The writers defined the game with certain images in mind ( I remember the Big Daddy and Little Sisters on the Game Box several years before I bought it ) so they just created the rest of the game around those images.   I think it wasn't until BS2 with the BD(Delta)+LS(Eleanor?) at Kashmir before they elaborated that the 'Gathering'/Bonding was to have happened that early ( previously no BS1-in-game details were specified ).
They really did not have to have the 'Sofia kills Delta in front of LS Eleanor' to coincide with the Kashmir Incident in BS2's plot, and thus needlessly introduce that illogical timing constraint ( there was no reason to 'gather BEFORE the 'civil war' ).   Then the BaS DLC re-foisted the same TOO EARLY LS, again no matter how illogical for it to be that early EXCEPT to prop-up the bizarre Sally-Elizabeth plot fragments.   Maybe some MMORPG Canon repairing Creativity can allow good explanations that this scene wasn't as has been portrayed.
Now if I was running things in Rapture ( or they didn't unaccountably make Ryan into an inept loser ), then no LS would be out on the streets ( They were supposed to be too important, source of ADAM, etc ... the 'Rapture civil war' being fought, and all ).  The Splicer corpses would be brought in by the BD/others into fortified positions ( Safe Splicer Recycling Centers ... no 'deposit' paid because it would encourage 'murder' ).    
But then that's not quite as exciting : No ambushing Big Daddies to get their Little Sister, no nice corpses laying about for that homey 'ruins' atmosphere, less of the cute banter from the LS, and the whole "Harvest vs Save" thing ( which was supposed to give you the so-called 'moral choice' ) gone.  Attacking the Little Sister Fortress maybe could have been a plausible thing ( BDs to the rescue ), but not quite as cute a scene of them wandering about ( we're left merely with BD fights to capture the forts or ambushing them, sans LS, as the ADAM couriers )....  
Maybe we (in-game) just got run through the crappier/chaotic parts of Rapture each time ?   Or those were Bootlegger's (or Atlas/Fontaine's) LS+BD - he didn't care if they were slaughtered, plenty of human fodder amongst his followers ...
Awful Idea - Why should the Little Sisters be the ONLY ones that can remove 'ADAM' from corpses ?
That could lead to some creepy scenes, and even activity for the Player.  Your sucking of green goop out of a corpse isn't quite as bad as murdering a child, no?  ( That is still happening when you 'Harvest' even if they tried to not show the gristly task. )   And when you come down to it, there really WASN'T any real moral Choice - so not much lost there.
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Civil Control Administration : 
All able-bodied un-modified citizens of Rapture, Notice to Report ( poster seen in various places ) :
This Offers No real details (the finer print is unreadable) - So is open to interpretation about what would happen with the people who 'reported'.   Did Ryan actually need to have yet more ADAM crazed people in his City ?   Fewer people to later 'Cure', the better. Arm them with guns and training and use THAT to counter the crazy Splicers with their 'magical' powers.
This would be BEFORE the 'Pheromone Control' effectively nullify Atlas's Splicer army. That control would give Ryan some control over his own troops ( the ones who had already 'Spliced' but were smart/sane enough to back Ryan ) -- Like (eventually) 'Calm them ALL down' so he could keep the city running.
IT WOULD be better that all the critical people who sustained Rapture's existence NOT be made crazy/impaired, if possible.
For much of the game, Ryan is shown to be hesitant to impair citizens 'Free Will', even to his own determent and to the advantage of Rapture's enemies.  So why would he suddenly change so drastically ?  REMEMBER - Those who were already Splice-crazed had already surrendered much of their 'Free Will' to ADAM ( and many were imposing their destructiveness on other Citizens ) and the Pheromone Control ( so much bemoaned in the game to paint Ryan as 'the villain' ) was a method to control the destructiveness of people in that condition including those being employed by Rapture's enemies.
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That Exaggerated 'Out of Work' Construction Worker Issue :
Only a fraction of the workers who worked to build Rapture ever got to live there.  Only a small fraction of Raptures citizens were construction workers, and most of those moved on to other jobs ( as they we told to plan to do as large-scale construction was not going to last for long in Rapture ).
* Massive prefabrications made elsewhere and transported to Rapture's location, where the components were assembled.
* Entire small buildings ( which when filled with air can actually float ) could be built far away and towed to the site.
* Automation technology that greatly increased the work which individual workers could do ( also meaning many were not grunt laborers but machine operating specialists who handled/repaired/maintained construction machines - skills transferable to many other jobs in Rapture's industries ).
Ryan's Surface Construction Businesses did alot of the work.  Ryan would very well know that many of his employees would NOT be suitable to live in Rapture, and he would take measures to make sure they never needed to be there ( and not even get close to it --- to meet his secrecy needs ). 
All workers who went to Rapture were vetted (should have been) like everyone else ( and the ones who saw the City were TOLD up-front what kind of place it would be and WHAT the Rules were - The game makers seemed to like portraying Ryan as stupid - The Plot called for It ... ).
Many workers who were slated to stay ( those already committed and were allowed to work at Rapture ) were partially paid with the rights/ownership of a Residence in Rapture ( making them NOT 'homeless' when the construction jobs dried up ).
Some number of prudent construction workers would have saved up money and avoided potentially risky speculation ( was not that long after the Depression that taught at least a few people what to avoid ).  Likewise 'Banks Failing' would be only some fraction as recent history had shown the shortcomings of unsecured loans.
Simplistic 'strawmen' are not an element found in 'great' games.  Developers need to pay more attention, especially when such things take just a little more consideration and actually require very little extra work to implement.  But Lazy/Ignorant developers don't care, and set no priority for such things.
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BS1 : At This Point, Most (if not most) Splicers Were Controlled By Ryan : 
Were they ??  IF so,  then Atlas already should have been quickly dead -- It takes just one Splicer finding him -- and Atlas is unspliced too - weak in comparison ...  You have to sleep sometime.  Think how poetic it would have been for Fontaine to be, in the end', slaughtered by one of the monsters he himself unleashed on Rapture.
Think what Bounty Ryan would/could/should have put on Atlas ( 1000 ADAM for Jack would have been measly by comparison ... Think Bounty  "10000 ADAM" and Atlas likely would be dead the next day ) and  where could Atlas hide ??   He came out of the woodwork in the Smugglers Hideout ... hardly something done by someone who would be instantly killed on sight by any and all Splicers.
Ryan is shown doing the Bounty thing against Jack, so why didn't Ryan do it against Atlas, the bigger enemy, and done likely long before  ?? 
