We were all born with a silver console in our corners. Whether your weapon of choice is from Nintendo, Microsoft Xbox360, Sony PS3 or the humble PC, nearly every household in the country will have some sort of console. Many of the games nowadays played on consoles, consist of a fair amount of shooting, maiming and killing enemies, be they human or not (some games may not include this fun-factor, but where’s the fun in that?). The amount of gore and graphic detail that we can see in these games may be described by some as distressing or even sadistic, and plenty of people may see this as a threat to society. However, I may need to remind game bashers that it should be remembered these games are not reality. Pixels, sadly, cannot be killed or hurt in any way, no matter how realistic they may look. Gamers, who are extremely aware of this, play these games to escape the reality that they may not be enjoying that day so much, or they funnily enough may just want to have fun. This fact never occurs to some people. Furthermore, these games are also not intended for less mature audiences. There are laws and things for this; it’s on the box and sometimes in the game too. Games offer a parallel world where the grim details of life can be forgotten and the person’s focus can be on something more positive. It’s not every day I get to save the entire universe from the forces of evil. They may alternatively just want to destroy their friends at Halo 3 online, or die trying. It is these ultimatums of life or death in games, especially in FPSs, that offer very normal people a relative feel-good factor for their day. While the censorship of games is a constant battle as to whether they are truly the cause of violent crimes, I firmly disestablish this as a fact. I think that the opposite is in fact true. Games are our Matrix; only without a real life and death factor. If we could not escape to a virtual world to fight all guns, swords or axes blazing, we might have no solution other than to try it for real.
After all, a game a day keeps the psychosis away, as prescribed by millions the world over. by Joshua Grimmer
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