There was an argument I heard once that stated that violent games such as this may actually help people release their anger and frustration. If they're killing pixels it's better then taking it out on another human being.

I've never been able to decide either way myself. For the average person these should be no real detriment, but for those susceptible to these tendencies the games could be a catalyst. As technology increases and it becomes more realistic, where does the line get drawn for those growing up in an increasingly digitized world. Will we eventually lose track between the concrete and the illusory?

I'm an avid chess player, love the game. I've never had the desire to face two real armies against each other in a coordinated battle of wits and strategic placement. So someone with a decent sense of reality should be fine.

There was a thread on this before, but was saying it had been banned in russia. The offending part was taken out for later releases.

Originally posted by Seiko
There was an argument I heard once that stated that violent games such as this may actually help people release their anger and frustration. If they're killing pixels it's better then taking it out on another human being.

Games like that help me release anger and frustration. I would never shoot a person in real life unless it was for defence.

I usually go for the first person war games though.

I think it is harmless if the right people are playing it. Of course there is always a concern about children playing games like that, but of course if you were a parent that knew what their kids were doing and knew what they were playing then there should/would be no problems in it. =)

There's an old saying from computers: Garbage in, Garbage out.

I doubt that these games will create violence in someone who is not violent by temperament. Every so often there's some news item about a kid playing some violent game, who goes postal and hurts or kills someone. However, considering how many kids play these games, I'd say the risk is no greater than in ordinary life.

But still, what are you putting into your mind, what data are you giving that miraculous computer? What lessons do these games teach us - and do we want to go there?

The problem I see is desensitization. When I grew up (long ago), kids and even most adults did not see these kinds of images day in and day out. When I was a kid, there were lots of G-rated movies that our parents would take us to. The first R-rated movie I ever saw was when I was 16 and a friend and I snuck into a drive-in theater to see it. TV shows never got overly violent or graphic. There were no video games.

People of all ages today are quite regularly bombarded by images of violence and death. Last time I went to see a Saw movie there were probably 10 or so children under the age of 8 sitting in the audience. You cannot tell me that they are not impacted by such violent images.

As a society we are becoming desensitized to such images. That cannot be good for us as a civilized species. I am not against these video games, but I think that we are paying for all of these glorified images of violence and bloodshed in ways that are perhaps too subtle to notice and yet extremely detrimental to our society as a whole.