Can't We All Just Get Along?

I try to avoid playing video games in front of my parents. It gives them less opportunities to question why I'm playing a game instead of looking for a job. Whenever they do manage to catch me in the act of gaming I get a barrage of quietly uttered comments expressing disapproval to whatever my character is doing on screen. Since I'm usually playing Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4, something violent is almost always happening.

My parents really know very little about gaming, save for whatever misguided attempts I make to enlighten them. They, like many in their generation, view gaming as an overly gruesome distraction which channels the creative output of many young boys into a mindless and worthless fantasy. Whenever they hear about games in mainstream media, it's usually as a result of social or political outcry to the newest RockStar game, or a murder case with video games as the prime suspect.

I always stood in opposition to stories such as these, insisting that while video games may be violent and gratuitous, they are also carefully and clearly rated for appropriate ages and offer nothing different from R-rated movies and late night television. I still stand by these statements. That being said, I'm ready to admit that currently there is a bit too much gunplay in video games.

FPS's, or First-Person-Shooters, have always had a special place in the hearts of gamers and activists alike. Their popularity is at an all time high right now, thanks to an Xbox 360 console that seems to be used primarily as a vehicle for online FPS's like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4. Hundreds of thousands of gamers virtually brutalize each other daily through these two incredibly deep and polished titles. Tomorrow, March 18th, another high profile shooter hits stores, with the release of Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Vegas 2. Ridiculous name aside, the title promises another meticulously crafted shooting experience, with a refined and dynamic online multiplayer. While part of me absolutely wants to buy it, I find myself somewhat conflicted.

We (360 owners) already have two of the most popular and most sophisticated online FPS on the market, do we really need another one? I obviously love online fragging, as anyone who knows me personally will attest, but when is enough enough? Imagine if all the resources and manpower that go into creating that intense and brutal gunplay were directed elsewhere, say into games like Shadow of the Colossus or Katamari?

It makes perfect sense that so many of these games targeted at American consumers. America's military technology is always at the forefront of our scientific innovations and discoveries. I guess it should come as no surprise that the country constantly trying to invent the newest, most advanced weaponry ever devised has a video game industry obsessed with emulating it.

If this FPS-crazed market continues, as it appears it will, can we at least ask for some more variety within the shooting genre? Space Marines and WWII are both cool, but we've been down those roads too many times. Prey did have some cool ideas but it failed to truly expand upon them and create anything new. Turok took a step backwards with it's latest release, as the title character was inexplicably changed from a Native American into a much more generic space Marine. Even a game like Gears of War, while not in reality a FPS, (FPS designates a first-person camera perspective, while in GoW the camera is in a third person perspective) certainly had the all too familiar iconography of gruff future Marines killing alien monsters. Even with a brilliant game like BioShock, which certainly stands out proudly among the repetitive military shooters, the case can be made that it's merely a rehash of System Shock 2.

I love shooting and blowing stuff up in a virtual environment more than anyone I know, and yet I find myself wanting something more. I think I've begun to take games like Halo 3 and CoD4 a bit too seriously, so much so that playing them online feels almost like work. Give us some games that challenge our expectations, not just our reflexes.