Some of my favorite video games are almost entirely peaceful. In fact, my favorite Tex Murphy games (that I keep going on and on about – should get embarrassing any day now) don’t have you shoot anyone – although the first two games, Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum, allowed Tex to wield a gun, and I don’t think the second game had you shoot a person. Though you do have to shoot a snake. Hey, self-defense, man.
For as long as I can remember, shooting has been a part of video games. Some of the first games I adored on the TI-99/4A Home Computer were space shooters. Even Mario shoots fireballs. I’m putting aside the phallic nature of the gun, because that’ll just devolve into a wildly unnecessary discussion about penises, and I can only deal with two of those a day. Discussions! Not penises!
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