BTW, Smugglers Hideout was crawling with HOW MANY Spider Splicers ?  And Atlas so conveniently evades them, and then makes a retreat without them all rushing after him and chopping him to pieces ??? Quite convenient.  He might have put up a bit more fight than that wimp "Johnny", but he should have been fishfood in mere minutes.
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Ryan's Alleged Tyranny :
Smugglers, who effectively steal from those who would produce goods IN Rapture - Initially they were just common criminals.  The smuggling of Religious items emphasized by the game makers had little to do with Ryan personally 'not caring for'/disliking organized religion, but was simply smuggled Contraband like all the rest of the things being smuggled -- Things largely repeated ( for want of more game Assets ) newspapers, films, and booze ( which I would have thought they had more than enough of being produced in Rapture ).  If you wanted organized religion, Rapture was a stupid place to go to.
Smugglers, after the City was closed off from The Surface, became a liability endangering the City ( it was the middle of the Cold Warhttps://www.conservapedia.com/Cold_War, and the Russians or Americans WOULD have come and tried to takeover/destroy Rapture when they learned of it ).  Except for people who tried to assassinate Ryan, smugglers were the only criminals that got the death penalty ( and most of often it would just be the organizers/ringleaders ).
Ryan's City did not have a large 'police' force ( They would be one of the 'tools of oppression' he so disliked ), so when Splicers started murdering people wholesale, he did not have alot of resources to combat them.  His increase of security measures was in reaction to the mayhem being caused by Splicers ( who were being assisted/facilitated by Fontaine ).  Ryan allowed the Citizenry to arm themselves.   War Measures of curfews and restricted movement don't constitute Tyranny ( unless you are willing to call FDR that for those same things ).
Ryan did not start the use of Little Sisters, he added the Big Daddies after the ADAM shortage crises ( inherited from Fontaine ) was a critical problem ( the ADAM-addiction perpetrated by Fontaine had to be handled until cures could be developed ).   Big Daddies increase/maintained ADAM production without having to increase the number of Little Sisters.
Without the ADAM supply, a huge number of people in Rapture were going to go insane, not the best thing to happen if the City and Citizens were to continue to survive. 
Prisoners who volunteered for research -  This was started under Fontaine ( and existed in the US about that same time ).  Some unfortunates of the experiments were living dead ( Novel shows Fontaine seeing the results of the various early 'experiments' - though notice he did not order them to be stopped, and if anything increased that research ).
Children being 'kidnapped' to make into Little Sisters - effectively started by Fontaine in his 'Orphanages' which look to have been set up for them to be used as Little Sisters ( not mentioned in his advertisements. ).  Do any of the stories say that it is Ryan's men who actually do kidnapping ? ( Remember Stanley Poole ... )  Were the majority of the Little Sisters 'converted' while Fontaine was still in control of his organizations ?  Did Ryan shut down the Orphanages ? ( they never bothered to mention this ... )
Pheromone Control - used on Splicers to try to control their destructive activities -- which was instigated by Fontaine to destroy Ryan's Control of the City - murder of people in the streets and wrecking the economy, AND 'incentivizing' more people to become Splicers to defend themselves.
That Pheromone Control was used in the 'civil war' Naming it a 'civil war' is inaccurate. It was more a Terrorist Campaign by a thug seeking power, and using a bit too many story-convenient "Useful Idiots" ( A term Coined by Lenin ) to help him seize power. by Ryan to nullify Fontaine/Atlas's barely controllable Splicer army ( used on Splicers who already lost most of their 'free-will' to ADAM-addiction and the resulting insanity ) so that his forces could win and restore order ( this is the state of things at the start of BS1 ).   Ryan would seek to keep the City running and find and implement a solution.  Eliminating Atlas's large-scale disruptions was necessary.
Ryan often did not institute stronger (oppressive) security measure until long after they were seen as necessary.  He believed that people would figure it out themselves and tyranny was no solution.  He closed off Apollo Square because it was a center of violent Atlas followers, and then dumped people who supported Atlas's side into that containment.  Fontaine and Sofia Lamb would have simply murdered their opponents (and had).
Many times, even when Fontaine was known to be a Smuggler, Ryan required and enforced due process (like using real evidence) in order to arrest and remove Fontaine.  NOTE - It is actually an absurdity that such a large Smuggling operation ( big enough to make Fontaine so much money ) could be 'hidden' (unproven) for so long (like 6 years ?).  Unfortunately, Fontaine seems to have had no problem killing informants/witnesses, bribing constables and causing major disruptions to side-track Justice in Rapture.
Sealing off Rapture from The Surface - was part of the original plan ( anyone who went there knew about the attempts at secrecy and self-sufficiency from the start ).   Cold War - Anyone who understands what that historically entailed had no problem with Ryan's justifications.   Those who threatened Raptures safety by continuing contact with The Surface were traitors who could doom all of Rapture ( that was made clear to all, and those who continued to endanger the city knew that if caught they would pay the price. ).
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Ryan Not Caring For 'The Poor'.  
Ryan's Philosophy and that of his City was made plain to anyone who was going there. A majority of the 'Construction Workers' (and NOT thousands) were largely machine operators ( Rapture was mostly built with machines and automation ) who long-term were understood to have to eventually get new jobs, and many did.   The major economic strife was actually caused by Fontaine/Atlas's violence which disrupted large parts of the City.  Many of the people who called for taking from some citizen's (via taxes) to give to the 'poor' were doing so only for their own gain of power ( Fontaine says this himself ).  Rapture had already 'ridden out' an earlier economic recession years previous, and had survived and its economy resurged.   
A few people name Ryan a Tyrant and that was what WE were mostly presented with (Audio Diaries) in the game.  But then 'Ryan is Evil' was part of the Story Plot to foist Atlas as our friend and 'ally' to follow like a sheep.
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Ryan Profiting from the War - That's Pure Garbage :
"RYAN WILL SELL MORE PLASMIDS -- DERRRRP !!!!!" More of the writers trying to smear Ryan ( YOU then ignorantly FOLLOW Atlas to carry out crimes for him ).
Wars are costly.  Besides the basic destruction/deaths, there is also the disruption of the normal economy and the uncertainty/distraction of the Citizens.   Since Ryan's holdings were a large percentage of the 'Establishment', any 'War Profits' (and the Losses)  would be coming 'out of his own pocket' anyway, AND with far more damage and loss for him. 
