I disagree, its a good outlet for rage.

I didn't become a killer because played Goldeneye as a kid.

TOTALLY did not see this coming -_-

Let's say 10 people in the world commit a crime because of GTA. The game has already sold over 4 million copies. That's approximately .0000025% of people playing the game. So, this argument completely fails.

I agree, I have played videogames for over 20 years now. I think GTA is a step is out of the line sending a wrong message to kid, I mean what kind of crap is this playing a gangsta running around the city driving over pedestrains and shooting at cops???? not to mention striper. suddenly all seem cool to kids, and dont tell me because it carry the M rating kids wont be able to play.

i think that games certainly don't make people want to kill.

but games do impact the way kids think, i.e. either changes or reinforces their cultural values.

it seems that to me, games are very much reactive in bring cultural phenomona to our attention, rather than movies and magazines, which are more pro-active. so the reinforcement argument is probably more proper.

probably still an issue, but it's more of a issue with media and ever-evolving culture in general than games specifically.

 I am not sure how to say this without pissing some people off, but here it goes.

First off, I want to say I worked for the military for 12 years, and loved it. So I am not anti-military.

The military personal is not a average slice of the american population. The poor make up a larger percentage then the rich. Same with education levels, IQ levels, and a few others. If you were to take the average demographic of the military, and then look at the domestic violence and divorce rates across that demographic, you will find that they are the same.

A better way to say what I meant with my first post, is you are not training someone to be a killer, you are just condoning them to be better at it if they were a killer. Why they are a killer in the first place is the problem, not a training tool.

 I'd personally point the finger more at the long and repeated overseas tours of duty, combined with the extreme stress of trying not to get yourself killed. But I think we're straying a bit off-topic.

I wholeheartedly believe that what's-his-name is correct, and that after playing GTA I am now honed and ready to go on a total killing spree downtown. Just you wait, as soon as I learn how to unlock the auto-aim and life bar features in real life, there will be mayhem!

Whoa, did you kill Legend11? This is pretty funny, I mean I can't say GTA IV is a positive role model or anything for children, but its just a fucking video game. Kids see worse shit all the time in movies which run on TV throughout the day.

>>In general, the show was not calling for a banning of videogames (or of people buying GTA) but did question whether GTA should have received an Adult Only rating which is a fair question given the content of GTA.

Games dont influence or train people/kids to be murderers. For someone to want to commit a murder is already a little crazy anyway, the game never made them like that. and the army domestic violence thing mabe thats because most people who join the army are probably violent anyway, and thats why thay have joined the army, because they like to do violent stuff.

Maybe they join the army to serve and protect as well? It is all volunteer now so I couldn't say the reason everyone joins, but the majority do it because they want to defend this country...

Now this viewpoint is understandable. Video games do influence ppl. They may not train ppl to become killers, but they certainly can desensitize ppl to various different acts.