User blog comment:LightOfJustice/What is your idea for the next main character in Bioshock 3?/@comment-1732397-20100812021715

Lets look at this from a game designer point of view. BioShiock 1 put you in the shoes of a outsider, new to the world of Rapture which is good because this was a new world for players to explore. BioShock 2 made the excellent design choose of putting the players in the role of Big Daddy. Not only did it open up new gameplay options it cleverly put the player back in the world as insider ready to discover new secrets in the failed utopia of Rapture. Now looking at this design flow and BioShock's central theme of family it would be logical to conclude that BioShock 3's protagonist as a Big Sister.

BioShock 1 focused on family was limited but important represented by a simple almost black and white moral choice in form of the Little Sisters. If you kill them you become a monster, but if you save them you become their father and you and the Little Sister both get the family you always wanted. This may be black and white, but it is also a primal thing that speaks to the very soul and makes us question what a human capable of. BioShock 2 expanded upon moral choices. It kept the Little Sisters but made it even more primal and unsettlingly black and white. No longer did they fear you, but they saw you as this perfect thing that they should love and worship no matter what you do. The developers also added new moral choices in the form of three human characters with each choice getting progressively grayer. And perhaps the most ingenious design choice was how the players choices effected the story. Instead of having your choices effect your fate they effect the fate of one of the game's most important characters shaping into either something heroic or something evil.

Going back into the idea of having a Big Sister protagonist, the family theme would focus the relationship between siblings. If you save the Little Sisters they would see you as someone they want be when they grow up, but if you harvest them they will still trust you but only because they are incapable of seeing you as something to fear. This reflects the relationship between older siblings and younger siblings. Younger siblings often adore their older siblings whether they treat them good or not. The sibling theme can also be applied the central story. The protagonist and antagonist could be siblings adding to a more personal and engaging story. Also I believe that your choices should once again shape another major character in the story only make the results more gray so the player doesn't feel disheartened by creating a monster or something and still feel rewarded for beating the game. Regarding gameplay, there wouldn't much innovation to BioShock 2 but this could be balanced by more ways to engage you in the story such as playable flashbacks and placing you into the identity of the player character.

This is why I believe that BioShock 3's protagonist will be a Big Sister.