Killing Them All

I mentioned in another article my teenage son's struggles with depression after the break-up of our family.  Having first lived for six months a life of going to school, coming home, going to bed, getting up and eating, and then going back to bed, he began to emerge after therapy and the first thing he started doing for himself was to resume playing video games.  He favorite games are those called First Person Shooter games (FPS) where the player either alone or with a team plays in a combat unit whose job is to search and destroy enemies (human and non-human).  The first person part comes from the fact that one view the whole game from behind the weapon one is using.

These games are very well constructed in that the graphics can be spectacular.  They are also very violent.  There is a whole literature saying that these games can make the player violent and also that they can become addictive, in the sense that a drug addict is addicted, with withdrawal pains and everything if one stops.  While I had seen them played I had never played one myself.  But I knew adults my age that played them for relaxation or to socialize with their children who played them.

My ex-wife, who tends to be a fearful person, felt that playing a lot of video games was bad as such (she rolls video games and television together as something she calls "screen time" even though the children had always been encouraged to read on their Kindles).  I myself was not so sure. So I looked into video games more carefully and am I glad that I did.

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