by Clare Wiznura

The 2007 video game BioShock explores what might happen when individuals have the option to keep all the fruits of their labour, free from taxes or restrictions on their work. The game builds on the ideas of Ayn Rand, but also the practices of current US president Donald Trump. The game interrogates Rand’s ideas, revealing their failure. Ultimately, the most radical action in the game (and the only way out) is to help another.

BioShock is set in an underwater megapolis, Rapture, in the year 1960. Rapture was intended to be a libertarian utopia, founded on the principle that every person should be free to do as they please without having to worry about being pushed around by those in higher positions of authority: “No Gods, No Kings. Only Man.” (Bioshock, 2007) The tantalizing promise at Rapture’s founding was the freedom to do whatever its inhabitants wanted, without restrictions, where science flourishes. Ethics are sacrificed in the name of advancement, not unlike Nazi experimentation during the Holocaust, and, in some cases, appear to continue that very same Nazi research. The horrifying reality is that when people can do whatever they want, anyone can do whatever they want, and society quickly collapses as people look out only for themselves, at any cost. How does this game make this clear?  Scientific advancement in Rapture has allowed for editing of a person’s genetic code through the use of a substance found on the ocean floor called “Adam.” Adam has allowed for various mutations, cosmetic and otherwise, purchased at a market level. Only characters called Little Sisters gather Adam. To make a Little Sister, a young girl is genetically lobotomized to become an Adam-harvesting Drone. Built on Adam,  Rapture is far from its intended Utopia, the city is one of destruction- most of the residents are dead and the city is in ruins in the aftermath of a class war enacted by two greedy libertarian bigwigs. 

The games’ links to Ayn Rand are not subtle.  The two antagonists are named for characters in Ayn Rand: Andrew Ryan (named after the author herself), and Frank Fontaine (named after the character in The Fountainhead). Even Frank Fontaine’s alias, “Atlas”, refers to the novel Atlas Shrugged. Both of these antagonists have bought into the libertarian ideology hook, line, and sinker, and find themselves at odds as they fight for the same thing: power. 

Andrew Ryan’s trajectory parallels Donald Trump’s; Ryan is successful in business. but is likened to a god, with golden statues of him around Rapture and voice memos that praise his intellect and business practices. Similarly, Trump fans circulate multiple images of Donald Trump, depicting him as a messiah-figure, even planning to make a 9-foot-tall statue of him (Trump-Statue, n.d.). Andrew Ryan preaches against a central form of government, yet enforces an authoritarian government with the goal of enforcing the status quo; Trump deploys ICE agents to terrorize citizens and military personnel against protestors (Hurley, 2025). Ryan founds Rapture with the promise encapsulated in his iconic quote: “Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?” (BioShock, 2007). Trump portrays an image that he is on the side of the worker, running for president in 2024 with promises of multiple tax cuts (Luhby, 2024) — literally promising to ensure that every man was entitled to the sweat on his brow. The reality, however, is that the wealthy benefit more from tax cuts, increasing the gap between the wealthy and the poor. In Rapture, this gap directly leads to the power grab made by Fontaine, who says in a voice memo:

These sad saps. They come to Rapture thinking they’re gonna be captains of industry, but they all forget that somebody’s gotta scrub the toilets. What an angle they gave me… I hand these mugs a cot and a bowl of soup, and they give me their lives. Who needs an army when I got Fontaine’s Home for the Poor? (BioShock, 2007)

Within this quote, we see the manipulative nature of Fontaine as he refers to the disenfranchised as an army, and ultimately, his desire to be the one in control leaves him alone; instead of working with the poor towards common goals, he deploys them as an army in a battle that ultimately ends in stalemate.

            While BioShock is not subtle as it warns of the dangers of libertarianism, the message of the game is ultimately one of hope. Throughout the game, we see the dangers of seeing other humans as a means to an end: Suchong, a scientist who experimented on the Little Sisters, is killed as a direct result of striking a Little Sister. Fontaine dies at the hands of his tool- you, the player character. Throughout the game, the player learns that they follow instructions because they have been genetically conditioned to do so; Fontaine is quite literally using the player character. However, while they are not able to make choices for any other part of the game, they are allowed agency in one respect: they choose whether the Little Sisters live or die. Fontaine encourages players to kill the Little Sisters as this allows the player to harvest their power, and to let them live means playing the game with limits on how much power can be attained. This seemingly inconsequential choice, the only choice the player can make, ultimately decides the end of the game. Choosing to kill the Little Sisters grants the player more power, yes, but ultimately, the remaining Little Sisters turn on the player, killing them- the result of seeing Little Sisters as a means to an end. Letting them live, however, ends the game with the ‘good’ ending- escaping Rapture and bringing the Little Sisters with the player towards a brighter future. Ultimately, BioShock claims that even the smallest of choices to help one another bring about a better world; all changes that happen throughout the game happen as the result of working together. 

Works Cited

2K Boston, 2k Australia (2007). Bioshock [Xbox 360], 2k.

Hurley, L. (2025, June 10). Military deployment in L.A. puts Trump’s authority to use troops at home in the spotlight. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/military-deployment-l-puts-trumps-authority-use-troops-home-spotlight-rcna212064

Luhby, T. (2024, November 16). Trump made a lot of tax promises. Can he keep them? | CNN Politics. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/16/politics/taxes-tips-trump-campaign-promises

Trump-Statue. (n.d.). Trump-Statue. Retrieved July 16, 2025, from https://www.trump-statue.com