Bioshock is still an amazing game. In fact, it's content has even become a topic of dispute, with the objectivist stance the game takes being compared to the philosophy of writer Ayn Rand. One can see why.
Bioshock has unwittingly brought her beliefs back into the mainstream spotlight and even piqued the interest of the Ayn Rand Institute's president, Yaron Brook.
Brook, a former member of the Israeli Army military intelligence and award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, first took notice of the game when he discovered his 18-year-old son playing it. It's a fact that didn't bother Brook despite his son's objectivist beliefs and the game's not so positive take on the philosophy.
"My son has to find his own way in life," he said. "There are certain games I wouldn't want him to play, like Grand Theft Auto, games that celebrate criminality.
"But a game that might lead him to think and have him challenge his ideas, I'm fine with.
"Luckily for me, he doesn't agree with the game. He still seems to believe in objectivism."
These words, as awe-inspiringly bad as they are, do help to illicit discussion and thought as to what the social, political or rather philosophical effects of a game have on teens, pre- and post-.
As one comment on the boingboing.net site writes: "This is a philosophical question, right? Why do people feel the need to treat Objectivism like Scientology? If you argue that selfishness isn't a valuable survival trait, then you might as well be a creationist, because you apparently occupy the same reality."
The discussion launches into many realms from this point on, so if you feel your writing finger itching, go to boingboing.net and make yourself heard. If not, then just take a tour to the slightly more opinionated side of the world.
All in all, its an enthralling, insightfully funny and downright enjoyable topic.
- bigeyeddeer2008@ gmail.com