The same logic goes for Sinclair somehow wanting to 'Arm' people who wanted to kill him (Atlas's terrorists) in his Home Defense product testing.   (( That can be de-emphasized as Canon because it was sloppily used to facilitate the Multi-Player DLC's side plot)).
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"Brain Bleach" Tonic - Solution To The NOBODY CAN LEAVE Issue :
We can hypothesize an attempt ( Project requested by Ryan ) to get a 'Mind Wipe' therapy to use on people who could then be ejected from Rapture ( versus just volunteering them to die, like Sofia Lamb would ). Something like it is used as part of 'The Cure' in the Tenenbaum Clinic to repair brain damage caused by ADAM Disease.
ADAM can do so many other things so easily, WHY NOT THIS ( Easy - it would ruin the Dystopian Story ). Excuses could be made that it worked too well, and Ryan's Philosophy wouldn't allow him to STEAL peoples-minds/personality/memories. Perhaps something like this WAS used in cleaning up Big Daddy Brains to take in their Conditioning and Training.
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Vagueness To Cover The Unexplainable :
Rapture, the people and place in the game, was very similar to the real world of that time (late 1940s), much less the phonied-up Strawman hit-piece against American Values the later (Infinite BS) game wholly degenerated into. Rapture's form of society was too recent in memory for the audience, and ignorance could be easier to cultivate for that longer ago Columbia 1900 time ( sidestepping the much discussed incoherency and screwups of that later BS game's production ).
It would need to be vague, for the issues which were portrayed : Objectivism, Capitalism, Individualism ( which WERE more prevalent in America at that time ) so as to be labeled/demonstrated as flawed by the writers' story. Unfortunately those writers are the product of a time 50 years later, who seem severely ignorant of how people thought at that earlier time in history (( and if NOT ignorant they seemed unwilling to show that times reality to the Players -- of whom many may be similarly ignorant )). Rapture was initially NOT a Dystopia ( any more than America at that time, or even America today ), when it was hit by a "Shock" - a THREAT that could overcome Society's safeguards and stability mechanisms ( and it would do that EVEN MORE easily today ).
That NEW THREAT was rather contrived ( the logic was too odd/faulty - to force the story ), and shown to fully and quickly overcome Rapture ( to simplistically fit the Twists needs ). The writers totally disregarding what the people there ( like reals people of that earlier time ) were capable of -- The rules which they THEN had lived under, and the social mechanisms which COULD handle such a disruption IF they were allowed to ( The Rapturites had been through a recent Great Depression and World War, which had tested them FAR beyond people living in our (YOUR) current 'so safe' World ).
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For the MMORPG's story, there would have remained plenty enough left intact for Ryan and the many remaining sane people to rebuild his dream. The original story conveniently (and bizarrely mid-story) killed him, and made that impossible to happen. The MMORPG has Rapture not quite as dead ( nor quite as destroyed by Lamb/Fontaine/ADAM ) just a few years later trying to rebuild.
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Filtered Reality :
Everything in the game (BS1) was designed/contrived to force you into a certain mindset, so that they could spring 'the Twist' on you. The Player was obviously being manipulated to swallow Fontaine's lies ( Note- the tragic mood music for the little "Fake Atlas family blown-up in the Sub by that evil Ryan" scene ). There was no real music -- It was simply pressure upon the Player, who is used to cues like that in-game to help tell them what's going on ( in this case not knowing they are having a lie FORCED upon them ).
Now that you have realized that deception, go back and look at everything the writers did in your game experience - Everything you are shown is fairly one-sided or vague ( vagueness also meant less work for the gamemakers too - also it is less possible to have jarring contradictions in the storylines - handy when you are in a rush to deadline ).
Jack could even be mentally blocking things out ( your perception as a Player ) as he was Fontaine's creature with his mind shaped to order, and could have been preconditioned to go against anything Ryan believed in ( that, besides the excuse of being compelled to do things more directly by WYK, as is later revealed ). (( As mentioned elsewhere : Jack's mind is artificial and incomplete ( from what a REAL person of his age should have ), and that in itself warps whatever we think we are shown from Jack's Point of View. ))
Probably (possibly ?) Jack had munched on many tasty BBQ'd Splicers ( !Incinerate'd fresh corpses ) on his way as he traveled across Rapture, and could have murdered lots of 'normal' people (Ryan Supporters) along the way without YOU being conscious of it. How would you really know ? REMEMBER - You weren't SHOWN him murdering a whole planeload of people in the Plane hijacking - were you ?? How could THAT be forgotten/unknown ???? Imagine IF YOU had been aware of that at the very beginning of the game - What a difference THAT would make on the way you played, no ????????
I suppose, if they (game writers) were more clever, they could have had you be shown to be head-injured in the crash, and subjected you to visual/auditory effects caused by it, and have at least a little of something hinting that your thinking is impaired. That is, IF ( to preserve that plot 'Twist' ) they wanted a reason/excuse to NOT EVER show direct evidence/clues which contradicted/confused their forced perceptions.
At the end of BS1, did Atlas really look like that ? Or was it again the result of Jack's heavy use of ADAM in a very short time that completely addled his brain ( along with who knows what that Dr Tenenbaum did to him later - SHE could manipulate Jack for her own purposes also ... ). Was it (maybe) a remnant of the conditioning/mind-shaping that would have Fontaine look like a god, to be able to obtain obedience of Jack when needed (and Fear otherwise), and some of that influence remained ( 'undisabled' by Tenenbaum ) which made 'god Fontaine' harder to destroy than he should have been ( notice that WE (Jack) don't actually get Fontaine 'in the end' ourselves in that pre-canned Boss Fight pre-ending ).
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Ryan The Cardboard Cutout Villain :
Ryan intervening in the 'civil war' only when normalcy is long gone : "Was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't" -- Now when he finally intervenes for public safety he is labeled a tyrant.
Maintaining order WAS one of the things that Ryan had a mandate to do.
Apparently seizing Fontaine Futuristics was the 'breaking point' that enabled 'Atlas' (with his 'Ryan the tyrant' propaganda) even though it was the source of the Insanity-producing poison. Thats despite it was being used to arm the gangs of murderous Splicers that were disrupting Rapture ( crazy Splicers murdering MANY citizens to the point they couldn't go to work or even out to buy food ).  
