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Introduction History of Video Games Skyrim Duke Nukem Dead Space 2 Saints Row 3 Mortal Kombat Call of Duty Gears of War 3 Dark Souls Fear 3 Pokemon Battlefield 3 Minecraft Contact GHVG |
A Look at the Past and Present of Video Games What is the current state of video games? Just how terrible are games these days? Most parents and people who don’t play video games have no idea. When I started paying attention to the images on my boys’ TV screens, I was shocked into speechlessness by the bold obscenities of both body and spirit. The games that are available at even the most “family-friendly” retailers of this country combine the shameful exploitation of pornography, the graphic gore and violence from the most depraved of horror films, and the mindless strings of curse words heard in the most immature of music. It’s been years since my boys have played games like these, so to research, I went to the Walmart in the next town over. I played the part of the clueless father and asked the salesman which games are popular. I told him that I was shopping for Christmas presents. I dutifully jotted down all of the titles he recommended and told the clerk that I wanted to look up the games online and make sure they weren’t too inappropriate. He gave me a look of disbelief when I said this, as if being a responsible parent were a shocking idea.What I found went so far beyond what I expected that the fire of action was lit anew in my soul. Some of the following may be hard to read, but I encourage that everyone continue: He who does not confront demons lets them in. The first game on my list was Call of Duty. The subtitle describes quite clearly that the game simulates “Modern Warfare.” Obviously, I expected the game would contain many sequences of gunfire and many images of people being shot to death. What I didn’t expect was the game to contain outright torture, “such as a defenseless prisoner getting lit on fire.” To think, for Christmas, my beloved children, in the warmth of our fireplace and under the watchful eye of God, could have been cheering on the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. Apparently Walmart believes that teaching kids how to commit war crimes is just in keeping with the holiday spirit. Another game teaches players how to be an assassin. My kids would not be rewarded when they save someone, but when they “find, stalk, and kill enemies,” during the course of they would be treated to “close-ups of characters getting stabbed in the throat” for their efforts. It doesn’t stop here, either. The next game “allows players to dispatch enemies by putting grenades in their mouths” and “use chainsaws to hack at enemies, resulting in scattered chunks of flesh and large pools of blood.” In another game, I’d have to “shoot police officers to complete a mission objective.” In another game, I can attack “prisoners chained to a wall.” Or perhaps I’d rather “view several topless dancers and receive lap dances.” Another game “depict[s] mutilated bodies.” Another depicts “stomp[ing] on an enemy's head until it breaks apart.” The list goes on and on. The most incredulous part of this all? I explicitly stated that my boys were ages 14 through 17. This writing has taken place just a few weeks before Christmas. At a time when we should be celebrating the birth of our savior, retailers and the gaming industry are taking advantage of our desire to honor our loved ones with gifts by duping the country into purchasing plastic-wrapped electronic filth. In this time when we should strive to cleanse our souls the most, we are inadvertently soiling them beyond repair. The store’s video game department was packed with customers last week. I saw most of these games being purchased by unexpecting parents in the short time I was there. It is to these folks that I am addressing the most. I know that they love their children as much as I do, but sometimes we must refuse to indulge our children’s desires. Spiritual health is just as tangible as physical health, and as we don’t let our toddlers munch on mountains of candy, we must also limit our teenagers’ exposure to the kinds of images detailed in the preceding paragraphs. Psalm 11:5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. How did it get like this? When you want to rob someone, you can do it two ways. First, you can storm into their house by force and take what you want. But what if the person is home? He will force you right back out. The second way is that you befriend the person beforehand. You gain their trust. You appear to them as a benevolent and innocent creature who wants nothing more than to provide good company. You let them invite you into their home of their own will. You stop by again and again. Next, you don’t try and immediately rob them blind, but you take something here and there. Maybe it’s something that won’t be noticed or something that won’t be missed when it does get noticed. An expert thief will continue this for years, stealing more and more until, when the victim realizes what’s happened, it’s too late.Our minds are like our homes, only our spirits are always home, guarding them. Satan knows that the only way he can rob us of salvation is to be invited into our lives. It was over twenty years ago that I played Super Mario. Looking back, the themes of evil are obvious, but and the time it seemed so harmless. “It’s just a game” was a convincing argument. A knife does not hurt when it is only the tip that’s pressed into the skin. Let’s look back to Mario. Why did it seem so innocent? Mario was a cartoon. He was cute. Even the foes were all cute animals. Mario didn’t have a gun; he didn’t shoot, stab, or rape people, either. No, Mario just jumped on these animals. And why shouldn’t he have? Mario was the good guy: he took it upon himself to save the princess! His foes were trying to stop him. The key here is that Mario paved the way for the acceptance of murder. There was no blood, no screams of pain, but Mario had an enemy and the players were trained to kill these foes. It is this simple theme, which was so important, that the country overlooked. For over twenty years since, players murdering their enemies have progressed from cartoons and cutesy sound effects to the graphic simulations of death that you’ll see illustrated throughout this site. Again, looking back, I want to scream at myself and others who were playing these games. I was older at the time, and I have, for lack of less cliché terms, seen the light since, but I remember impressionable children in my own family and my circle of friends who played the same game. We laughed as the kids fell into the pits of lava and fire, but those same kids back then may very well be today’s real-life murderers and they may one day fall into all-to-real pits of lava and fire in the afterlife. This is what I’m trying to stop. Almost every child I had known to play as Mario still plays video games, today. What’s scarier is to think of today’s children, playing today’s games. Kids and their parents still use the same mantra as they did 25 years ago: It’s just a game! What will be a game in another 25 years? Job 24:14 The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; and in the night he is like a thief. How does this compare to other media? Why should we be focused on video games when it seems like everything is out to skew moral perception these days? It’s true; movies and music have been growing increasingly vulgar right along with video games for decades. America can’t ignore these evils, either, but why am I worried specifically about video games? The answer is that video games are targeted extensively towards children and younger generations. As adults, we understand that death is a part of life, and seeing a death occur in film can be a very moving experience. However, we don’t let our kids see these same movies because we know they aren’t ready for it. But in video games, kids are not only seeing death occur, but are engaged in it as their active goal. And all emotion is removed from the experience. A character dying in a movie is considered a loss. A character dying in a game isn’t even considered. The tragedy of death is made mundane through routine. Those who play these games create death far and wide, but are never taught to feel repentance for their actions.A human spirit is like that of a great oak tree. As it reaches maturity, the oak becomes a great form to behold: strong and mighty. It stands up against forces that seek to destroy it. It fends off weather and insects. It pursues through harsh winters and dry summers. But as a sapling, the oak tree is spindly and vulnerable. Any damage, which can be inflicted by the weakest of creatures, leaves scars and warps the tree so that it is disfigured for life. An oak that’s twisted at its stump is blown over far easier than its healthy brethren. A child is equally fragile, except that in this case, the scars are visible only to God. Sinful media, whether it be on the radio or television, should always be abhorred, but for now, we must protect our children first, so that there may one day be a future when the rest of these evils are eliminated. How will an entire generation stand up to a world of hatred went they are all hunched over in their minds? Read about the first of many awful games, Skyrim |