Peace and Violent Video Games: Can They Co-Exist?

Dear Readers,
         It has been the debate of technology for almost 30 years now: should violence be allowed in video games? People who are opposed to violent video games usually say things like 'It teaches our children to be violent!' and 'I wouldn't want my kids exposed to those kinds of games', but is this really the case?

        Humans, walking, talking, humans, are only one evolutionary step ahead of the untamed, savage, blood-thirsty wilderness where we had to fight for our lives. A 'hunt or be hunted' type scenario.
     
        Since then, we have grown away from and above that wilderness. However, we brought a few souvenirs with us. Some of them are handy and nice to have, some of them aren't. One of these not-so-pleasant attributes is our blood thirst. We, unfortunately, are violent in nature. (to an extent, anyway.) We happen to like blood and guts and cruelty.

       The result of this blood lust has resulted in hundreds of wars worldwide, some of them involving the whole world. War changed many lives and claimed many. Although it is generally agreed that war is bad, most people still have an odd fascination with it. Thousands upon thousands of books have been written about war, games such as chess was based on war, and there are again thousands of movies portraying war.

      Recent technology has enabled us to take our obsession with war to the next level: Video games can simulate war. Whether it be based on a war, recent or ancient, reality or fiction, video games based on war are by far the most popular with the new generation. Call Of Duty. HALO. Battle For The Pacific. Just to name a few.

    How can these games help the Peace cause? The answer is pretty straight-forward. If we are satisfying our blood thirst with video games, what need have we for real violence? With all of our frustrations and energy taken out on virtual worlds there is no reason for us to be violent in nature. I think if violent video games were promoted, there would be less overall violence in the world, granted that people are taught and understand that violence in video games should stay in video games and has no place in our modern world.

-Me.