military combat in your hands

Response to Grade 10 Journal Entry Question #3: When War Meets Video Games

Every single day, we read the newspaper and watch the TV to see people dying and fighting all over the world. We all stand by and watch the list of casualties increase by the week, and some even say it's a shame. Our society is in the midst of wars being fought all over the world.

Video games bring adventure and fantasy to those who would otherwise be living out their plain and regular lifestyles. Some people find playing video games give them an escape from reality, and others just an opportunity to live in a world of fiction and fantasy. But in the case of war video games, reality touches base with adventure and a simulation of what could really be happening on the other side of the planet, is created.

Modern pop culture is influenced by recent events and trends that appear as time goes by. With all the talk about the war on terrorism and the violence in the Middle East, there has to be some sort of interest developped in the topic. War video games draw upon that interest, which is why they are so popular in this day and age. Our current events, media and news are flooded by daily combat. So why not bring it home to your television screen instead of outside your bedroom window, right?

War games have a very thin line between reality and fantasy. War is something that affects us in the real world and its inhabitants. Is it really all that fun to shoot people down, knowing that the same thing happens in real life by the day? I guess to some people it is, considering how popular the genre has become. But we should not let games deter our opinions on aspects of our real lives. In the same way that we believe that mystical creatures don't secretly crawl beneath the Earth, we should also keep in-game wars within their respective borders. Fighting real battles and real wars goes beyond the simulation, and gamers should keep that thought well in their minds. Playing war games are fun, so long as they are limited to the television screen.

Overall, war video games should not affect our sensitivity to the topic's regularity in our current events. I personally think that if people were to play games for a different perspective on war, they are totally free to do so. Many people learn and want to experience things differently, and if video games are the vehicle, so be it.