Good point. There are still a variety of films, musics and games which still deeply effect me. Gamewise I still feel the game Deus Ex had the greatest influence upon my view of the world and still does to this day.

Look forward to reading your next article.

Sorry about the weird link, you can get around it with the relevant Firefox plug in and evidently I do without realising it. There’s also a collection of essays entitled Commodify Your Dissent which expand that line of thought (including a rather splendid piece on the record industry by Steve Albini, which I’m sure would be of interest to the site’s beloved publisher).

Incidentally, something of that-in regard to the essential flatness of the Fenix character-was on my mind when writing the review of the Gears of War novelization; and I particularly appreciated the mention of Frank. (By the way, the link to “Johnny Can’t Dissent” requires the reader to sign into the NYT web site; this web address-http://www.times.com/books/first/f/frank-dissent.html-
however, seems to allow freer access; and I’d also like to mention the book One Market Under God as a book-length development of the article’s line of thought.)

Yes, I did look at a narrow set of characters but I’m not drawing any further conclusions about other characters or gaming in general. I’m just suggesting that beneath the cosmetic differences, these three popular games have very similar characters. Characters who share a weird attitude towards the moral universes they inhabit.

I do mention the lowing off steam thing in the final paragraph but I find the pattern through which people’s cathartic fantasies are channeled to be quite interesting (also see my piece about MMORPGs). You can kill people in games without the need for characters and backstory… why are there such similarities between the characters? I would argue it’s because in a twisted way, they tap into a similar attitude held by society as a whole. We’re all individuals, we’re all rebels, and yet we are also members of sub-cultures and have values and ambitions that are heavily dependent upon the systems we inhabit.

As for the idea of teenagers not needing preparation for the world, I’m 33 and the media I watch still influences how I see the world (in fact, that’s WHY I watch films, read books and play games) so I don’t think that teenagers are nearly as hide-bound as you suggest

You seem to have taken three characters and from that developed a blanket view for the imposed moral characteristics produced by the gaming world. This is similar to trying to judge a society by looking at it’s inmates on death row. Many other computer games do infact try to produce protagonists who are instantly relatable. Lets move in to the comic world for a moment as you mentioned Batman who throughout the years has changed his general characteristics more times than you can shake a stick from the happy go luck Adam West to the more stoic characteristic we see before us today. While Spiderman was designed to be a character people can relate to.

SPOILER ALERT

Of the characters you have chosen while perhaps not relatable by the average member of public there are certain aspects which may be familiar. Kratos for example is a psychopath with only possible feelings for Hera and the Spartans whom he commands. The death of civilian within Prototype is very much player driven, such its easier if you let civilians die however this is very much a choice made by the player and Alex Mercer throughout the game not only tries to uncover his past but further prevent the eradication of NY thus what can be perceived as an animalistic based character becomes more relatable depending upon the view of the player. While Fenix is much more similiar to Mavric in Top gun. He doesn’t necessarily follow the rules set but he gets the job done and he protects his friends.

Finally you need to consider that these games are all very much designed to “blow off steam”, they are not meant to be mentally taxing though the storylines themselves are intriguing each can be played with them ignored. These games were designed to allow people to relax espcially after a stressful day. The age group of each of these games is set for 15 to 18 year olds, people who have already got a general premise and view of life and so I would not really use the term “prepare for life”.

These games are but a one niche in a market which is streaming with a large variety of life and different forms of characters and to come to the conclusion that these games prepare a slippery slope is in my opinion ignoring all the other gems that are out there.