I really like the quote on comment #8. �Video games, books, movies, magazines are simply just that- Entertainment. Not guide books for damning yourself.� Blaming video games for violence is like the lawsuits where Ozzy Osborne and other heavy metal stars were blamed for suicides because of the music they produce. If parents let their children become swamped with media, then the parents will lose their influence. As a parent, I�ve realized it�s my responsibility to curb my 14 year old�s media time and teach him things about the actual world. Moderation is the key and parents have to teach children skills where they will moderate any activity they do � talking on the phone, playing Halo, etc. Many children brag about the ridiculously long hours they spend on games, yet not many people seem to be counteracting this �do what you feel for as long as you want� mentality towards media and it�s becoming a norm in our society. Kids at school experience social and psychological changes in settings with other children their age. If the parents don�t teach children how to stand on their own and moderate their media consumption, the children won’t have another perspective to consider, which brings another important point � ultimately, games have to make decisions for themselves.

There’s plenty of ideals and entities to choose from in modern society, which makes the choice much more difficult. Is life really productive by playing games for an average of ten hours a day? Are we helping our family, friends, neighbors and society in general? We’re certainly helping our consumer society which has created such an overdrive of media demand that the government and media producers has been forced to create tougher piracy and copyright laws because consumers want the products so bad and will do almost anything to get them. For example, several college students at 15 different universities have been recently charged with downloading media illegally in a widely publicized sting. Our society encourages the behavior of stealing and media obsession by offering services that allow the opportunity to get these materials quickly (in this case Internet 2 where a movie download that would normally take 24 hours can be complete in about a half hour). These people had to make that decision to download that media, but consumer society offers services and products that encourage this behavior. People care about the media more than people and basic morals. Media and society has created a grey area when it comes to stealing. At some point, whether they want to or not, people will have to admit one or the other � there is no gray area.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&e=3&u=/nm/20041118/hl_nm/health_britain_violence_dc

The article is about how Nursery Rhymes have more violence than Kids TV. I think that the visual violence is more triggering for kids than reading it in the context of a Nursery Rhyme. But I digress….

I think that proper parenting, good mentoring and good role models are the most important things for raising children who are not prones to exhibiting violence. In my opinion there is enough violence in the real world – why would you want your child exposed to more.

That is for kids – if you are an adult – what can I say? Hopefully at that point you have developed enough moral character that playing a violent video game is not going to influence your tendencies.

I thought the photo was real until I read the part where his friend said it was a video game…then I just got confused!

But is this really a bad thing? I say: “Not necessarily”. For example, I intend to pursue a career in law enforcement. Say I am put into a situation where I may have to shoot and even kill someone to save an innocent life. Would you rather I hesitate with the thought of shooting someone, or do my job as necessary?

Time to quit searching for things to bitch and moan about. So what if the game resembles actual war?? It’s supposed to.
What if we become desensitized?? You touchy feely mommy boys and girls might disagree, but I say kill off any sense of that emo shit. You wanna cry about war?? Go for it. See what that helps and whose life that saves.

I know what you’re thinking…
No, mommy didn’t hug me.

As for me- I’m going to go play source. If you find my husband dead with a M4 head shot… then I take it all back.

Gaming is a form of escape, a “break” from the world if you will. Although, gaming is criticized strongly today because it is 1. relatively new in society, and 2. an easy scapegoat. However, these “outlets from reality” have been around since the dawn of time. Whether it is a professor having a drink after work, children playing Cowboys and Indians, or even attending a renaissance festival, such methods of escape have always existed. And, they always will.

Let?s face it, the routines of life can be very monotonous, and an occasional break can be a relief; and at times even healthy. However, individuals who are unable to differentiate between a factual and fiction environments typically find themselves depressed, anxious, and/or generally lost. Sadly enough, the extremity of this situation rarely appears in news reports such as the Columbine incident. This is a problem with an individual?s psychological stability and certainly not the gaming industry as a whole. After all, 99.999% of the active gamers would never consider such an act.

Unfortunately, if there were not regular outlets available for people to take advantage of, Columbine incidents would probably become a more frequent affair. There were no school shootings yesterday, so I applaud the gaming industry for providing a momentary escape for the folks who needed it. Thank You!

On the video games, as well as things seen on every day tv, yes, I agree it desensitizes us. Things we see today, our grandparents would cringe, and die all over again. Why are we so accepting? Because we see it so much, that the shock has worn off. As, you with what ever picture you are reeferring to. (Personally, I don’t want to know)!!! But, that is me!. I think our society as we even know it, will be a memory too, for our children of today. I don’t even want to imagine, how life will be in twenty years if Jesus doesn’t come back. Too sad.

And I agree…the picture did look liek a video game at first. Kind of frightening when you think about it..