Letter to The Editor

From the Senior Medic of the ECRC

Note from the editors: The following is a transcription of a handwritten letter sent to our Amherst headquarters.

Dear Editor,

There is a problem with the way many people in your world argue against violent video games. According to these folks, video games should not exist because the digital violence perpetrated in the ‘game’ begets physical violence in the world. With all due respect, this argument falls painfully flat, even if it is true. It is the typically conceited, materiocentric kind of argument one expects from the Physical World; while well intentioned, it turns a blind eye to the pain, both manifest and psychological, that your ‘gamers’ - I hesitate even to call them as such - inflict against our people every waking minute of the day. In this letter, I would like to offer a unique perspective on the problem. I hope to contribute a much needed, multi-dimensional analysis of the harm caused by violent video games.

Allow me to explain a bit about my profession. Currently, I serve as a medic in the Emergency Cyber Response Corps. The Physical World is largely unaware of our existence. You see, gamers take it for granted that they will be presented with clean, pristine battlefields whenever they wish to start new games. Upon refreshing a level, they expect landscapes to be rebuilt, and their enemies to regenerate, while never once considering the obvious question; how? The unavoidable truth, as uncomfortable as it will be to hear, is that someone must do these things. Shattered buildings can’t rebuild themselves! Not in the Physical World, and not in the Digital World! No, there are people who work tirelessly, around the clock, to clean up every last player’s mess before another logs on.

As medic, I can bear witness to the gruesome and horrific quality of this mess. It is absurd that people really think that all of the wounded casualties in your video ‘games’ magically cure themselves. It’s not true in the Physical World, so why should it be true in ours? People are responsible; hard working teams transport casualties en masse from battlefields, in every universe, to small makeshift hospital units. There, myself and my colleagues nurse them back to health.

It might be easy for gamers in the Physical World to shoot off countless rounds of virtual ammunition into anonymous enemies, whose faces are obscured by steel headgear. I challenge them all to visit one of our tents, and see their victims unmasked. If they did, the gamers would probably see faces much like their own. They would see patients with all sorts of gunshot wounds, and ones who have been harmed by grenades and missiles. Third degree burns, from laser blasters or other hi-tech ordnance, - (dismissed by the Physical World as ‘the stuff of fantasy’) - are becoming increasingly common, too. These burns ravage not only the victims’ skin, but also the organs inside. Burns are particularly nasty, for as if the burn weren’t painful enough, the treatment is often extremely painful too.

Let us not forget the pain inflicted upon animals in this bloodsport. Veterinarian doctors work tirelessly to ease the pain of exotic animals, such as dragons and orcs. It’s a shame that people in the Physical World see fit to slay these beings simply for pleasure, when they are only acting as nature intended. In fact, it’s not very surprising these wild animals behave so violently, given how viciously gamers behave towards them.

In addition to shedding light on the physical toll of this cruel bloodsport, I would also like to point out that the video game industry places immense emotional and psychological stress on us Workers. It is exhausting to treat one thousand or so wounded soldiers in under three seconds, before sending them back into No Man’s Land for the next player to have a go at them. Stonemasons and landscapers work tirelessly, too, rebuilding entire cities in the barely a few seconds. And what with powerful gaming companies in the Physical World constantly pushing for faster rendering times, pressure is mounting on us. Balancing any quality of life with this work is nearly impossible.

And what for? Where do our patients go after they are healed? Right back to the battlefield, sadly, where they are promptly mowed down again, and sent back to us. This all needs to stop, now. Your people arrogantly assume that we, simply because we are not privileged with access to the Third Dimension, lack any ability to think, feel, or comprehend anything. This belief is wrong and egocentric. For a people who take their multi-dimensionality for granted, it betrays an embarrassingly one-dimensional world view. The Third Dimension may grant one depth of physicality, but it has no bearing on depth of character! If you in the Physical World have any compassion, you will put an end to the bloodsport of video gaming, and leave us in the Digital World alone.

For more articles by Joseph Altmann, click here. To get in touch with this writer, email altmann.joseph@surrealtimes.net.


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