In which Emily saves the world, one game at a time.

My Husband and I own a Playstation 3. We love it -we have Netflix and all sort of fun family-friendly games to enjoy together, like Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, Ratchet and Clank, and Little Big Planet. However, we do have one video game that would be unquestioning classed as a violent video game. This game is Call of Duty: World at War. In the game you re-enact battles from World War II as either an American or Russian Soldier. It's an exciting, fast paced cooperative game, and my husband and I really enjoy playing it together. The game cleverly appeals to my national pride and sense of morality through assigning you important tasks, such as securing airfields, ridding the world of bad guys, and basically saving the world. All of this, however, cannot overshadow the fact that the main point of the game is to kill other human beings. Violently. And therein lies my dilemma. Is this okay? Is the violence having a negative effect on me and my family?
Most of the current debate on violent video games centers around children and adolescents. Considering the things we read in chapter 1 of our Media Textbook, it seems sensible to be concerned that children may not be able to distinguish the media from reality. I, however, am an adult. I know that a bowl of popcorn on the TV does not spill when you turn the TV over. I know that the people in movies are actors, and I'm even skeptical of the things I hear on the news. I'm not going to start going out and killing people just because I've had practice. So is there anything I should be concerned about?
Just last night, my husband had a nightmare about killing people. And this morning, as stupid as it might sound, I had to check behind the shower curtain for bloody corpse. Do we know that it's not real? Of course. Does that stop it having a effect on us?
I'm still not entirely sure about this issue, but it's worth thinking about.