Nostalgia

* See also BioShock_Game_Elements
* See also Art Deco
* See also Music
* See also Art_Deco_Era_Slang
"It is Far Easier to Copy the Past than to Invent a Reasonable Looking Future" - Ridley Scott
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Using Nostalgia ( a game setting using a previous Real World era ) saves alot of effort by allowing using things that already existed as the models for the Terrain/Objects/Society/World. You select things of great/talented design from the Real World, mimic them - little real artistry is required. ( It can be Cost Effective and Impressive - when done correctly ).
But you can also do it wrong like in Infinite BS, where the gamemaker's decoherent mish-mash was hurtful to the brain. Inappropriate, exaggerated, misused, mismatched, nonsensical ... Perhaps the 'Merged' idea might have been used to explain that mess. IF they ever thought of that, they would have Pushed-It-Into-Your-Face - as they did every other of the 'bright ideas' they thought they cleverly included. 
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These Styles were already created, so the game company did not have to spend great effort to do appropriate/aesthetic/logical styles which 'look right' for their game 'theme' ( It takes a hue amount of REAL talent to 'make up' new styles having proper Balance and Form ).
Recognizable things/objects which the Player does NOT have 'to think twice about' what to do with them. You thus require less game detail/effort spent to 'explain' what it is you have, versus some unknown lump/thingee - as to what it-does/is-used-for, and then how it relates to Other-Objects/The-Player/The-Story, etc ... ).
Music/Art to be remembered/recognized were originally popular/well-done Real (World) things which passed Real World standards ( BUT were created/earned through someone else's Achievement/skill/genius/effort ).
Nostalgia Objects/Settings/People are easier because they come all integrated-together/cohesive/consistent in well-known sets from the Past. The hard Work has been previously done by real experts/artists ... long in the Past ... Who don't need to be paid development $$$ monies. The older the things are the less royalties need be paid (if any).
Simple Fact : Copying an idea is MUCH easier than coming up with it yourself. Botching its use is also easy -- When the game developer doesn't understand or doesn't care enough to use those previously existing REAL things correctly in an appropriate/contextual way.
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Double Nostalgia for the MMORPG :
* For that 1940's Look and Feel ( an important element of the original BioShocks ) ...
* For what must've been there in Rapture BEFORE it went to 'Wrack and Ruin' ( AND We can return to OUR Rapture - any/all of it seen in Flashbacks ) ...
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PainlessAssets.jpg|The Circus of Values Clown - Was Copied from a real Company 'Fruit Box' almost verbatim.
Circusz.jpg|BioShock's Circus of Values Clown
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Why Rapture Did Not Look Like Star Wars/Trek/Blade Runner :
In Rapture, there was a limit to the application of the 'new' technologies - as it was used for some things, while others were left at their base post-WW2 era level ( Those developments also took place AFTER much of the City and its contents were built/manufactured in existing styles for example ).  Most of Rapture was The Real World ONLY a bit adjusted. 
Aesthetics in style likewise does not change, even though the function of the object may be advanced ( thus an Art Deco Com-put-er terminal or the Genetic Research Camera which looks largely like a normal camera ).   Styles developed over the 6 decades since did not exist yet ( and themselves are fairly sophisticated idea developments ). 
Inventing appropriate NEW/Different things is truly hard. You cannot do it in Real Life Real Life is Rapture's Sci-Fi context - not Fantasy. without huge effort and talent (( YOU CAN'T simply do what the developers of BioShock could do to easily mass Duplicate/Cut-n-paste/Copy GOOD EXISTING Ideas/Styles/Themes/Materials/Media - Things so many better brains/hearts came up with long ago. ))
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A 'Thing' About Retro Technology Which I Find Interesting :
That at any point in Human history there were CLEVER people creating Clever Solutions to get things done, to produce useful products ( and the methods to produce those products too ).
People are NO SMARTER now than back then, Neither are they more Clever. Possibly today, because of mass communication, one can be exposed to more ideas ( though perhaps Too Many ). But that is not so new either. Go investigate how MANY people in the Middle Ages ( the ones who could Read & Write ) sent letters about new things and ideas across ( what was for them ) great distances.
OK, so what does this mean for the MMORPG ??
Rapture kept up on developments of the Surface World ( Tech Journals as 'Contraband' ?? ).
Even though being in a small community, the 'garage' inventors still had the ego to 'Show Off', which often led (as always) to someone else taking an idea and doing better with it ... Of course these things might not be anything people actually wanted, but they would still show them off - Allowing us to see them ( allowing strange amusing Assets created by Players which might be 'more joke than real' to be shown ).
Contact with The Surface post-1952 would have ( through official channels ) included technology data, as well as materials and tools that Rapture just could NOT be "Self-Sufficient" enough to produce itself. Stockpiles of such things would have been being built up, but that would take years.
Now this does not mean that you ( someone in Rapture ) can instantly create Wonder Products, like they fantastically/magically/problematically showed in Infinite:BS. You don't just SEE something and instantly can make it ( not even after years of work, if the required technologies/materials/skills/tools simply don't exist for you ). So for Rapture type stuff, it won't be 'StarTrekky' looking things, but just would be pushing advancements on things that already existed at the end of WW2, and largely keeping the style of things at that time.
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Retro'ing Columbia Properly :
In Columbia, to be properly a mixture of technologies ( old and futuristic ), there should have been telegraphs or speaking tubes everywhere ( including public booths ) serving in the place of Telephones ( or have the wires strung everywhere like they were during that period ). Even electric power/lights were considered dangerous and unnatural - There was still thinking that the "Electricity" might leak out of the fixture/sockets and poison you while you slept. Robotry and security mechanisms ( alarms and whatnot ) would have required telegraph-like controls. This all would be changed to act as a better backdrop for a few magical technology things produced from the 'Tears' or the alleged genius of the Luteces ( like the Floating ). 
Normal people 'back in the day' were suspicious enough of all new things, and even moreso this 'magic' stuff. Reading about it in fiction is one thing, but having your life depend on it is another ( Hmm, we never got and, should require, an explanation of the 'type' of people who would LIVE in a Floating city 'to begin with' ... )
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Meta-Level Nostalgia :
The MMORPG Players having Nostalgia for the BioShock game they played in their formative years.
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