Ryan should have shut the company down, and let Atlas's Splicers wither away as their ADAM was cut off -- Instead of the lame excuses showing him running it 'business as usual' -- SORRY LEVINE, You DON'T have 'business as usual' in the middle of a War.  Keeping Fontaine Futuristics going to continue Poisoning further Citizens was a bad decision Ryan probably would NOT have made ( except the plot said so ) -- Rapture IS its Citizens.  Did the gamewriters understand that there is NO 'Market' to be 'Free' when psychotic maniacs are shooting everyone in sight ?
The later 'Pheromone Control vs Free-Will'  ISSUE would NOT have happened ( that supposed Ryan's 'final' abandonment of his principles ... )   Even with THAT measure, hadn't the Splicers already surrendered their Free-Will to their ADAM addiction ?? ( the Pheromones Control ONLY worked on Splicers genetically-modified by Plasmids ... Too much simpleton misunderstandings on the gamewriters part in their forcing their slaughter-fest game situation. Proper Care and effort might have made it work more plausibly. ). 
Freedom to murder other people ?  That kind of Freedom is NOT in Ryan's Philosophy.  Instead the game makes Ryan only interested in nothing but 'profits' -- In which case - A money-grubbing RYAN would NEVER have built Rapture as an achievement. Seriously, these gamewriters produced something a 5th Grader would for their over-contrived 'story'. BUT MAYBE - That is all they thought the typical Shooter-Fest-type Player could tolerate - So why 'try harder' and deliver real 'Story' ??????????????????? .
So Ryan waited too long to go against his 'principles' - Only when Rapture was heading for destruction and Splicer armies were taking over, and he finally had to take strong measures and fought back instead of simply surrendering to those who would take all the power for themselves ( and destroy any hope of going back to Rapture's founding principles ).
Was Ryan intelligently allowed to follow his principles by the writers ? Or was he really just turned into an inflexible cardboard cutout tyrant to set the stage for the a blast-fest shoot-em-up game in a flimsily/contrived 'Ruined City' ????
For these writers, NOTHING, even logic, gets in the way of 'The Plot'.
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Interesting In-Game Sign - Reward for Smuggler Info :
 
All those heavy handed contrived plot-line machinations - We are told how addictive ADAM was and how it allegedly drove so many to the disastrous extremes we witnessed.  It is very odd that Ryan's men could NOT after several years seem to find/prove Fontaine's smuggling operation ( With those large fixed facilities at Smugglers Hideout existing and all the people involved - it would be rather hard to cover up for long ).
Here (in the picture) we have plenty enough (300) ADAM offered for such info to make any Splicer salivate, and cutoff their own toes to get ahold of.   More than enough to persuade a multitude of informants to not just 'inform', but maybe even deliver Fontaine's head on a platter -- no matter what coercion he was capable of.
A little more care should have been given to make this much more plausible ( design it right, and it does not cost any more money to create the story correctly ).   (( Again, yes its a Blast-Fest game, and alot of this stuff was window-dressing for that.  But they obviously went to frequent efforts to make the game plots more than two dimensional, and doing it right only takes the desire to actually do so. ))
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Bad Ending Outcome- Just an Assumption : "Bathyspheres Surface Carrying Splicers, Who Allegedly Slaughter the Crew and Apparently Capture the Submarine and Its Missiles" :
Bizarre, But Unlikely when BS2 has Rapture still exists a good part of a decade later.
Easy enough that 'evil' Jack instead simply dies of something ( A Childhood disease maybe ?? ) before he was able to do much to The Surface or to Rapture.  BTW, no SLBMSubmarine Launched Ballistic Missile submarine (Boomer) would EVER be sent to  investigate a plane crash like that ( The Cold Warhttps://www.conservapedia.com/Cold_War was still on, plenty of deployed surface ships are involved with that, etc ... )   So sorry, no nukes for Evil Jack.
Evil Jack gets his-self a Nuke ?  Or apparently not ?   Speculation ?  Who says they (Splicers) captured the Sub ??   Apparently nothing much came of this, whichever way it went, for the storyline of BS2 to follow.  Imagine a nuclear depth charge going off at Rapture, after the US Navy understood that one or more nuclear warhead had fallen into the hands of some unknown enemies.  The plane crash investigation position WAS reported after all. The nuclear depth charge concussion will instantly crush every building and turn every inhabitant into tasty fishfood.
In any case, Ballistic Missile subs ( "Boomers" - firers of SLBMs - Strategic Nuclear Weapons ) would not be sent to investigate a jetliner/plane crash ( this is in the middle of The Cold War, and none of the 'Boomers' would EVER have had orders to do such a thing ).   Likely no Submarine would do such a task, as surface ships and airplanes are much better at doing such a mission.
The US had a naval air station at Keflavik Iceland (South Western tip of Iceland) and boats from various nations would be employed in a air crash 'rescue'.
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Dream a Little Dream ... :
Jack's Splicers attacking the US Navy Submarine is actually a delusional sequence ( A Boomer (ballistic missile sub ) would NEVER EVER be investigating an airliner crash ( and at a heated point in the Cold Warhttps://www.conservapedia.com/Cold_War
 ... absolutely absurd ... ) and even less likely do what was shown in BS1 --- so it was obviously some crazy Dream ).
Perhaps it was one Jack had in a drugged up state, while his father was having him deprogrammed.
"Don't ever let Fact, Reason, Logic, Reality, Physical Laws get in the way of the Plot..."
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"Use of the phrase "Would You Kindly" - Actually Jack Hijacked the Plane after READING that Phrase on a Note Attached to his "Gift" :
Anybody thought of that before - that this particular WYK is a textual instruction ( versus all the other trigger usages being verbal ).  Conditioning-wise it is a whole different thing, but it is likely Jack had been programmed with both types of trigger ( so it is not illogical to have that flexibility ).
BUT, if that was therefore to work, THEN here is a good *Twist* for the Game : In Ryan's Lair, in Rapture Central Control, the words "Would You Kindly" are on the wall in BIG letters ( hard NOT to see them ).   Seeing that should have had some effect on Jack ( Like make him stand there endlessly waiting for the following instruction command ).
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Something Not Really Mentioned in the Game(s) - Their GULAG is a Buzzword :
The Persephone complex was a Prison ( Detention/Correctional Facility ) that is made to appear, by the developers, to contain only Ryan's political 'opponents', when the actual contents (possibly the majority) were common criminals ( excluding late era smugglers who were publicly hung as "Traitors to the City" ). After ADAM-insanity became a major problem, the facility effectively also became a place to warehouse large numbers of the criminally/violently insane -- Requiring extensive 'pacification' facilities/processes (which we saw). As the ADAM problem increased, the Prison likely became quite full ( with the usual overcrowding problems ). Apparently, Ryan's Regime did not believe in simply murdering problematic people as Fontaine and Sofia Lamb did. 
