Wolf’s Wicked Words: Urah!

Generals have ordered countless troops to fight a hopeless battle, sacrificing those precious lives to a “greater cause”. Noble and hard-working spouses; forced into fighting the country’s enemy, that will never be heard taking another breath. Changing them. Whether the soldier enlisted and knew what was coming his way or not, it’s a loss. Some will go through war without so much as a scratch and in the end come out unscathed, while others leave with nothing, not even themselves. Conflicts arise, and apparently it must be sorted out by means of battle or war. No matter where you go in this life, you will encounter contention, be it little or mountainous, it will remain.

After a rather strange train of thought, I began to wonder and amaze myself about the military shooters we play. If you look at it without thinking; it’s merely a pair of hands clenching a weapon, spewing forth a barrage of lead-projectiles, shooting every living thing that moves. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with shooters; I myself am a big fan of shooters, military or not. Being put into a situation where you have to react quickly and shoot without having the chance to think twice about it, has so far been a rather successful recipe. It’s rather strange to say that I would love to play this game, but would not want to place myself into that situation; facing the actual danger and consequences.

Fleeing for your life or dodging bullets coming from all over the place, in real life, wouldn’t be all that fun. Think about it. It would rather be something that would make you frightful for your own well being. Although, I would be a hypocrite if I’m saying that I never thought about putting me and a bunch of friends into an arena and playing real-life deathmatch without the actual pain and death. Think of it more like paintball with actual rifles and perhaps a bouncing betty or five. Seeing your friend being blown away by your acutely timed explosive would be somewhat compelling, depending on your current state of mental well being. But as I’m actually typing and think about it, I find it rather macabre. Either way, it would be fun if there wasn’t any life-threatening consequence. Perhaps the mood can be lifted by replacing your friends’ blood by rainbows and little pink heart-like shapes. (Yes, I stole that from Lollipop Chainsaw.)

If you look at battles, it doesn’t necessarily have to be with rifles or swords, or a mixture of the two. It can be a battle of wits. Strategically formulating your enemy’s next move and acting accordingly. Maybe you can take it even further? Let me think… Perhaps… Ah, yes… Think about psychic commanders. Telling his minions where to aim and what to steal. I would love to possess such power, and there would be a lot less ungrateful people roaming this earth, so perhaps it’s best I cannot do that, or anyone else, for that matter.

Let’s make an example of something like Call of Duty. (Call of Duty haters coming in from the left.) It’s always fun to play through intense set-pieces in the campaign, and also super interesting when it comes to shooting your fellow teammates, forgetting that friendly-fire has been turned on, or aiming at the crotch while running around like a deranged lunatic seeking out the next virtual victim that will absorb all the lead-filled projectiles you so graciously want to be rid of.

I’ll always come back to this statement when it concerns gaming. Never mind if you’re playing as a military veteran seeking refuge from mortar fire or running around the streets with green hair and a clown face, have fun!