I grew up playing video games. From the ages of 6 to to 14 most of my free moments were spent in front of a TV in the basement trying to slay Gannon and rescue Princess Zelda. It’s hard to say what exactly caused me to step away from the hobby I had loved for so many years, but it was probably because I no longer found them as engrossing as I once did. I mean sure, working for hours to earn the magic flute that let me level warp was cool, but once I turned the system off it really didn’t leave me with much to think about. They were fun ways to pass the time, but that was pretty much it. They didn’t really have any lasting value or purpose. Of course, there were games out there that reached for something a little bit more than saving the princess, but those games (like Myst) tended to be ‘arty’ and ‘weird’and ultimately still didn’t say that much. In my mind they just reinforced the idea that when video games tried to reach beyond the world of ‘guility pleasure’ it was destined for failure. I’m sure there were better games out there, but I didn’t play them.
BioShock has caused me to re-think all of this. BioShock is proof that a video game can be more than just an amusment, it can be art. It’s proof that video games can be used to explore ideas and ask questions just like great movies or novels can.What’s more, it does all this without being overly serious or descending into obnoxious grandstanding. The seemless combination of heavy, thought provoking issuess with fun and exciting gameplay is really an achivement unto itself. If you want it to be, BioShock can be just another First Person Shooter like Doom or Call of Duty. Just like those games you run around with a gun in your hand, collecting powerups and killing enemies. However if you’re tuned into the themes and symbollism the game resents, it’s also a really interesting look at the nature of free will and a stunning critque of the Objectivist philosophy.
All of this wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the game’s really solid plot. In 1960, after surviving a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you find yourself in an underwater city of domes on the ocean floor. Here a wealthy industarlist named Andrew Ryan created an Objectivist utopia, a society where the indiviual and free will were prized above all else. Religion, goverment and conventional morals were all strictly prohibited because they were seen as forces which restricted a man’s free will. The economy is strictly laizzez-faire, with no restrictions or regulations on what can be bought and sold. There are no taxes, safety net or health care for the poor or sick. The ‘weak’ are delibertly allowed to fail and die so they will not restrict the acheivements of the ‘great.’ All of this is summed up in Ryan’s opening monologue:
“Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
‘No,’ says the man in Washington, ‘it belongs to the poor.’
‘No,’ says the man in the Vatican, ‘it belongs to God.’
‘No,’ says the man in Moscow, ‘it belongs to everyone.’
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose… Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality,
where the great would not be constrained by the small.
And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.
Everything goes well until one of the scientists in Rapture develops a series of new drugs based on stem cell technology. These drugs allow for unprecedent genetic enginering, enabling the citizens of Rapture to gain super human powers and abilities, as long as they can have the money for it. Unfortunately the drug is incredible addictive and has the side effects of causing insanity and disfigurement. The price of the drug skyrockets and a civil war breaks out between the upper class who can afford the drug, and the lower class who must steal and murder to get their hands on it. By the time you show up Rapture is a wasteland. Most of the population is dead, and those who remain are insane drug addicts with superpowers, who will do anything to get their next fix.
The scenario is a bit over the top, and not without certain clichés from most video game plots. However the game uses all of it as a great way to explore the possiblities and dangers of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. The superhuman abilities the drugs grant are of course a very convenient way of working in video game staples like superpowers and power-ups, but they’re presented in a way that both enhances the gameplay and story alike. In a world as ruthlessly competitive as Rapture, you have to do anything to stay ahead of the Jonses. With everyone else taking theses drugs you pretty much have to as well. (A situation similar to what seems to be going on in professional baseball.)
On a big picture level I think that the game demonstrates very clearly the inherent dangers of a life too narrowly focused on any idea, even a seemingly good one like personal liberty. Using this as the basic theme, the game then explores how more personal aspects of society would be affected under absolute Objectivism with each level focusing on a different theme. The game’s second level, set in a plastic surgery clinic, explores how ruthlessly vain and superficial everyone becomes under Rand’s elitism and idealization of physical beauty. You meet various characters along the way which exemplify these obsessions, like Dr. Steinman, a plastic surgeon driven insane by his preoccupation with beauty or Sander Cohen, the songwriter who’s lost is mind trying to create the greatest song ever. I also have to mention the iconic Big Daddies and their Little Sisters, the mindless, unthinking workers lacking any of that much praised free will, who slave away at the very bottom of society to keep the city functioning so that the elite can enjoy their pursuit of perfection. It’s a stunning reminder that laissez-faire systems like capitalism rely on the sweat and blood of an underclass to create wealth. As you piece together the story of Rapture’s downfall it becomes clearer and clearer how destructive this perspective really can be.
The story isn’t told just through movies and cut scenes, as it might have been in a lesser video game. In stead all of this is revealed through short prerecorded monolgues in which various characters present their experiences and opinions of the events which led up to the fall of Rapture. This lack of a single, reliable narrator forces the player to piece together the story for themselves from the patchwork of perspectives and accounts you find through the city. Such an approach keeps you from falling into a passive role of spectator, because this is a video game, not a movie. All of this is further complicated by a plot twist 3/4 of the way through which turns the analytic eye right on you the player, when the idea that the player possesses any free will or choice either is also called into question.
This is just scratching the surface of what this game has to offer, but I’ve gone on long enough. My point is that for any work of art, be it novel, movie or play to raise all of these questions would be impressive, the fact that it’s a video game is even more of an accomplishment. I found it to be a really fascinating experience. If you ever get the chance to play the game, I assure you won’t be disappointed. To get a feel for what the game’s like check out the 3 minute trailer, or if you’re really intrigued, take a look at the first 10 minutes of gameplay for a full introduction to the game and its ideas.
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