A New Era of Fun

It's Monday, November 7th, 2011, the day before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is about to be released.  Already numerous people are outside the local Gamestop waiting to get their hands on the game at midnights, when it is finally released.  Nothing was strange about that, but according to my friends who were there and said that nearly 400 people in line, they estimated half of the people in the line were young kids with their parents.  They couldn't believe what they were seeing; hundreds of kids around the ages of ten to fifteen waiting to get their hands on what was said to be one of the most highly anticipated games of all time.

This is the era we are in.  Kids younger, and younger continue to be exposed to video games that continue to become more violent and this is becoming the "norm."  When I went to get my hands on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 the next day after school, I too was shocked by the number of young kids waiting in line to get the game.  Of course I had went around 2:30 to 3:00 in the afternoon when elementary, middle, and high school was just getting out, but it just baffled me with the number of young kids in line with their parents who were impatiently waiting to buy the game.  Years ago when the first Call of Duty game came out, there would not have even been half of the amount of kids waiting to get this game.

I have been playing violent video games including Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield for many years.  Over these years, I have noticed the complexion of the kids playing the game transform from teenagers and adults to younger and younger children.  I think it is getting a little ridiculous with the amount of young kids entering the violent video game world and I think the video game Modern Warfare 3 has pushed the limits for kids and violent video games; I mean when I was their age, I wasn't killing aliens, soldiers, or civilians in a virtual world, but this is the new era of fun.  Young kids think that this is fun and they don't realize that these games aren't meant for them.  The new era of fun shouldn't be learning how to kill people or blow up houses, but rather it should be focused on playing with friends and meeting new people, just like when I grew up.