From the Editor's Desk

I had someone recently ask me: “What is your favorite FPS game?” I immediately noticed the constraint in the premise of the question. It makes an assumption that you like First Person Shooters. It also assumes you have a favorite one. For me those assumptions are completely wrong. I do not like First Person Shooter games, and I have no favorite. In fact I do everything possible to avoid the FPSer genre. I politely explained I do not like those games, and I stopped playing them years ago. Yes I have played them in the past.

All of this got me thinking. The FPSer genre is the giant elephant in the room. We do not cover them at Family Friendly Gaming. We ignore them. We hope they will go away. We hope our fellow gamers will mature past the desire to play them. I started praying about addressing this issue. Instead of pretending this giant elephant in the room did not exist; I should explain my stance and why. I know those that have read my book Video Game Lies have the answers they seek in terms of this issue. The rest could use an intelligent explanation.

First and foremost I do not appreciate the violence in these games. I am not a fan of blood and gore. The overwhelming majority of FPSer games are macabre and morbid. Better words than the ESRB picked to describe them by the way. Going around digitally murdering millions can not be good for the mind nor the soul. I matured past the point of finding such violence to be entertaining in any way, shape or form. King David was a man after God's own heart. However he was not allowed to build the temple because of his blood stained hands. Our minds pay a price for all this violence.

The lessons that FPSer games teach bother me. They teach to get them before they get you. After that it teaches to keep getting them until they can no longer retaliate. This is exactly opposite of what Jesus Christ taught. He taught to turn the other cheek. To treat your enemies better than they treat you. To respond in kindness to their hatred. Revenge is an endless cycle. FPSers teach gamers to get revenge against their foes relentlessly. Things like mercy and grace are the opposite of what are in this genre. I made a conscious decision to reject those lessons.

Our minds soak up what we allow in through our eyes, ears, nose and mouth. As we see violent act after violent act it influences us. It modifies us. It changes us. I asked myself if that change was good, or was it bad? I came to the conclusion it was bad. I made an informed decision to walk away from games that taught lessons that directly attacked the ones my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ taught. That is why I do not play First Person Shooters.

God bless you and yours,
Paul Bury
Editor in Chief
Family Friendly Gaming