In Playing Metal Gear, by Jamil Jan Kochai, “you” are given the opportunity to virtually live out the chance to save “your” father and uncle from death and torture within an eerily realistic video game. As Kochai, or “you”, go through the game, you becomes desensitized to the violence - brutally murdering “soviet soldiers” as you make your way to save your father and uncle. The player seems to revel in the pain he inflicts, going out of his way to leave a bloody trail in his wake as he makes his way towards his family. At first, these descriptions are uncomfortable and unsettling, but as you and the boy in the story fall deeper into the game, the less noticeable the violence becomes. His experience, and thus our experience as readers, within the game, led me to question whether the blame for his insensitive actions were a result of his anger towards the people who harmed his family, or the game itself. Essentially, are video games ways to explore violent...