The Architecture of Bioshock as Metaphor for Ayn Rand s Objectivism

Video games, as a visual medium, have been steadily advancing in their depictions of cityscapes and architecture. Post-apocalyptic games are most notable for their realistic depictions of these spaces, but Irrational Games (now 2K Boston) 2007 release Bioshock takes dystopian architecture in games to a whole new level. Set up as an antithesis to Ayn Rand s theory of objectivism (as presented in her 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged and her 1943 novel The Fountainhead), Bioshock calls into question the existence of free will and honesty of a free market. And Rapture, as the setting upon which the game is set, echoes those sentiments completely. Littered with accoutrement of 1950s nostalgia, Rapture is the quintessential underwater, secluded utopia Rand envisioned at the time; however, where readers do not see Rand s utopia in action, Rapture, as a well-designed game environment, shows how such a place, meant to represent freedom and paradise, crumbles at the hands of its own inhabitants. As the game progresses and the narrative becomes increasingly savage and dystopian, so, too, does Rapture. It is both parallel and prison to the player, and only through overcoming these dangers will the player ever return to life on the surface.