Harrison Ford? What's he got to do with this? is he some sort of activist?Anyway, you mentioned (the PC term - which could spark a whole separate thread) "ethnic cleansing". This concept (though maybe not the term) has been around a lot longer than anything virtual. So has violence in general.
Having been raised on "falling anvils and explosives" (i.e. Roadrunner, Coyote, Bugs, Daffy, ) and even "Big Time Wrastlin'" (who would have thought it would become the WWF, NWO, EIEIO, ...) I've still managed not to kill anbybody (yet 
). So is it now that the virtual violence is more realistic?
I don't think so, I think the real problem is in the family (theirs, not the populace as a whole). Everytime you here about a "Columbine", the focus always seems to be on the kids and how bad they are. What about the parents that are raising (or more correctly are not raising) these killers?
If your child does something, you as a parent are responsible. But that's the other big problem: (lack of) responsibility. There just seems to be a shortage of it (and common sense) when someone can sue McDonalds, after spilling hot coffee on themselves, because the coffee wasn't clearly labeled as HOT. What, you were confused as to whether the coffee was warm, hot or that new-fangled iced coffee?
But, I digress ... CRPGs to me are no different than any other outlet you use to "escape". I'd rather stick my head in the sand sometimes and not think about all the problems in the world, but I have a little one to hand this world over to. If you play a CPRG (or more likely a FPS, like Doom, QUake, ...) and go kill someone, blaming it on the game and get away with it, we've all got problems.
1. You obviously can't accept the responsibility of your actions, so you blame the game - it made me do it. Funny, the other millioins of people that played it didn't get that message ... did you get a special version? Maybe the problem is not the game, ... it's you.
(funny quote from some comedian - I think Steven Wright - "why is it no one ever hears voices that say stuff like 'go mow your neighbors lawn'?)
2. If we as jurors buy your story and find the game responsible, we are just encouraging others to do the same (and are little better than you).
If we as the public buy this crap and spend our time worrying about how much violence is too much (in a game, on TV, in a PG-PG13-R movie), I think we missed the boat.
Let's focus on the problem, not the scapegoat. The problem(s) being lack of accountability, responsibility, values, morals, ethics, ...
Coming full circle, to PC (being "politically correct" - one of the biggest oxymorons of all time, right behind "Military Intelligence"), when did it become wrong wish someone "Merry Christmas"? Why is it we can't have a "Christmas Party" without getting sued? It has to be a "Winter Celebration" or "Holiday party". If I wish you "Merry Christmas" and you choose not to observe that holiday, for religious or whatever reasons, and you take offense to that ... I think the problem is you (not that I am non-PC compliant). Unless of course I knoiw it bnothers you and I keep doing it, then I am just an a$$.
So, if I start my own religion that doesn't celebrate mornings (which I have often thought of doing), and you tell me "good morning", how long do you think it would take me to find a lawyer to take up my case?
Ugh, Lawyers, another problem ... but that takes us back to ethics, responsibility, ... my head seems to be swimming in the same whirlpool w/Joan
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). Luckily, Lee showed me how wrong I was and kept me involved.
