Bioshock isn't really a critique of Objectivism. Part of Ayn Rand's philosophy as demonstrated in her books is that charity and philanthropy are used as PR stun

Bioshock isn't really a critique of Objectivism. Part of Ayn Rand's philosophy as demonstrated in her books is that charity and philanthropy are used as PR stunts to cover up some nefarious deeds, like Bernie Madoff donating millions of other people's money to charity. The first half of the game sets up the Founder Capitalist Figure as villan, and the second half portrays him as victim to a Bootlegger/Baptist Figure. I haven't read her stuff, but I seem to recall this plot being closer to a re-enactment, based second hand descriptions of the books. The later games do a somewhat better job though. In that light, he is absolutely buying the loyalty of his employees, and being a private company, we really have no idea how sustainable the system really is. Worse, these things are path dependent. Getting a raise from 28k->32k will feel a lot different than going from 28k->70k->32k, even though the end state is the same. This is the sort of thing that can wreck companies.