Death, Murder: Video Games versus Real Life

I never used to think about killing innocent civilians in video games. It was just something I had the choice to do — or not to do, I guess. In the case of Grand Theft Auto 3, I would run them down, beat them for money, and even take passing shots at them — all without thinking twice.

 

Maybe I’ve matured, or perhaps I’ve witnessed a few things in my life to make me think twice about the murder of innocents in games, or even those people shooting back at me, for that matter. Either way, fellow Bitmobber Jeffrey Sandlin recently wrote a well-written, make-you-think article about the controversial level from Modern Warfare 2 titled “No Russian.” Which, surprise surprise, made me start pondering my own actions.

A few years ago one of my good friends returned from Iraq. He’s in the military and is proudly serving our country overseas. He’s currently in Afghanistan serving a third tour of duty in the middle east, and for that I’m truly grateful. But on his first trip home after fighting in the war, he brought home some pictures and videos. Being proud of the military and his accomplishments, he decided to share some of his pictures with myself and a few others.

If I could post pictures of what I saw that day, I absolutely would not. I’ve seen the lifeless expressions of Iraqi soldiers laying on the barren, dust-filled streets. Other pictures showed some of them missing the bottom half of their bodies, eyes open, the pain still in their eyes. I’ve witnessed what happens when the military drops a bomb on an area, and the collateral damage that results. But who are we kidding, collateral damage is just a fancy term for innocents losing their lives because people are fighting for what they believe is right.

Most of the pictures I saw that day are burned into my memory, and I doubt they’ll ever leave. My friend, the military one, acknowledged all of these things as well, that war is a terrible evil, but he felt like people should see the horrors of it first-hand, which is why he took pictures and videos. But he did what he had to do. He signed up to serve our country, and that’s the duty he is carrying forth.

But back to games.

It’s hard to compare shooting someone in a video game and shooting someone in real life, because, frankly, not many of us have ever done the latter. Heck, I’m sure most of us haven’t even held a real firearm. And if you have, you know the huge difference between a controller and a shotgun. A controller vibrates when you pull the “trigger;” a shotgun leaves a bruise on your shoulder. And it’s loud.

What happens when you kill someone in a video game? It depends on the game, really. Some games give you money to spend on upgrading your abilities or weapons, and other games give you points to do the same thing. There are even Achievements and Trophies for getting a set number of kills.

But what happens when someone is killed in real life? Well, first of all, there is no respawn. That person no longer has their life, and the many people that know said person are usually affected, whether that means they’re sad or angry depends on their own personal relationship with the recently departed. Was the person a parent? Now the kid(s) must live the rest of their life without a mother or a father. Was the person married? Their spouse is now best-friendless. Did they own a pet? Had they arranged away for their funeral to be paid? Do they have credit card debt?

The questions could go on, and death, especially unexpected, is hard to deal with. It’s an emotional roller coaster, and one that has no visible end. You can’t raise your hand and politely ask to get off the ride, the operator is no where in sight. It’s just you and the never-ending track of pain.

It’s difficult to compare real life and video games, especially when it comes to death and murder. Frankly, they are so completely different that there really is no comparing to be done, only contrasting. 

Everyone deals with death differently, which is why I think video games haven’t really found the right balance for dealing with the subject. It’s difficult to portray the horrors of war when the whole point of a game is war, and without it there would be no game. Still, this shouldn’t be an excuse for developers to take the easy way out.

The recent movie Valkyrie showed that there were German soldiers who knew what was happening was horrendous and fallacious, so they tried to do something about it. A game developer could easily use an approach like this to help show the other side, show that, even if their own countrymen are committing heinous acts, some people will stand for justice and honor.

I know it’s easy for all of us to say how developers should make games more realistic, have more moral dilemmas, and even portray death in a realistic way, but is that really what we want? After all, if games were exactly like real life, why would we be playing them?

Still, there is the right balance and I’m sure one day we’ll get there. For now, though, I’m going to think twice before I take an innocents life in a video game, even if I’m unaware of their background, and even though they aren’t real. After all, murder is murder, right?