Playing the War on Terror

            After reading Stahl’s article, “Have you Played the War on Terror” my eyes were opened to how serious the world of gaming has become. Growing up I enjoyed playing video games with my twin brother. The game we both enjoyed the most was Mario Kart. To me this game was harmless, just a couple of cartoon characters driving karts around a track while racking up star powers and banana peels. After a while I put the controller down and turned my interest into boys and makeup while my brother kept on gaming.

            As my brother got older he was able to buy more serious video games. He enjoyed games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto. These games are filled with violence. Stahl argues that these serious war video games are creating a third person identity, the virtual citizen soldier. I believe this third identity that Stahl talks about is not a positive thing. Gamers should not take on this identity and war should not be considered a trend.

            War is an awful thing and should be viewed as so. I believe that playing these violent war video games allow gamers to look at war not as serious and real as it really is.