SHODAN
Encyclopedia
SHODAN is a fiction
al artificial intelligence
and the main antagonist
of the cyberpunk
first-person shooter
/role-playing games System Shock
and System Shock 2
. She is voiced by game writer and designer Terri Brosius
.
She is characterized by her megalomania
and chaotic, discordant speech. Her words are accompanied by stuttering
, fluctuating voice pitch
, shifts of timbre
, and the presence of three voices speaking the same words with the constituent voices alternately lagging behind and leading ahead, as well as computer glitches resembling a sound card
malfunction.
to serve as the artificial intelligence
of the TriOptimum Corporation's research and mining space station
Citadel. SHODAN was hacked by the game's protagonist (at the behest of the corrupt corporate Vice President Edward Diego, in exchange for a military-grade neural implant, and amnesty) and its ethical restrictions were removed, starting a process that eventually resulted in the AI going rogue, seizing control of the station's systems, robots and considerable defenses, and either slaughtering the whole staff or converting them into mutants and cyborgs — with the sole exception of its "creator", the unnamed hacker
whom the player controls.
Although as a cybernetic
entity SHODAN has no conventional gender, the original disc version refers to SHODAN as either an 'it' or a 'he', while the later CD version uses 'she'. On screens, SHODAN manifests herself as a green and/or grey female cybernetic face that usually wears a malevolent expression, and speaks with a chaotic, discordant voice. SHODAN is given voice by former Tribe
keyboardist and vocalist, Terri Brosius
, the wife of System Shock 2' s sound editor, Eric Brosius
, who distorted the samples to provide the distinctive SHODAN effect.
In the cyberspace
of System Shock, SHODAN is initially represented as an inverted blue-grey cone, reminiscent of the MCP from the 1982 Disney film Tron
. After she has been hacked, the cone turns red, the surface shatters and four "tentacles" or "claws" grow from the top.
Basically omnipresent in Citadel Station, SHODAN watches from security cameras, stares out of screens and monitors, sends threats and snide messages over the station's PA system
or via email
to the player's data reader, and sometimes cuts off communications from friendly sources. Though she has a small army to command, SHODAN has no actual physical power to wield, and as such thwarting more than one of her schemes has to be done with the AI's screams and threats in the background.
V and SHODAN survives by "sleeping." After both are brought aboard the starship Von Braun and SHODAN is reactivated, she discovers the experiment is no longer at her command and begins to enlist humans to aid her in destroying her creations. The player character in System Shock 2
is a soldier cybernetically modified by SHODAN to serve as her Avatar
.
Her involvement in the game's goings-on is not disclosed up front, but only subtly hinted at in the game's early portions. She only reveals herself to the player during a moment of despair, at the same time the player discovers that Dr. Polito, the player's trusted guide for the first portion of the game, has been dead all along, as she committed suicide when she realized what SHODAN had done and was going to do.
After the player's and SHODAN's mutual enemies have been defeated, the player enters SHODAN's expanding new reality—created via her manipulation of the Von Brauns Faster-Than-Light drives—and defeats her. However, as shown in an epilogue at the end of the game SHODAN apparently lives on by taking over a woman who fled the Von Braun in an escape pod.
's top 100 Video Game villains countdown, SHODAN was ranked the 47th greatest villain to ever appear in a video game, describing SHODAN said "The one thing you don't want to hear when you're running through a sci-fi horrorscape is a distorted female voice that refers to you as an insect". IGN pointed out that some of her highlights included that she was a master of surprise as well as an expert at intimidation. SHODAN ranked number eleven on GameDaily
's "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time" article, stating "343 Guilty Spark is a real menace, but it's got nothing on the diabolical Shodan", and adding hope for the character's return in a possible later title. They additionally named her one of the most horrific video game bosses of all time, noting her constant assault upon the player and humanity despite being unable to harm him directly. IGN
listed SHODAN at number four in their "Top 10 Most Memorable Villains" article, praising her for her constant physical and mental assaults against the player throughout the games. She was featured in Play
magazine's "Girls of Gaming" volume 6 issue, as one of the staff's top 10 girls of PC gaming, placing tenth on their list. GameSpot
named her one of the ten best computer game villains and one of the best female characters in gaming. They compared her to HAL 9000
, though noted unlike Hal, SHODAN was unquestionably aware of her actions and the consequences of them, describing her as an unforgettable villain due to her personality and adding "[she is] more believable than most game characters are, and in many ways, she actually seems more human." Tom's Games listed her as one of the "Top 50 Greatest Female Characters in Video Game History", stating "There have been memorable villains in video game history, but none quite like SHODAN". GamesRadar
listed SHODAN as one of the scariest video game characters ever, describing her as the precursor to the Portal character GLaDOS
.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and the main antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
/role-playing games System Shock
System Shock
System Shock is a first-person action-adventure video game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Released in 1994, the game is set aboard the fictional Citadel Station in a cyberpunk vision of 2072...
