When friends of mine voice a desire to buy certain games I find distasteful (but not necessarily sinful), I often struggle to decide whether or not I should question their tastes.
After all, we all struggle with different things, especially when it comes to video games, wherein the stakes seem higher when you’re interacting with the action on screen. Some might find Bioshock, one of my favorite games, to be utterly tasteless, but I find it to be challenging and thoughtful.
So am I just crazy? Should I continue to dial back my suspicions that not much good can come out of Gears of War (chainsaw gun? really?), Mad Word (man darts? seriously?), and other games of the sort?
Richard Clark (Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief) has spent his entire life writing, reading, listening, and playing. He has a Bachelors in Theology from the Baptist College of Florida and has a Master of Arts in Theology and the Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Louisville, KY where he is the classroom technology manager at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to writing at Christ and Pop Culture, he is also a staff writer for 
Really, man. I just think you have a very tender conscience. Not only do I think you should dial back your suspicions that games like Gears of War and Mad World (neither of which have I played nor will I likely play*) cannot be played for good reason, but I think you should kill off entirely your propensity to think in that way. It isn’t helping you and it isn’t helping you understand and relate to your friends who enjoy such games.
Rather, if it bothers you, I would suggest finding out what good can come from such games. As well, find out what your friends like about such games and how the things they enjoy reflect Who it is they truly are. I bet if you could empathize with them on such things, you’d prove yourself to be a better and closer friend.
Think about how you think about L4D. Obviously, you’re enjoying it. I don’t know if you’re only playing as survivors, but do you still enjoy it if you’re playing as zombies? And does that actually say anything about your character? Or does it say little about your character.
Really, if someone’s okay with chess, they should be philosophically okay with Gears of War. Since chess is just a sanitized version of GoW—and what kind of sicko covers up the atrocity of war by sanitizing it? All of these questions boil down to Perspective. As in what is the perspective of the player.
*note: for reasons both platform- and genre-related.
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