It has been 17 years since Irrational Games released the first game in their cult classic, Bioshock.  I remembered sitting enraptured (no pun intended) in my 9th-grade study hall as one of my friends showed me a clip of the game's opening scene on her iPod. I was a nerdy, alternative kid obsessed with steampunk and retrofuturism at the time, so you can imagine how quickly this game had its hooks on me. Many years and one political science degree later, the world of Rapture still lives rent-free in my head. Not only for its unique Art Deco-dystopian aesthetics or its award-winning score but for what it says about the consequences of a society founded on individualism and productivity. 

Created by billionaire Andrew Ryan to escape from the political, social, and religious anxieties of post-World War II America, Rapture is founded on individualistic ideas and objectivist philosophies. At first, Rapture seems successful; individuals can innovate and create without restriction. Those with wealth live lavish, decadent lives evocative of 1920s socialites, blissfully unaware that they are careening ever closer to a major social collapse. 

It was the discovery of ADAM, a substance that, when refined, allows its users to alter their genetic code, that would set the city on its path to total collapse. Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum’s discovery was highly additive, with violent withdrawal symptoms. As the population became increasingly dependent on ADAM, Dr. Tenenbaum sought a quicker means of production to keep up with the city’s staggering demand. Through her research, she discovered that by implanting an ADAM-producing slug into the bodies of young girls, Rapture could significantly increase the volume of ADAM it harvested. 

Rapture has no social programs no welfare, leaving orphans to fend for themselves and many working-class parents unable to provide for their children. These children, genetically altered, were deemed the Little Sisters and are the backbone of Rapture. They have been reduced to a resource, a manageable commodity, stripped of their personhood. They are viewed by many as necessary collateral to keep Rapture running. Rapture’s rhetoric of bourgeois elitism created a culture of complacency, where the common perception is that children should be exploited rather than rely on their community, becoming what the people of Rapture would consider parasites. In a society where profit and productivity are everything, vulnerable individuals are alienated and left behind. 

The first time the player encounters a Little Sister, Dr. Tenenbaum begs them to help the girls rather than harvest them for their ADAM. The player has a choice: participate in the exploitation of the girls for individual gain or assist Tenenbaum, who seeks to cure the Little Sisters, returning them to a state of near normalcy. There is personal gain to be had from continuing this cycle of exploitation. Harvesting the sisters makes the player stronger and much faster, making brutal combat encounters much more manageable. However, to get the game’s good ending, the player has to put self-interest and power aside. 

Bioshock reminds its audience that there is a high price to pay when greed and excesses come before community and compassion.  When I think of the Little Sisters, a line from everyone’s least favorite Game of Thrones character, Cersei Lannister, comes to mind: Everywhere in the world, they hurt little girls. I think of the real young women who spend eight or more hours, seven days a week, working in a garment factory so people on the other side of the world can keep up with an everchanging trend cycle. I think of all of our own society’s “Little Sisters.” The people we keep out of sight and push from our minds whenever we stop to think about where our phones and computers might have come from.