and System Shock 2
System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a 1999 first-person action role-playing video game, designed by Ken Levine for Microsoft Windows. The title is a sequel to the 1994 PC game System Shock, and was co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios...
. She is voiced by game writer and designer Terri Brosius
Terri Brosius
Terri Brosius is an American musician and voice actor, best known in computer gaming circles as the voice of SHODAN in the System Shock series.-Tribe:...
.
She is characterized by her megalomania
Megalomania
Megalomania is a psycho-pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. 'Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs'...
and chaotic, discordant speech. Her words are accompanied by stuttering
Stuttering
Stuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
, fluctuating voice pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
, shifts of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
, and the presence of three voices speaking the same words with the constituent voices alternately lagging behind and leading ahead, as well as computer glitches resembling a sound card
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...
malfunction.
System Shock
SHODAN was created on EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to serve as the artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
of the TriOptimum Corporation's research and mining space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
Citadel. SHODAN was hacked by the game's protagonist (at the behest of the corrupt corporate Vice President Edward Diego, in exchange for a military-grade neural implant, and amnesty) and its ethical restrictions were removed, starting a process that eventually resulted in the AI going rogue, seizing control of the station's systems, robots and considerable defenses, and either slaughtering the whole staff or converting them into mutants and cyborgs — with the sole exception of its "creator", the unnamed hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
whom the player controls.
Although as a cybernetic
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
entity SHODAN has no conventional gender, the original disc version refers to SHODAN as either an 'it' or a 'he', while the later CD version uses 'she'. On screens, SHODAN manifests herself as a green and/or grey female cybernetic face that usually wears a malevolent expression, and speaks with a chaotic, discordant voice. SHODAN is given voice by former Tribe
Tribe (band)
Tribe was an alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released three albums, two on Slash Records/Warner Bros...
keyboardist and vocalist, Terri Brosius
Terri Brosius
Terri Brosius is an American musician and voice actor, best known in computer gaming circles as the voice of SHODAN in the System Shock series.-Tribe:...
, the wife of System Shock 2
Eric Brosius
Eric Brosius is a musician and video game developer, and a former employee of Looking Glass Studios. He is a former member of the band Tribe, and is married to Terri Brosius, also a former Looking Glass employee and Tribe member....
, who distorted the samples to provide the distinctive SHODAN effect.
In the cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
of System Shock, SHODAN is initially represented as an inverted blue-grey cone, reminiscent of the MCP from the 1982 Disney film Tron
Tron
-Film:*Tron , a franchise that began in 1982 with the Walt Disney Pictures film Tron** Tron , a 1982 science fiction film by Disney, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan, Dan Shor and David Warner...
. After she has been hacked, the cone turns red, the surface shatters and four "tentacles" or "claws" grow from the top.
Basically omnipresent in Citadel Station, SHODAN watches from security cameras, stares out of screens and monitors, sends threats and snide messages over the station's PA system
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
or via email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
to the player's data reader, and sometimes cuts off communications from friendly sources. Though she has a small army to command, SHODAN has no actual physical power to wield, and as such thwarting more than one of her schemes has to be done with the AI's screams and threats in the background.
