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A Slave Obeys, a Player Chooses

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A Slave Obeys, a Player Chooses A slave obeys, a player chooses A new videogame combines fighting mutants and critique of the utopian vision of Ayn Rand, Benjamin Hourigan discovers. hen you escaped, not long ago, from the burning wreckage of a passenger jet crashed in the middle of the Atlantic, you entered a lonely obelisk rising from the water. Inside that obelisk, a bathysphere waited Wto take you down to the art deco–inspired city that rests upon the ocean floor. There you fought its mutant denizens and had your genes al- tered to give you powers over the elements. You also delved into the story of Andrew Ryan, the city’s libertarian founder, and of his struggles with Frank Fontaine, a professional criminal who Ryan’s commitment to laissez-faire let flourish. Little did you know that it was this very Frank Fontaine who had kidnapped you, artificially aged you, and had you reprogrammed as a weapon designed to kill Andrew Ryan. In disguise, Fontaine guided you by radio through the city, and convinced you that Ryan had to die. When you finally tracked Ryan down, he revealed that he him- self was your father, and explained how Fontaine had manipulated you since your arrival. Your reprogramming has made it so that whenever you hear the words ‘would you kindly,’ you cannot refuse any request that fol- lows. Now you realise that with these words, Fontaine has controlled your every move, stripping you of your free will. Confused by the rev- elations of your past, and horrified, perhaps, by the ruin into which Ryan’s paradise of liberty has descended, your impulse is to give up on what you thought was your mission, and leave the man—your father, after all—to live. But Ryan has been broken by his city’s failure. Making use of what Fontaine has made you, he asks ‘Would you kindly … Kill!’ As you club Ryan to death, he taunts you with his maxim: ‘A man choos- es, a slave obeys.’ And you ask yourself, what does it mean to be free? And, if freedom leads to the chaos and depravity I see around me, what could it be worth? his sequence is the emotional and philosophical climax of Bioshock, a videogame developed by 2K Boston/2K Austra- lia, published first on Xbox 360 in 2007 and rereleased on PlayStation3 for the Christmas season of 2008. Through TRyan, the city he created, and its horrific downfall, the game critiques libertarianism at its extreme. This is represented, for the game’s creative director, Ken Levine, by Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, which exalts capitalism, sees tax as theft, decries altruism and religion, and de- mands unbending, austere honesty and integrity of its adherents. 2K Games © 20 IPA Review | March 2009 www.ipa.org.au www.ipa.org.au IPA Review | March 2009 21 Could Bioshock act as a proving ground for the political beliefs of those young media consumers who are now having some of their most important cultural experiences with a videogame controller in their hands? In their present form, videogames man as the central powerful force in the open question until you reach one of the can’t replace literary discussions of politi- world rather than a government or a su- game’s two very different endings and see cal ideology. The players usually have the preme being.’ The same article quotes the final consequences of your actions. freedom to determine at what pace and Yaron Brook, President of the Ayn Rand Though the choices for real-world in what order events will unfold. They Institute, saying, ‘Ultimately it doesn’t libertarians may not be so stark, the phi- typically cannot be fast-forwarded or portray objectivism well, but the main- losophy of liberty raises many interesting rewound, can’t always be walked away streaming of objectivism is important conundrums. Bioshock probes the limits from at any point, and can’t be flipped too. And it’s important to see the will- of freedom by suggesting that the laissez- through or searched for useful quotes. ingness to debate those ideas even in a faire inclinations of libertarianism may More importantly, they are not pure ex- video game.’ leave open some roads that are too dan- position. The challenges of gameplay— Levine’s concern in Bioshock appears gerous to countenance (such as genetic fights, tests of reflexes and agility, puz- mainly to be with the extremity and un- manipulation). On Objectivism more zles, and navigation—act as roadblocks compromising nature of ideological po- specifically, Bioshock speculates that its 2K Games in the way of a smooth path from start to sitions, and the effects of putting them more inflexible elements, such as its © finish. Could The Constitution of Liberty into practice. Speaking to Gamespot, intolerance of religion, could create an have made such an impression on Mar- Levine describes his concerns. ‘My dis- underground that fosters dissension and garet Thatcher if she had to win a virtual comfort with extreme ideology,’ he says, criminality, as does Fontaine’s sideline in fight with an undersea mutant every time ‘tends to focus around [the fact] that of- smuggling bibles into Ryan’s atheist city. she wanted to turn the page? Books, we ten when the ideology meets reality, peo- may hope, will never die. ple don’t turn out as well as they might he situations Bioshock pres- But by tackling the issues involved hope.’ This same discomfort about Rand ents may be fantastic and ex- in applying political ideology to a ‘real- and her ideals is often present when treme, but they can cut close world’ society, Bioshock demonstrates pragmatic libertarians discuss them. to home. When I was a uni- videogames’ ever-growing seriousness Bioshock doesn’t rely on pure ex- Tversity student, I volunteered as part of and maturity. The game had sold over a position for its exploration of politi- an anarchist (mainly anarcho-commu- million copies by mid-2008, and is one cal unease. Its gameplay mechanics of nist) bookshop collective, putting my of the most highly rated titles on the cur- combat, puzzle-solving, and exploration, political beliefs to the practical test. At rent generation of videogame systems. within a claustrophobic and decaying one of the collective meetings that gov- Its critical and commercial success in- city festooned with libertarian propa- erned our enterprise, it fell upon us to dicates that the mainstream is ready to ganda, sets up a field in which to offer decide how to deal with the behaviour of embrace games of its kind, even if they the player messy moral choices. The key someone on the periphery of our com- usually have to be lured with action and to these choices is ‘Adam’, the mutagenic munity who had been causing some seri- pyrotechnics. resource that acts as money in the city ous trouble for other anarchists: smash- Is Bioshock’s popularity good for and gives the player access to a range of ing up their cars, setting things on fire, libertarianism? It is, after all, a critique superhuman powers. Adam is collected and making death threats. of one very influential strand of indi- from the bodies of dead mutants by Being anarchists, we weren’t about vidualist thinking. In an article for the Little Sisters, girl children who roam the to call the cops. So the question was, gaming blog Kotaku, Levine admits that city protected by giant armoured mu- should we expel the man from our com- despite Bioshock’s uncomplimentary de- tants called Big Daddies. As you journey munity, or leave him be, hoping his piction of Objectivism’s consequences through the game, you confront and continued participation would improve when applied, he’s sympathetic to it as defeat these duos, and upon victory, you him? a philosophy. ‘I find a lot of positive in have the choice to free the Little Sisters, After much hand-wringing, the it,’ he says. ‘I find [Rand’s] notion of or to increase your power by killing the ‘consensus’ decision was to do noth- selfishness is very interesting, not living girls and harvesting the Adam from their ing—something I could not reconcile for … others, believing in the individual bodies. Whether killing here is a brutal myself with. The winning argument had necessity or an inexcusable horror, and been that disciplining the man would Benjamin Hourigan is a Sydney- how you respond to your moral inclina- be incompatible with our community’s based writer and editor. tions in this virtual dilemma, is left an commitment to freedom. But by our 22 IPA Review | March 2009 www.ipa.org.au inaction, we exposed ourselves (not to schean quest to overcome ordinary hu- partisanship, you can’t go past Bushgame, mention others in the population at man weakness and step into an awesome a 2004 side-scroller that had figures in- large) to terrorisation from an unstable superhumanity has animated numerous cluding Hulk Hogan, Jesus, and Mr. T person who had stated his willingness to other videogames, notably the Japanese teaming up to defeat George W. Bush destroy life and property but who no one role-playing games Final Fantasy VII and a horde of tax-evading pig-men. was about to stand against. This turned (1997) and the series encompassing Xe- The odd thing about Bushgame is out to be the end of my engagement with nogears and the three Xenosaga games that whatever your politics, it’s unde- left-wing anarchism, as it taught me that (1998-2006). The tales are always cau- niably fun. Though the cutscenes that a political doctrine has to have a certain tionary: the Nietzscheans’ hubris and break off into illustrated explanations of steel to it, a willingness to apply limits to overreaching ambition destabilises soci- Bush’s purported economic and social human behaviour so that it can protect ety and unleashes forces that threaten to crimes may not be to everyone’s taste, the values it holds most dear.
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