SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDST OF FOURTH QUARTER, some of the students that hang out in my room before school started playing a new iPhone game: Kick the Boss.  I couldn’t help but ask about the game as their laughter had piqued my interest.  “It’s a game where you torture your boss,” they said.  I wasn’t quite sure what to say: torturing my boss wasn’t something I had ever thought about in my two decades of having one.

I’ve not been a huge game-player in my life.  Sure, I enjoy your basic arcade game.  My iPhone games consist mostly of plants and zombies and birds.  But there are a lot of games out there full of people killing other people, and that’s become something of a bother to Tom Bissell, a writer and game-player who writes often about the field.  Last week Grantland posted Bissell’s thoughts on the newest games and how they deal with torture PLUS all of the regular violence of “shooter” games.

If you’re a gamer yourself, it’s definitely worth the read.  And if you simply like good writing, it’s definitely worth the read.  You can check out the article here.