Medical Research on volunteer inmates was 'nothing new' in that real world era ( Notice the posters asking inmates to volunteer in exchange for perks ), and other work trying to 'pacify' violent inmates probably left many as walking zombies. Sinclair supposedly gained control of the facility when Ryan needed someone to try to keep it under control ( Sinclair supposedly built-the-place, so maybe THAT control 'was a given' ... ). Sinclair first rented inmates (in what state ?) to Fontaine Industries for Plasmid testing, and some were later used to create the first Alphas. Later inmates were made into Big Daddies. Sofia Lamb cooperated with this, while in Persephone Prison, and used her manipulative ways to 'select' candidates for research convenient to her ... ( One wonders (not that much) if she simply choose those who would NOT be useful to her -- over those she knew she could talk into 'doing her bidding'. )
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Inmates "Charged with speaking against Andrew Ryan and his policies" -- If it was Rephrased to be : "Publicly Calling for Ryan's Death and for Seizing control of All of Rapture" --- That kind of sounds a bit different, doesn't it, when it is put that way.
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"Would You Kindly Not Open until 63° 2° N, 29° 55° W"   ???? :
And Jack would know that exact position how ???? Sitting in a commercial jet plane seat ?  On the plane flights  I've been on, they don't announce continually the Longitude and Latitude position.  Was one of the things he was (in the story) taught in his 'accelerated development' and 'conditioning' of how to fly a jet airplane, or at least read the instruments to make sure (as he was commanded) that he got to the right place ?? ( Note- they didn't have Longitude/Latitude instruments back then - It was a far more complicated manual process using Radio direction findings -- ITS WHY THEY HAD AN ADDITIONAL NAVIGATOR CREWMAN )  Then his arranging the crash landing - rather risky for Fontaine to rely on that - why not just have Jack dropped off by a boat ?
If he cannot open the box til he knows he's there, then how does he get into the pilots cabin without the 'gun in the box' to see the instruments or work the controls ( the instructions for which are ALSO in the  closed box ?? )
Even in the first BioShock the plot details could have been written alot better ( without it costing much at all ).
Its Only A Game ... supposedly it was supposed to be more ??? So that's NO EXCUSE.
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Radio Msg From Fontaine : (( Remember That Atlas Is A Liar ))
About Genetic Security] stuff
* Jack would only have half of Ryan's genes. So whatever it is detecting, it is somewhat limited ( As Sullivan mentions in his Audio Diary Genetic Whazits
* But if that was so, then shouldn't the active security have 'cut Fontaine in half' long before too ??
* You don't see the Splicers having quite that much trouble with them either ( before YOU "Hack" the security devices and turn them against YOUR Splicer opponents ).
* Why exactly are Ryan's Splicer immune til you do that ??
* How exactly is this "genetic" detection working to differentiate for so many individuals of them too ??? ( Ryan's Splicers vs Fontaine's Splicers - before the 'Pheromone Control' probably required to have alot of the Security systems disabled because of the risk killing the wrong Splicers/Ryan's Men, etc.., 
* They may not have been normally used in the remaining safer/normal parts of Rapture ).
* Probably have the automatics used in "No Go Zones" with such indiscriminant 'genetic' detections.
Perhaps much of the device control was really a Non-Splicer in a security booth somewhere, manually controlling/guiding (remote control) the security to give it the necessary 'smarts' ( as was probably done in the early days to prevent slaughtering Citizens by mistake ).
So it wasn't quite as effective as Fontaine makes them out to be. Maybe Fontaine has to convince himself that all that complicated costly effort he put into 'Ace in The Hole' was actually worth it, instead of doing something far simpler. OR it is just another part of his lies ( he's "HELPING" you - remember ?? Despite YOU doing all the work and many all the things HE aught to be able to do himself ... )
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Illogical STUPIDLY-Written Actions By Atlas - The Exploding Sub Charade ( Done For the Plot "Evil Ryan" Drumbeat ) :
Why would Fontaine (as Atlas in BS1) put himself at such risk to do his little "Death of his family in  the Smuggling Submarine done by Mean Ole Ryan" skit,  when he simply could have told Jack : "Would You Kindly head for Andrew Ryan in Hephaestus, and kill him" ... so very simple and direct ??   Like Japanese WW2 Naval battle plans, Fontaine's 'Assassinate Ryan' plan seems a bit over-complex.
Ryan had already discovered the Smugglers Hideout (Peach certainly gave it away as part of his plea bargain/turning 'states evidence'), and Ryan no doubt had the place well monitored and watched.  A simple locked door blocking Jack's progress ?  Atlas seemed to have no problem with opening other such obstacles.  He might have done it remotely, or had one of his remaining lackeys do it, or done it stealthily ( IF this charade was actually needed, have planted explosives and then beat a quick retreat - Atlas obviously already had the Sub rigged to explode as part of his manipulative mental games ! ).
Why have Jack come blundering in, bringing Ryan's attention, and Atlas there facing down a bunch of Ryan  controlled Splicers ( which he conveniently handles with so little effort - they should have given pursuit and enjoyed disemboweling Atlas in the Smuggling Tunnel and been hauling the carcass away for the Bounty  )?   We just as well could have Jack climb through that hole located where you look down onto the dock, and quickly skedaddle through the door to Arcadia, bypassing all the risks.   
But then it was the game writers having their staged Plot scenes laid out -- all part of laying on the manipulative lies too thickly ( while the Player knows no better ), contriving use of an ignorant Player's  empathy to set you up ( as in 'lead you by the nose', or 'drive you with a cattle prod' ) into position for 'The Twist' ...
All too complicated and risky for Fontaine's goals - too many things to go wrong.  This was Fontaine's last card to play ( after the Pheromone Control and Ryan's tactics had him all but beaten ).  Very stupid,  when Fontaine was supposed to be so clever.  At his point he should be looking how to escape. ( He does exceed this stupidity much further in BaS's cockamamie story ).
If the WYK was not really that effective controlling Jack ( requiring this whole additional psychological manipulation on Fontaine's part ), then why weren't WE allowed a chance to resist it when it mattered ?   THAT might've been a much BETTER plot element.    
The MMORPG might need to try to explain all this illogic (retcon like crazy to patch it).
