Response Blog with The Onion

While looking around online, I found a video by the Onion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQhvW-tjNM) about a fake new video games entitled Close Range. The purpose of this game is solely to shoot people point blank in the face with a shotgun. Because of the subject of the video being videogames, therefore technology, i felt it relates to our course theme.

The video is basically a satire of the videogame industry as a whole. It starts with the reporter introducing the game, explaining that the game is just shooting people in the face with a shotgun. Many people are interviewed, but they are all actors playing satirical characters. One is a videogame reviewer who says, "Just as literature and film transports you into a new world, Close Range transports into a world where you shoot people's faces off." They also report that people purchase the game because of it's "well-developed characters and storyline".

Using a sarcastic tone, they are scrutinizing the videogames makers, players, and critics all at the same time. The Onion is trying to make videogames look nothing more than a medium for violence, lacking any other real substance. When they say things like people enjoy the game's well-developed plot and storyline, ther are obviously being sarcastic because the game holds no plot or characters, it's just shooting people in the face. Their opinion is that while games hold plots and characters, the real appeal to videogamers is violence and gore. This is further shown through their satire of the videogame critic, who makes a comparison to videogames and other medias such as literature and film, saying all three transport you to different worlds, but that videogames, "let you shoot people in the face." This goes back to the violence theme, and shows the writers of this video don't believe that videogames should be in the same category as other artistic mediums because of their gratuitous violence.

I don't agree with the opinions of the authors because I have the reverse opinions about all their stances on videogames. The Onion believes they have no plot substance and are simply an outlet for violence, and I beg to differ. It is very easy to blame violent kids and other social issues on videogames, and I really don't believe there is a cause and effect relationship between videogames and society's ills. I rarely play videogames and currently don't own any, but I do believe they can be alot of fun and that they can be deeper than people give them credit for.