Modern Warfare... it's just advanced Donkey Kong

"It's just Donkey Kong. Really, really advanced Donkey Kong." I tell myself as I watch blood and bone gristle splatter across the 42' plasma TV screen. 'It's not real, it's just Donkey Kong.'

My husband is playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and I am watching for a few moments in between making cups of tea and nagging him to turn off the game so I can watch The Apprentice.

I can't believe what I'm looking at. My husband is an American soldier or marine or whatever (I don't know military speak) and he's battling the Taliban in present day Afghanistan. I apologise in advance for the following lazy and overused expression but WTF?!


I'm sitting there thinking... 

This is way too real, this war too current, this situation too FUBAR (so I lied, I do know some military speak) and every single day real live human beings are having to deal with this shitty situation on all sides. Where is the pleasure in imagining you're involved in this mess?

And then I remember....


It's only a game. It's just a bunch of pixels and polygons and computer code and scripted situations. That soldier could just as easily be Super Mario running along a plank and jumping over barrels. Those Taliban could just as easily be the enemy space ships in Space Invaders.

All of these games are essentially the same: run, jump, shoot your way through a series of challenges until you rescue the princess/capture the flag. The latest violent gaming fare is just Donkey Kong all grown up.

In 20 years the war in Afghanistan may still be raging on but Modern Warfare 2 will just be a quaint old fashioned game that has long been replaced by some 3D hologram virtual reality shoot-em-up arcade game.

I'll check back here in 2030 for an update.