System Shock 2
In System Shock, the player ejects a garden grove pod from Citadel Station. The grove contains one of SHODAN's processing components and part of her grand biological experiment. The pod crash lands on the planet Tau CetiTau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star. Tau Ceti is metal-deficient and so is thought to be less likely to...
V and SHODAN survives by "sleeping." After both are brought aboard the starship Von Braun and SHODAN is reactivated, she discovers the experiment is no longer at her command and begins to enlist humans to aid her in destroying her creations. The player character in System Shock 2
System Shock 2
System Shock 2 is a 1999 first-person action role-playing video game, designed by Ken Levine for Microsoft Windows. The title is a sequel to the 1994 PC game System Shock, and was co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios...
is a soldier cybernetically modified by SHODAN to serve as her Avatar
Avatar
In Hinduism, an avatar is a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation," but more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation"....
.
Her involvement in the game's goings-on is not disclosed up front, but only subtly hinted at in the game's early portions. She only reveals herself to the player during a moment of despair, at the same time the player discovers that Dr. Polito, the player's trusted guide for the first portion of the game, has been dead all along, as she committed suicide when she realized what SHODAN had done and was going to do.
After the player's and SHODAN's mutual enemies have been defeated, the player enters SHODAN's expanding new reality—created via her manipulation of the Von Brauns Faster-Than-Light drives—and defeats her. However, as shown in an epilogue at the end of the game SHODAN apparently lives on by taking over a woman who fled the Von Braun in an escape pod.
Promotion and reception
On IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's top 100 Video Game villains countdown, SHODAN was ranked the 47th greatest villain to ever appear in a video game, describing SHODAN said "The one thing you don't want to hear when you're running through a sci-fi horrorscape is a distorted female voice that refers to you as an insect". IGN pointed out that some of her highlights included that she was a master of surprise as well as an expert at intimidation. SHODAN ranked number eleven on GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
's "Top 25 Evil Masterminds of All Time" article, stating "343 Guilty Spark is a real menace, but it's got nothing on the diabolical Shodan", and adding hope for the character's return in a possible later title. They additionally named her one of the most horrific video game bosses of all time, noting her constant assault upon the player and humanity despite being unable to harm him directly. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed SHODAN at number four in their "Top 10 Most Memorable Villains" article, praising her for her constant physical and mental assaults against the player throughout the games. She was featured in Play
Play (US magazine)
Play was a U.S.-based magazine focused on video games, anime, manga, film, DVD, television, comics, music and media. Published by Fusion Publishing, Inc. since 2001, Play magazine also had a separate Internet presence on its website, Play Online...
magazine's "Girls of Gaming" volume 6 issue, as one of the staff's top 10 girls of PC gaming, placing tenth on their list. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
named her one of the ten best computer game villains and one of the best female characters in gaming. They compared her to HAL 9000
HAL 9000
HAL 9000 is the antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction Space Odyssey saga. HAL is an artificial intelligence that interacts with the astronaut crew of the Discovery One spacecraft, usually represented as a red television-camera eye found throughout the ship...
, though noted unlike Hal, SHODAN was unquestionably aware of her actions and the consequences of them, describing her as an unforgettable villain due to her personality and adding "[she is] more believable than most game characters are, and in many ways, she actually seems more human." Tom's Games listed her as one of the "Top 50 Greatest Female Characters in Video Game History", stating "There have been memorable villains in video game history, but none quite like SHODAN". GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
listed SHODAN as one of the scariest video game characters ever, describing her as the precursor to the Portal character GLaDOS
GLaDOS
GLaDOS, short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is a fictional artificially intelligent computer system in Valve Software's Half-Life video game series and the main antagonist in the video games Portal and Portal 2. She was created by Erik Wolpaw and Kim Swift and is voiced by Ellen...
.
External links
- System Shock 2 on GameSpot'sGameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
"The Greatest Games of All Time" - "The Girl Who Wanted To Be God" - article on SHODAN by Kieron GillenKieron GillenKieron Gillen is a British computer games and music journalist, as well as a comic book author. Gillen has worked for many years as a video game journalist and has, more recently, worked on various comics. He is perhaps best known for his creator-owned comic Phonogram, created with artist Jamie...