The Torture Game

In class on Tuesday we played and discussed the Torture Game. Most of the people who spoke in class said that they felt disturbed or uncomfortable when playing this game. Why is this happening? Many of the students in Honors 353 play First Person Shooters with good graphics, and eventually end up killing hundreds or even thousands of people. What is the difference? Why should I feel so uncomfortable playing the Torture Game when the person actually looks like a rag doll and never once shouts out in pain or makes any indication of being alive? I believe it is the plot or back-story of the game. I recently have been playing Splinter Cell: Conviction for the PC until my computer decided it could not run it anymore. In the beginning of the game men are trying to kill the main character and through an act of self preservation the main character successfully kills many men and also proceeds to torture others for information. Why is this okay and the Torture Game can strike up such controversy? I think the reason is the Torture Game does not have a plot. There are not cut scenes and you have no idea who the characters are in the game.  The person being tortured is not defined as a terrorist or a dictator who has committed mass genocide on his people. I am curious if that change in the game would take away the unease people experience when they play the game? Could adding that element of possible moral justification change the moods of the players? Would the controversy of this game be the same? I honestly do not think it would have gotten as bad of a reaction from the public.