The Second Life of Bioshock

Dillon Beerbaum models his Big Daddy avatar in Crimson Shadows (Little Sister not included)

Lately I've been enjoying breaks from the metaverse in Bioshock, the year's masterpiece computer game. In it, you explore a fantastic libertarian society founded by an idealistic CEO who wanted an alternate nation where artists and entrepreneurs could create and invent free from the constraints of the outside world.  Somewhere in its development, however, something went horribly wrong, and after an internal power struggle, the place, while still beautiful, is bursting at the seams and beset by antagonists.  This backstory was created as a brilliant counter-narrative to Atlas Shrugged, of course.  But occasionally-- like, say, most of last week-- the analogy cuts a bit closer to home.