[Bungleau]

For the record, I *have* played GTA. 3 or 4, I think... 'twas at my brother's, a couple of years ago. I did not play it through, so that will count against me, I'm sure. However, I did notice that after playing for a couple of hours, when we headed out to dinner, I drove *much* more aggressively than usual... kind of like I was driving in the game. One subjective incident, to be sure, but one that tells me that on some level, I was more into the game than I really realized.

That said, I do believe that the overall tone of this thread is toward self-regulation. It appears to me that the difference is between self-regulation on the consumer's side, through effectively using ratings and other means to keep things out of the wrong hands; and the publisher's side, by deciding what games to produce.

I agree with Yorick: the young man in Thailand is the most recent piece of evidence in the matter. Unfortunately, the nature of the issue is that only the problems, like him, will get brought to the public's eye. There's little newsworthiness in stating that "36,523 teenagers played GTA yesterday and showed prosocial behavior, common sense, and pleasant attitudes".