Violence in video games

I suppose if I’m going to do a project about videogames, I’m inevitably going to have to bring up the issue of violence in videogames. This always comes up whenever someone talks about videogames, and is one of those elephant in the room kind of deals. The thing is though; videogames are no less violent than many movies that come out today. And not just the schlocky bad action/slasher films. There are plenty of movies, which are classics not only in spite of their violence, but also because of it, films such as “A Clockwork Orange”, “Silence of the Lambs”, “Black Swan”, and “Straw Dogs”.
            Heck, there’s plenty of violence in the bible. Entire civilizations getting wiped out by the hand of god, violent civilizations filled with rape and murder (Sodom), the appeasement of god with blood sacrifices. Ask a clergyman—or rabbi or imam—any of these things, and he (or she) will confirm it all. Just as an example: “God decides to kill Moses because his son had not yet been circumcised.”

            All of that being said, I do somewhat understand the arguments being perpetuated by many conservative media sources. You yourself aren’t killing the fictional people—not that videogames always encourage just that, look at “Portal”—so I get that. But you know where else children, and even adults, do pretend killing. Usually when playing with their water gun or with their favorite Lego toys, just think about it that way. Not to mention there are very few times where violent videogames are specifically marketed at children. In fact if you look on the boxes of most videogames there will usually be an “e”, “e10”, “t”, or “M” in the corner, and not particularly hidden, like, say the warnings on cigarette boxes. You’ll know a videogame is violent based solely on the fact that there is a very clear “M” in the corner of the box, and you’ll know that a videogame is probably something that shouldn’t be played by kids.