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You Just Get to Rapture and Quickly The Story Starts Heading Downhill :
That whiney guy Johnny, who 'Atlas' sends to go get you in BS1 at the very beginning ( before you get out of the Bathysphere ) :
:1) He has no working gun ( Didn't bring one ? Doesn't know how to use one ? ) 
:2) 'Johnny' thinks that he can reason with a Splicer - Offers to give his gun to the Splicer to be 'left alone'. 
:3) And then He gets disemboweled in about 2 seconds.
Where has this guy been for the last year or more ???  (( Mass Murder and Mayhem brought to Rapture by Fontaine. ))
How did he survive to even to get to that Metro station ? ( Hmm, WHY didn't Atlas come himself ??? )
What does it say about some of the people that Atlas has left working for him at that point ?
Atlas apparently is watching you at that location (somehow) and sends the Security Bot after the Splicer ( after it is too late for the now disemboweled Johnny ).
Is this Atlas wasting one of his incompetent lackeys ( who was supposed to somehow guard and guide Jack ?? ) as part of the charade to fool Jack into willingly going after Ryan. 
Fontaine, a minute one way or the other, AT ANY POINT could have lost Jack so easily - killed/disabled. This was Rather Sloppy actions for deploying Fontaine's 'Ace-card' that Fontaine is currently betting on for his ultimate goal ).  Not a great start, if unarmed Jack got killed right there and then -- Game Over FONTAINE !!!.
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REAL Cause for Rapture's "Decline" :
NOT : "Many Rapture citizens felt that essential jobs such as food processing, cleaning, and simple maintenance were beneath them. This led to widespread dissatisfaction when these jobs were neglected, leading to an eventual economic recession throughout Rapture."
QUITE Likely not true. There were plenty of ordinary people there in Rapture to ESCAPE things in The Surface World  ( post-WW2 there were millions who would leave 'where they were' to simply to get to a better place or even just to SURVIVE ).   Those people (unlike many today) actually knew how to work, and accepted it.   The earlier economic downturn in Rapture happened when the major city construction ceased, and a number of construction workers had to readjust and re-integrate into the economy ( which they apparently largely did, as that was around 1952 ).  So for that 'Recession', things were eventually able to get back to normal. 
The BIG economic distress happened because of Fontaine using ADAM as his tool to try to Take Over - the Kashmir Incident (and other attacks) broke confidence in public safety, and the economy could not operate normally with murderous Splicers wandering the streets. Rapture had not been a police state, and Ryan's men were not really equipped to deal with ADAM-powered terrorists.  The Audio Diaries spoke of a 'Run on the Bank' which disrupted normal business operations, as citizens become more cautious and 'hunkered down'.   Businesses failed in the abnormal times, and then with more people who can't pay others, it snowballed.
So it was NOT dissatisfaction with 'menial' jobs, but LACK of jobs which gave Fontaine/Atlas his easy prey with his 'easy promises' to the desperate people.   And since this is a shoot-em-up game, no other solutions could/would be offered by the writers which might prevent that dystopic situation ( a thing required for the mass-slaughter behavior of the Player, ontop of the less-than-human zombie-like Splicers ).
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Looking at Various Places/City Views Seen in the Game - Caricatures :
But then the real Rapture, to maintain its appearance of the Modern World and Big City 'look', would have to largely be a caricature, as a 'City' of 20000-40000 is still (in reality) not even a large 'Town'.
Overbuilt Buildings - Height added ( even Real World buildings did that for 'show' )
Possibly some of those 'Wales Brothers buildings were TOO leaky, and had to be abandoned ( requiring replacements to be built for the original purpose/need, and the leaky ones sidetracked for other purposes ... ).
-
Most of these buildings are smaller than you think.  Strong sunlight goes almost completely black through 600 feet of perfectly clear water.  The right building can be scaled by the people in it look ~60 feet away.  The middle building distance is about 3 X as far (~180 ft).  The far distant buildings ( look about twice again as far ), with the buildings still well visible (say < 400 ft) through the murky water.  This means the buildings are not as large/tall, with floors far fewer than they might appear ( Extra 'window' rows are for show, which is expected in Rapture ) and the upper 'towers' are probably decorative ( interiors too small to be habitable/usable - except maybe for utilities and other unpressurized purposes ).  This (buildings being smaller) would also alleviate any ocean current pressure which is 800 X stronger than wind pressure ( even if just current turbulence - even when most of Rapture is protected by the side of the volcano ).  The simplest clue of all is : that just about EVERY level you've ever been inside in the game was squat and sprawling with limited elevations ( max ~8 stories is about it for the Welcome Center elevator area and the upper floors in Artemis Suites you cannot get to ).
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So you Escape from Rapture and Get to the Surface,  and Then What?? :
"I ESCAPED RAPTURE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID T-SHIRT"
Lighthouse scene when Jack arrives : People who managed to take the Bathysphere up to the Lighthouse get out and then ???  The nearest land is 300+ miles away.  The supply boats don't come any more.  The short ranged Bathyspheres only go back and forth between the Lighthouse and the Welcome Center dock.  The people who thought to escape are stuck.  The Bathyspheres suddenly resubmerge with their door open and anyone not quick enough to get out drowns.  Jack, when he arrives, is met inside by pathetic piles of skeletons/bones, some obviously well gnawed.  There is evidence of some attempts to light fires and build shelter.  Useless luggage is left forlorn and abandoned or as ashes.  There are signs of past struggles of new 'escapees' rising to the surface and being seized by the starving people already there.
Isn't it a good thing that Ryan locked down that Bathysphere ?
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Writer's Faulty Excuses :
People in Rapture did  X Y Z in the story, but it doesn't matter if it is illogical because they were all crazy on ADAM ... Except, alot of 'it' (story bits) happened BEFORE ADAM existed, and even afterwards when most people STILL weren't yet significantly effected by ADAM.  Rapture as a 'City', a functioning society, had to work by logical rules and behaviors, or Rapture simply wouldn't have continued to exist for 11+ years.  Unfortunately, the writers make believe ( or just forgot/didn't care ? ) that those 'rules' didn't exist yet, or that they wouldn't largely continue to be in effect even after ADAM started to warp that society.
