Quote:
Originally Posted by Cerek
One thing getting lost in this discussion is the fact that these games don't harm JUST the child, but other members of society as well and - by extension - society as a whole. You can claim (rather pompously) that I am trying to force my own set of values on others. I see it as common sense that a game designed to reward the protaganist for breaking laws of society is a bad idea.
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Can you prove that in some way? Provide a link to a study showing that there is a correlation between violence in video games and violence in the real world? I've known several people who have played video games that depict unethical behaviour, and as of yet, none of them have ever been to prison.
Rewarding the protagonist for breaking the laws ins't really a problem because
everyone already knows that you should obey the law. One might even argue that the games in question sell
because they are sociopathic wish-fulfillment fantasies; people want to be able to do anything and get away with it, and as that is not available in the real world, they do it in a virtual fantasy world in the privacy of their own homes. People steal cars in GTA
because they know that stealing cars is wrong. If someone actually thought that stealing someone else's car is an acceptable and risk-free way of solving problems, why would he play a game to do it?
Stuff in video games might affect the players thinking in various subtle ways, but it will not turn him into a homicidal maniac. The army has to spend months to get people willingly shoot other people, and even then they probably won't enjoy it. Just look at the numbers. Number of violent video games sold against (number of violent crimes - number of violent crimes thirty years ago). One of those is going to be a lot larger.