Where Are You Going With This? (2/3)

Continuing with Part 2 of my 3 Part series. Why is violence so prevalent in our video game power trips?
Go back and read Part 1 to get caught up.

Video games have the ability to make players feel awesome, and important. Though, they usually come at the cost of being violent. What good comes from this? Why is violence the thing that most games go to in order to empower the player?

It is in human nature to be violent. It's not a very pretty thing, and yet it is more widely accepted in our media than other non-violent controversies. Why is it that we cringe at the idea of a game having a romance option between two characters of the same sex, or a game having a sex scene? Yet, we're just mildly concerned with excessive violence? It's rather twisted how violence, and harm against our fellow man is accepted in our culture.

In our everyday lives, we would never carry out any of the heinous acts that we see committed on a regular basis in video games. We'd much rather go on vacation, or try something different, or try to find love. These experiences are seldom found in video games. Instead, we have Grand Theft Autos, Gears of Wars, Mortal Kombats, Call of Dutys and countless other games which indulge our violent nature. This is only adding fuel to the fire, and while me may only be doing unspeakable acts of violence on the television screen, those images and techniques are copied to our minds, and we remember them. We get a sense of pleasure from cracking a "sweet" headshot, but are offended at the very idea of a same sex romance option in Mass Effect 3.

Isn't romance, or adventure something that we all seek to have in life? Sure, we may have those days when we strongly dislike the people that we are forced to deal with, but it's never something that we truly wish harm upon our fellow human. Indeed, we are all in this crazy mixed up world together. The people that do carry out such acts are severely mentally disturbed. So, why do we praise such atrocities when we play video games?

I think, from a game designer (which I am not) standpoint, it's easier to make a violent video game. Human relationships are much more complex than the binary interactions that we see in "dating sims" or the simple Renegade or Paragon options that we see in Mass Effect. It's probably very difficult to keep a game about exploration interesting (But No Man's Sky looks awesome). When it comes to sex, both men and women in video games are reduced to mere objects of desire, as opposed to the complex beings that they both are. But, because I believe that video games have much more of an impact on their audience than any other medium, I think, no, I demand that we start pursuing things like this in video game design. We need to go after things that are human, and things that can help bring us together. Violence only destroys and separates us as a species. We need not fight over differences. We need not fight at all. We need to accept one another, and we need to love one another. When all we see in the mass media is violence, and simplistic titillation, how do you expect us to act? I don't think that we should be afraid of sex, or shy away from it. I don't think that we should be afraid of homosexuals or lesbians. I think that we should be accepting of those with different lifestyles and beliefs. I think that we should love one another, and games might be able to help us out with that, if we started moving in that direction.