Finish Him!

There is a new danger to my GPA. This was not my idea... I repeat, not my idea... but one of my housemates has brought something back from the holidays that could be problematic to my continuing education.

I have long resisted internal pulls towards the Sony PlayStation, Gameboy, or any device of it's ilk. Like shopaholics might have to keep their eyes focused on the center of a road when driving by Bloomingdales, I have tried to stay away. Plus, there is the additional "old school" element - when I was a kid, [please try to imagine an old-man-creaky-voice here] we didn't have controllers with twelve buttons and two joysticks... we had ONE joystick and ONE button... and doggone it we were grateful!

But some of the guys here in formation are from a different generation, guys in their TWENTIES, and they have brought a PS3 into the house... and along with it, the fighting game Mortal Combat vs. DC. I saw some of the guys playing the game upon returning from break game and my hand started to twitch—so I figured that if my hand was twitching anywhay, I might as well use the twitching to press some buttons.

It took me a couple of days, but I finally mastered Superman—the surge of power I felt when picking up DarkSeid with my "Up, Up, and Away" move and pounding him into the pavement was exhilarating. But after playing the game off and on throughout the weekend, I have noticed it beginning to affect my psyche; during Mass yesterday while listening to an especially boring homily, I had an overwhelming urge to reach for a controller so that I could zap the preacher with Superman's Heat Vision.

And a part of me has wondered if engaging in these games is not exactly congruent with my future career as a Man of God. After all, every match ends with a demonic voice shouting "FINISH HIM," not exactly the "turn the other cheek" model the Gospels attempt to uphold, so I was trying to think of what a Catholic Video Game might look like. Maybe Missionaries in the 1600s coming over to convert the natives? Hmmm... smacks too much of colonialism. Oooh, how about exorcist who could throw crosses at demons and shoot the possesed with a super-soaker filled with holy water?!?!!

I shared that idea with somebody, enthralled by the creative imagination I was displaying... alas, the game already exists.

Maybe another game called "confessional" - where you listen to people and have to figure out the right amount of penances to give them. Give them too few and their soul is cast into damnation, give them too many and they run away from a burdensome church... might be a good virtual training for priests anyway.