Man i am angry at all these fingers pointing at video games!!!!

Earlier today, my mom was telling me how she thought it was wrong of Resistance: Fall of Man to have a gun battle scene at the Manchester Cathedral, mainly not because of religious reasons, but she thinks the violence in video games is wrong. Gosh!!!! All these people like my mom just can't get it through their skull that it is all fake, and becuase it is fake, its fun. I have gun battles in churches and go on cop killing sprees in games because I can't do it in real life, it's just wrong! I feel bad causing harm to people in real life, sooooooo, I play video games to do that stuff becuase you would think, " Man, I wonder what it would be like if aliens invaded the Earth and I would have to use the Manchester Cathedral as a base to fight them off". C'mon! I'm not going to go into the actual church with a gun and say, " It's alright, I did it in Resistance Fall of Man so I must be able to do it in real life." Like I said, I do it in a game becuase it is wrong to do it in real life. Most people say they disagree with the violence because it warps children's minds, but that is why the there is an ESRB. Though, when I was a kid, I had craploads of fun playing games like goldeneye and perfect dark.

Another example f this violence BS is when the mayor of New York issued some staement saying it is horrible that GTA 4 emulate killings of cops and inisinte people in New York. I have two things to say about that, first, no one is getting hurt and its not going to warp someone into actualy do it, all those people are in special places being kept from this stuff. Second, that isn't New York city in GTA 4, its Liberty City that coincidently looks like New York City.

That is just how I feel about these things.

This is how you can fix that problem.

Start collecting whole bunch of Hello Kitty stuffs and Barney stuffs, and constantly run around singing that "I love you. You love me" song.

You know, the peaceful stuff, just the way your mom seems to want it.

If she is ok with that, then you are screwed, if not then....

That should freak her out enough to allow you to become less peaceful.

Yeah I know. The problem really isn't that big though. We who visit game sites every day notice this and we see every anti videogame news on an almost daily basis. In reality the vast and I mean VAST majority don't give a rats ass.

It is an annoyance but in the big picture it really doesn't much.

I am so annoyed, that the next person that has a whinge about violence in video games, I'm gonna rip their face off and dunk their head in salt while I beat them senseless with a spade.

*End sarcasm*

I certainly consider myself a mature person, although I am certainly prone to *act* immature (fart humour, insulting friends mums, sarcasm as above, the usual stuff). Playing games has not diminished my values such as respect for other people, honesty and general integrity. I've never been in a fight in my life, I've never picked up a gun. I attempted shoplifting twice when I was in my early teens, which has been the extent of my theft in my entire life. Now I hate thieves. Yet I play violent or crime driven games.

If some basic values aren't instilled in a child before they play some games with some more mature themes, then perhaps there is potential for damage. But that is what ratings boards are for. I think that for the most part, people know that in the real world their actions can impact on the values of others; in a game, any characters do not have real life values, they are all virtual. You know that there will be no long term consequences on your life. You die or make a mistake in a game? Just start over! Can't do that in real life.

A customer said he had his grandson, who I think was 4, in the passenger seat of his car. As oncoming cars came, he said "Smash him, grandad!" as a result of seeing someone (his father, presumably) playing car games. At the time I sort of dismissed it, but in hindsight it goes to my comment above; it obviously wasn't the right time to expose the child to this sort of video game.

I think just typing this has given me a little clarity on this situation. Children who have not yet developed a strong enough value of self and the impact they can have on others in real life should not be playing violent video games. This is where the attention should be focused; educating parents that it is not OK for their kids to play any video game as soon as they are old enough to pick up a controller.

Sorry, didn't read this thread too much, but I just have one thing to say!

Personally, I think we need an alien invasion to straighten everything out! You know, like Al Qaeda would seem a lot nicer when they were suicide bombing space aliens. Seriously, we would all be friends because we would be all in it together when it comes to shooting some extraterrastrial behind!

I don't worry about that pointing at video games. Games are new branch of industry and some people fear it. You will laugh about it, but it was the same with comic books. During 1950-60, in USA there was fight about comic books. I have a channel which shows veeery old movies etc. There was played a commercial. It was hillarious:

Imagine 4 playing young children. Wearing white clothes .Having fun out side.Then comes the 5th children. He has a large smile on his face. He brings with him comic book. He starts reading it .When he ends, he looks furious. He takes a rock from the ground and try to hit one of those 4 playing children. The "commercial" ends before the rock hits the head.