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A Streetcar Named "Dystopia" ... (Labeling Rapture) :
Can you actually call Rapture (as shown in the BioShock games) a "Dystopia" - (( Which is supposed to be a place running 'normally' in its state )) ? That's like calling a European city a 'Dystopia' after its been bombed out in WW2, or that 'Walking Dead' world a 'Dystopia' (a place in free-fall doesn't quite fit that word, does it). Is YOUR society YOU live in TODAY a 'Dystopia' because some people are unhappy, and some others struggle in it ?? ( BTW - Welcome to ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY ). Before Fontaine/Atlas's terrorism, WAS the Rapture Ryan built a 'Dystopia' or much like what you see in the game ?? Little was really shown of 'BEFORE', and what you see in-game ( ruins, corpse everywhere, and crazy murdereous people wandering the street ) is the result of what happened starting with the Kashmir Incident. (( BaS1, for what its worth, shows little 'Dystopia' -- particularly in any of the newspapers and in the NPC's talk ). WAS the 'BEFORE' unrest ( caused by economic hardships for some citizens ) sufficient to meet that definition ?? Was that experienced by any majority of the population ? We don't have much to judge that by, do we ? We see the wreckage of a separate Calamity.
Remember the story said that the Kashmir Massacre was such a shock to Rapture. AFTER that time, when the Chaos began ( the Terrorists attacks, followed by mass-insanity, and Rapture is destabilized almost completely ), things weren't 'normal' in any way. People suddenly were very afraid/arming themselves/calling on Ryan to protect them. The story/plot says the mass ADAM insanity was rather suddenly released. (( AND We really aren't made aware of how the larger Rapture post-Kashmir society system operated/survived - There was the usual vagueness avoiding most details, and the outright lying of the info being fed to you. We walked through only a small part of Rapture. ))
To be a "Dystopia", Rapture should have been like that beach party going on in Columbia, existing alongside the tyrannical terror-driven slavery/serfdom and with festive public executions - A place/situation being stable with that disconnect between parts of its society. For Rapture to be like that kind of situation, you would have kept getting Radio messages from Ryan where you can hear the BIG Party going on in the background ( evidence of all the affluent people still living it up, while the 'downtrodden' are suffering ). Meanwhile YOU as Jack would be fighting your way through the ADAM-sucking mutants and gunslinging mayhem in the broken/shitty parts of Rapture. It wasn't like that -- more like YOU are wandering through the chaos of a bombed out city, no ? 
--- --- ---
 "You Don't Own Us Ryan" - Fontaine's Rent-a-Mob Protester's Signs (BS1) :
Scene abandoned suitcases at the Welcome Center Lighthouse Bathysphere Station - protest signs strewn about...
None of their suitcases had anything in them ( that scene at Welcome Center Bathysphere station ), and their signs were RATHER well pre-printed, No ? SO were they REALLY just more of Fontaine's troublemaking to cause problems for Ryan ( instead of the actual population angst ) ??
How many of those Citizens managed to get up to the Lighthouse before figuring out that there was no place to go from there (BUT ATLAS PROMISED !!!), and that it was DAMNED cold up there in the middle of the North Atlantic ??? ( Even better, if it was at that time in the middle of a Winter storm. ) Ryan probably had the bodies cleaned up later before Jack's arrival (( THAT would have been an interesting scene - "knee deep in rotting corpses" -- THAT early in the BS1 game )). But throwing them into the water would be easy ( once the newspapers took picture to record the gullibility of those whom the troublemakers had intentionally CONVINCED it was a way to leave Rapture ). Fontaine/Atlas probably had a 'good laugh' at the "Suckers" ( those who weren't his men 'helping' the 'protest' ).
Count all those signs - How many people would that have really been ? Not exactly a "mass protest" for the number of people Rapture had in it. When did it happen ? Lets assume it was after the Kashmir Incident scared so many people. It is unlikely all this stuff is still left lying there from ~1952, after the economic 'crash' and when the Isolation of Rapture was instituted.
--- --- ---
The Paupers Drop 'Poor' :
The 'shantytown' in the Paupers Drop location - Seriously, how many people could actually live there ?? ( minus the Sinclair Hotel's space ). Seems the number of 'Poor' people in Rapture was much exaggerated ( as would be done by Sofia Lamb and Atlas to cause trouble and justify/facilitate their crimes ). Blocked Doors lead to adjacent areas, hopefully there's more evidence of 'poor people' somewhere there in Rapture's Lamb-Run "Rooseveltville". What you see there ( a caricature of 'poverty' ) in BS2 was more about what happened during/after the 'civil war'. and subsequently under the Lamb regime ( Possibly it is because better places have become uninhabitable due to collectivist mismanagement/lack of upkeep ).
--- --- ---
Rapture Would Have Fought Back :
Unlike people of our time, who have been repeatedly told they "don't have to be able to defend themselves", and that they "will be taken care of", the people who went to Rapture were from THAT 40s era WHEN such ideas were looked on by the majority with disgust and ridicule ( THEY had lived lives where the opposite was proven ... even proven to society's simpletons ).
So Ryan would have been able to raise a substantial Militia to fight Atlas's terrorists, and to secure safety for themselves without resorting to desperate insanity-producing ADAM. Whole sections of Rapture very easily could (would) be kept safe and productive, while Ryan worked to eliminate the evil element trying to destroy/kill everyone and seize control.
All the chaos we saw (in-game) could be simply explained as the places Atlas and his murderers had reigned within before being stopped. Using 'Jack' was pretty much an act of desperation for Atlas/Fontaine, who at the time of the game was being cornered, and would soon have been eliminated by Ryan and the people of Rapture.
Atlas of course wouldn't mention any of that to YOU, AND it WAS eventually shown to you HOW MUCH he said was lies. It is unfortunate YOU weren't honestly given the Choice (REAL CHOICE FOR ONCE) to decide for yourself ( or at least to see the truth ) : With more/sufficient counter-evidence offered, instead of that contrived force-fed narrative, which was purely created to work that weak/meager plotline 'twist' :
:See Jack Run.
:Run Jack, Run.
:See Atlas Talk.
:Talk, Atlas Talk.
:See Atlas Lie.
:Lie, Lie, Lie.
:See Ryan Saving Rapture.
:See Jack Listen To Atlas.
:Stupid Jack, Stupid.
:See Jack Whack Ryan.
:Whack, Whack, Whack.
:Stupid Jack, Stupid.
:See Fontaine Atlas Crow.
:Crow, Fontaine Crow.
:See Jack Kill Atlas.
:Kill, Kill, Kill. Die, Die, Die.
:See Ryan Fool Fontaine.
:Fool, Fool, Fool.
:See Jack Saved By Father.
:Saved, Saved, Saved.
:See Rapture Reborn.
:Yay !!! Yay!! Yay !!
