Video Games and Violence: Why We Should Humanize Enemy Characters Instead of Treating Them as Disposable

Yo, what's up, listeners? It's your boy Max Gaming here, the teen gaming sensation who's all about crushing it at the highest levels but breaking it down so simple anyone can jump in and have a blast. Today, we're diving into something super real in games that hits different when you think about it: those endless waves of enemy grunts, the mooks, you know, the faceless dudes or Jawas or whatever that our heroes just blast through without a second thought. Picture this: you're playing a massive triple-A shooter, right? You're the badass protagonist mowing down hordes of bad guys to save the day. Feels epic, doesn't it? But according to Literate Machine, this is straight-up the dominant vibe in mainstream gaming now, where we enact mass violence on these disposable enemies who are just there to die. They point out how even in stuff like The Mandalorian, Mando guns down those scrambling Jawas stripping his ship, and some folks cheer it on while others, like the writer, see it as straight horrific. Literate Machine digs deeper, pulling from Grant Morrison's The Invisibles comic where they give one mook named Bobby a full backstory – disabled kid, abusive parents, military injury, even hating himself for abusing his wife. Normally, mooks don't get names, families, or feelings; they're not even usually women because society draws a line there. But humanizing them flips the script, making you question if your hero's really the good guy for turning them into cannon fodder. They connect it to bigger stuff, like how video games pile up bodies cartoonishly, way more than some movies, and how politicians like Donald Trump blamed games for school shootings back in 2023 instead of real fixes like gun control. Literate Machine stresses they're not saying games cause real violence – nah, evidence shows gun control works and these shootings are a US thing despite games everywhere. But it does mirror a culture where some lives matter more, turning enemies into monsters, zombies, or aliens to make killing feel okay, kinda like stand-ins for "the other." Even in superhero flicks, Captain America beats down pirates no questions asked, and Superman killing at the end feels normalized. Literate Machine ties this to old stories evolving from gods and fate to modern merit myths, where self-made heroes deserve power and mooks at the bottom don't. It's like our games buy into ruling ideas that justify inequality – some are special, others aren't worth a respawn. But here's the hype part, listeners: we don't have to stick to that. Games could be different! Think co-op adventures where everyone's a hero, or stories bucking the trend like Starship Troopers satirizing the kill-everything fascism. In crises, real people self-organize and cooperate naturally, per Literate Machine, not go every-man-for-himself. Gaming can bridge that – casual to pro, making worlds where no one's just a mook. Next time you're blasting through enemies, pause and think: what if they had a stor This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.