Taking Them With You

Clive Thompson: 'Halo 3' turned me into a suicide bomber

In all seriousness, I think Thompson makes a good point about how the inequalities in skills can sometimes lead the less skilled to adopt desperate tactics (asymmetrical warfare) in order to at least keep the other guy from winning. How many times in movies and books have we seen someone who is hopelessly outgunned still achieve a sort of victory by taking the other guy with them?

Of course real suicide bombing is at a whole other level of desperation than the simulated kind Thompson experienced on Halo 3 (for one thing, Thompson is still alive and can continue to play). But at least this little glimpse into the mindset of the truly desperate can be enlightening.