Video game industry is game on for violence

Ah, the decade long debate between violent video games and the link to violence in reality, how I love to think about it.

As far back as Commodore 64 to the Playstation 3's and XBOX 360's of today, there has been a wide selection of violent games available out there, all thanks to the game companies with their excellent marketing teams to find out what the masses want.

Since the dawning of the video game revolution, violence has played a large part in its success. It could be argued that the need for violence is biologically within us all, and when a demand exists like this, be sure there's going to be a company willing to exploit it.

Violence in games has existed for a long time, I remember watching my brother play Spy Hunter on our Commodore where he could run down old ladies crossing the street and splatter their blood on the pavement. Now we can pick-up a controller and shoot those same old ladies in the head, shoot the ambulance drivers coming to help them and then steal the ambulance and go on a wild killing spree, much like in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Let me go through all the “neat” little things you can do in this game: you can have every woman wield a large dildo and have them beat each other senseless with them, pick-up prostitutes, use them to raise your health then kill them to get back the money you spent on them, and of course there's the countless missions of drug runs and murder in order to gain “respect” and start your own gang.

One thing that particularly gets me angry is that they have the nerve to mention “The Vagina Monologues” in the game. An event that's purpose is to raise awareness of violence against women, and it is being referred to in a game that portrays women as nothing but mere objects you can utterly destroy with little effort.

Games like this should be a signal to our society, telling us that something has gone wrong with our culture. To censor violence in games and cut it at the source would be a violation of the company's rights. Sure the games are labelled for mature audiences or 18+, but like anything, if you try hard enough, you can get it. To completely phase out all violence is not exactly possible, but we can do our part by not allowing ourselves and the ones around us to take part.

I volunteer at a public school and I have noticed how much kids crave the violence in the games they play, the fun non-violent games don't do anything for them, they wait for the teacher to leave and then try to get in five minutes of Commando action. By getting children addicted to violence at a young age and constantly having recruiters hovering around to pick-up the people who are unsure about their future, especially those who don't know what they want to do after high school, war games become a recruiting tool for the army.

We don't like to think about it, but our lives are primarily programmed for us, we are like the balls inside a much larger pinball machine. Playing violent games and fantasizing about violence means that you believe that violence is right. Our actions speak louder than our words, so when you pick up a controller, think critically about what you are allowing yourself to become apart of. And one final note: If you knew you were inside the pinball machine, would you still be in it?

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