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Circus Of Empty :
Consider that by 1968 it would not be likely that anyone would be reloading the Vending Machines ( particularly in Sofia Lamb-land, where any remaining supplies get allocated to (bribe) only 'trusted' minions ). So the BS2 Writers should have come up with some other differences, like 4/5 machines being broken, and more random Splicer Stashes to find to get yourself (Player) more supplies - Maybe even some in 'caches' from [[Sinclair]] ( for a nominal fee/favor trade ).
Similar for the MMORPGs Rapture : which would have more 'home made stuff' in some repaired vending machines, but out in The Ruins, they would still be largely inoperable/destroyed/gone.
--- --- ---
Plot Questions :
If Fontaine has Jack created ~4 years before (~1956) the events of Bioshock, then the Bathyspheres had to have been 'locked down' before that ( or just the ones leading to the Lighthouse ).  Fontaine wanted Jack to have Ryan's genetic match ( otherwise why need it/mention it ), so possibly other security measures using "Genetic" Keying also existed.   
Is it likely for the 'Bathyspheres' to be locked down in 1952 ( when Rapture was officially isolated from The Surface ), when related events ( like the ending of major city Construction ) precipitated an economic downturn.  Just at that time Anton Kincaide was organized his Rapture Metro system ( when before that Bathyspheres WEREN'T as significant ) - It Does not make sense for a 'Lockdown' of the whole Bathysphere system JUST as it was opening up.  So this "lockdown" must've happened alot later.
As usual, Vague mentions of events with little additional detail ( like time to make clear the order they happened in ) poorly explains why certain people had motive and did certain things.
--- --- ---
Audio Diary : "Pulling Together" :
Andrew Ryan (BS1) : The children with their very long needles, their tuneless songs, their ghastly errands. Their ghoulish, Frankenstein fathers. But, we've all placed our hand on the Great Chain of endeavor. My hand is on it, Fontaine's is on it -- We all pull it and are pulled by it. Yes, these children are an abomination. But it is not my hand alone on the chain that created them. No. Their little fingers were right there, next to mine.
Elsewhere It Is Explained How "Little Sisters" With "Big Daddies" walking about is AFTER the 'civil war' is in-progress, and the City is In A State of Fighting For Its Life. Fontaine is assumed dead by that time. 
That situation is NOT in Normal Rapture where The Great Chain is In Effect.
 
SO WE SEE : Just One Illogic Poisons The Logic Of Many Other Game Assets. 
--- --- ---
Very Official sounding : "By Order of the Official Council of Rapture Colony." 
This must be an early Asset created before the story shifted ( Rapture City Council in other game content ). 
Payment in ADAM ? That would be after everything fell apart ( Money almost worthles ), and Atlas's Splicer Terrorists were causing mayhem in the City. After that Chaos ( starting with the Kashmir Incident ), there wasn't really that much concern anymore with "Smuggling" forbidden goods - More with the enemy getting weapons.
where in the game was this seen ??
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Audio Diary : "The Market is Patient"
Andrew Ryan : "There has been tremendous pressure to regulate this Plasmid business. There have been side effects: blindness, insanity, death. But what use is our ideology if it is not tested ? The market does not respond like an infant, shrieking at the first sign of displeasure. The market is patient, and we must be too."
So the nasty side effects of ADAM are publicly known ???? (How early was this ??)
THEN why would people still buy them knowing about "blindness, insanity, death" ??? 
Game's Writers trying to vilify Ryan : "RYAN DOESN'T CARE !!!!"
The people of Rapture don't seem to Care either then, if they kept buying the poison ( and then later there would be even more poisoned ADAM users to complain and be noticed ).
'THE BUYER IS AWARE - and should have acted accordingly. 
But the writers could not have that for their plot. So this is ILLOGICAL.
--- --- ---
Audio Diary : "Offer a Better Product" :
Andrew Ryan (BS1) : "Gregory, don't come whining to me about market forces. And don't expect me to punish citizens for showing a little initiative. If you don't like what Fontaine is doing, well, I suggest you find a way to offer a better product."
Ryan in the other Audio Diary seems to imply HE HIMSELF is going to do just that. ( 'give it a tug' ... )
IS THIS ABOUT DEFECTIVE ADAM OR ABOUT FONTAINE'S ABUSIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES ???
"market forces" ?? - What exactly is that about here ? Fontaine Criminality isn't implied in THAT term.
Fontaine creating Monopolies ??? Pushing out competitors ?? Gregory owned a Fishing Company ?
::Merged this complaint with the Audio Diary "Watch Fontaine" which indicates Fontaine's criminality being plainly seen/known. 
::We then have to ask : Why is Fontaine not Brought To Justice for crimes he used to coerce rivals or others taking revenge for those crimes if there's "No Law". Not Just 'unfair', but real crimes being involved.
::Its writer Contrivance, and them NOT integrating details of their own story.
==Free Press Denounces Criminal Fontaine, Arrest Warrants Issued - Film At 11==
::THAT is the societal method : the Citizens Putting Fontaine out of Business or Having Him Arrested For the Crimes Fontaine Used to abuse/coerce competing businesses.
BUT offer a better product IS the emphasis here. ??? That's the strange thing, as it doesn't matter how good your product is when criminal methods will simply override it. ( And Ryan shouldn't be vaguely saying to : Just go use Fontaine's methods back and kill the competitor. )
So this verbiage Audio Diary is ILLOGICAL. 
--- --- ---
COMBINE THESE THREE AUDIO DIARIES :
ADAM is a new market apparently. But does it interfere with any other markets ?? ... SO ... What ? 
ACTUALLY - People Of Rapture NOT Buying Fontaine's Poison - THAT IS "Market Forces" - The customers are the ones who need convincing/awareness. "Gregory" is asking for REGULATION, which is Government Interference in the Market.
"better product" ... So IS that about bad product ? Shouldn't Rapture's Press highlight such defects and Citizens would 'Vote with their Wallets' ?? Wouldn't this "Gregory" understand that method, instead of whining at Ryan ( For ... REGULATION ? This "Gregory" should already understand THAT isn't how Rapture operates. ) 
So here the writers present odd vaguaries - and some more attempted "RYAN DOESN'T CARE!!!" BULLSHIT
Ryan is following his Principles - at a time where things are normal and social counterbalances are 'still in play'. ( Later, we have War Measures being needed in an Emergency. But the writers don't differentiate that. )
The People Should BE Empowered In Rapture. The writers ignored that.
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