Less violence in video games, please

80% of mass market video games feature killing as the primary mode of gameplay. If 80% of games featured dolphins there would be outrage from gamers, but killing in games is welcomed by most gamers.

If 80% of games featured dolphins the argument gamers would use against that is that dolphins over and over and over again is boring as hell. Too many dolphins, in other words, gamers would say, cut back that 80% number to 10%.

If 80% of movies featured killing as the primary plot device, such as for example Battle Royale, movie-goers would complain that for reasons of increased creativity, innovation, and *making better movies*, that number should be greatly reduced.

Yet gamers, because they believe that they need to remain constantly vigilant against the political machinations of the terrifying and terrified humans who proclaim games evil, welcome violence in games not because violence is fun, but because it’s rebellious against the very people who don’t deserve our rebellion.

By welcoming violence in games, gamers are reducing themselves to the same level as the monsters and fools who rail against games.

By needing to rebel against people undeserving as such, those people become NECESSARY and the Jack Thompsons of the world become useful tools who must be kept around to serve us.

Some gamers want that 80% raised to 90% or even 100%, not for the sake of more fun but to spit in the face of “our enemies”.

This is a plea from me to my fellow gamers to start caring more for the quality of games than the political pain we can inflict on others.

Please grow up.

Thoughts on Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit”

Jackson betrayed the spirit of Tolkien’s work. In Tolkien’s book Gandalf uses magic to trick the trolls into bickering with each other (using their weakness against them) to delay them until the sun turned them to stone. In the movie he splits a rock to enable the sunlight to reach them. Gandalf has been betrayed – moving from Tolkien’s crafty subtle wizard to Jackson’s warrior-wizard.

In the lengthy early scene with the dwarves at Bilbo’s home, the movie points out that some of the dwarves are warriors, while the book made no mention of that, focusing on the importance of the mission.

Gandalf is further abused during the captured-by-goblins scene, as he unleashes warrior-wizard once again instead of in the book, where killing was only used as a last resort and flight was the primary action for all the characters (except for Bilbo’s curiosity about the ring).

Possibly the worst moment in the film was the easy takedown of the great pine trees by the wargs. Tolkien stresses the strength of these trees, a strength relied on by the party members. Only the goblin’s clever use of Gandalf’s fire put the group at risk. Jackson throws out the spirit of Tolkien, the trees become normal trees, and the wargs knock them over like dominoes. A fucking disaster.

Gone is the gentleness and cleverness of the book, replaced by soulless murder.