Gaming...I've seen it scare the pants off an entire generation, mainly the generation above mine. They've tried to censor it, and it just comes back with more blood, and more realistic blood at that. They said it was a fad, especially when Atari collapsed in the mid-80s, but now it is more popular than ever.

Those of us that grew up holding a paddle never put one down. We became adults, and we kept the gaming at our side as a necessary accessory to our sanity, an outlet for our animalistic impulses, a way to do something with our bodies and minds when we needed time to think. We grew up knowing that our fantasies would be manifest in pixels, and some of us knew this, in turn, meant that the darkness that rears its head during the tea time of the soul would never have to be let loose upon actual physical beings...we need only point the mouse at an icon and then spend hours gleefully slaughtering demons or zombies or hunting racist gangs or saving Tamriel.

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but infinite clicks in cyberspace, with limbs flying all about and people shouting at one another over fiber-optic cables. This is the way the world ends, not with the sun exploding or with the petty gripes of tawdry governments, but with the very imagination of the species taking over, becoming so ubiquitous it is impossible to escape.

This is the way the world ends, with child after child judging those around them not by the color of their skin, but by their capacity to cover us as imaginary snipers while we capture a digital flag. And in a fight to the death, there are few we fear more than the fabled 12-year-old Norweigian.

Together but seperate, we ascend the shores of Mount Doom to reforge the One Ring. We rebuilt the Towel of Babel, and every click is a brick. We become invisible in the shadows and emerge assassins. We are Batman. We are racecar drivers. We fight in World Wars. We battle in arenas. We reduce Wolfenstein to endless pools of blood. We destroy the denizens of Hell and all they represent.

We banish the ghosts, we collect the rings, we become mutants and criminals and police alike. We are Quake, we are Doom, we are Sonic, we are Mario, we are Roger Wilco, we are Jedi of both sides of the Force as we choose. We are making our way through Rapture, we are Duke Nukem.

When the revolution comes, it will be planned over teamspeak and communicated in speedrun demos, passed through an oral history like the warps in Super Mario Brothers and the Mortal Kombat Blood Code.

Gamers already rule the world, you just don't know it yet.

We are Undying Fables, we are Indiana Jones.

We become our own heroes and villians.

We are the next level.

This is the new Rock n' Roll.

This is the triumph of every Toy Maker.

This is the death of Santa Claus.

Get down with the sickness.



:explosive: