The Wonders of the Virtual Killing World

Baker, Nicholson. "Painkiller Deathstreak." The New Yorker. August 9, 2010. Web. January 27, 2011.

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Baker provides a brief outline of a variety of war themed video games that he played thanks to influence from his sixteen-year-old son. He basically describes the experience he encountered while playing these games and the challenges he had. First he describes the difficulty of these games and lets the reader know how unskilled he is when it comes to video games. He makes note of all the challenges he faces and how bad he does relative to his son and his son’s friends. Next, he explains how long the games are and compares them more directly to a full season of a television show rather than just a movie. Finally he admires the beauty in the games and the high quality of the graphics and audio. He describes certain levels and acts by characters as “wonders of explorable specificity.” Baker continues to describe game after game in at least decent detail. However, Modern Warfare 2 seems to be the most heavily focused on game, hence the title of the article being a set of terminology from that game. He also describes Modern Warfare 2 as being the game with the “deepest moral snowdrifts,” although his favorite game he played is Uncharted 2.

In writing this article, Baker really sets out to convince the reader of the realism and intensity of video games today. Our technology has become so in depth and it has enabled virtual worlds, like that of video games, to be so realistic. Baker challenges the reader to imagine what it would be like in a real war situation, and then he gives vivid explanations of situations in various video games. In doing this, he is ultimately selling each of the games to the reader and making the readers think. He writes of how these video games are so real and difficult and it speaks to readers beyond the words he actually writes. His words invoke feelings of addiction towards these “virtual worlds” we call video games. He seems to be in control of the game rather than it controlling him, but the way he speaks of his son and his son’s friends seems to tell a different story. These games are so realistic that they are pulling in a bigger following than video games ever have in the past. Young and old, people are getting hooked and letting video games govern their life. The only thing to blame is the improved technology that makes it so realistic and addictive.