Are Video Games Persuassive?

I believe video games can be grouped into several distinctive genres, which reflect popular television and film motifs: crime, adventure, cartoon/fantasy, sports, and military/paramilitary. Like Film studies, one can apply the various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to video games. It is common in Film and television texts to assimilate established languages, religions, behaviours, values, rituals and social customs. This lead me to question weather video games played in contemporary society demonstrate the values of dominant culture? Are video games carriers of behaviors and models of order rewarded or punished in society? A major debate in cultural studies centers on the severity and levels of resistance one has when receiving messages at the point of consumption. Within the game world are dominant values presumed common sense and don't damage the status quo (gender, class, race etc.?) Or do mass marketed games invert social order?
Video games are both an expressive medium and a persuasive medium; they represent how real and imagined systems work, and they invite players to interact with those systems and form judgments about them. I am just curious as to what others opinions are on the topic of using imagery and visual representation persuasively. The link between video games and violence is fraught with conflicting and staunchly-held views, and the close-up clip played in the lecture reinforced this. As you can see, i am not taking a unwavering position for this debate, as I do not play video games, so therefore I cannot conclusively illustrate a position. Would just like to know what others think...