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Reader Comments (60)

Posted: May 1st 2008 5:28PM (Unverified) said

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GTA Kicks ass and everyone knows it
Hardcore Gaming : www.360Halo.com

Posted: May 1st 2008 6:16PM (Unverified) said

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I'll rub one out to this when I get home. LMAO!

Posted: May 1st 2008 6:17PM strubdog said

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In fairness to Fox News, Fox Corp and Fox News are seperate entities.

Posted: May 2nd 2008 8:42AM (Unverified) said

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I agree with DigitalSpirit in that there is a ton of depravity in the world. I have seen it and experienced the repurcussions of people acting on their darkest instincts.

We all have choices in how to respond to this world of depravity. You can consider what is right and what is wrong, fight for what is right and reject what is wrong. Or, you can wallow in your pigpen of depravity. You can be a little Caligula, acting out your darkest desires hour and hour on GTA. That is your choice.

In all likelihood this latter choice will not turn you into a serial killer. However, it will diminish your sense of morality and ultimately your potential to be humane. Most of the responses I've heard indicate that ethics and morality are not important to GTA fanboys. That does not suprise me in the least.

Posted: May 2nd 2008 9:26AM (Unverified) said

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I was desensitized many years before GTA came around. I've seen some truly horrific images in my time, but nothing has turned me to the "dark side", just opened my eyes to the depravity of the world. If you have a sense of morality and know what is right and what it wrong, you would never (in your right mind) act on it. Humans have been killing, raping and pilliging long before technology even existed and they certainly weren't influenced by the media! If a game actually stops certain sick minded people from acting out these fantasies in reality and keeps it in a virtual world, surely this is a good thing, even if they are not! ...
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Posted: May 2nd 2008 10:26AM (Unverified) said

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If you have been desensitized to violence through movies and videogames that glorify crime then your eyes have not opened to the depravity of the world. The horror of murder and sexual slavery is experienced more through long-term repercussions than the immediate events portrayed in movies and videogames. As posted previously, GTA does not portray children very much in its fictional world. However, prostitutes and pedestrians do have children and other family members that would be devasted by their senseless slaughter. This isn't part of the equation of GTA because then people might not find it so entertaining to commit imaginary crimes.

Games like GTA are not cathartic. Spending hours and hours shooting prostitutes and running over innocent pedestrians activates the chemistry of aggression and dampens moral reasoning. While this will not turn you into a serial killer, it will make you less ethically discerning and make it less likely that you will exhibit moral courage when a situation calls for it.

Posted: May 2nd 2008 10:16AM (Unverified) said

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Can you actually read or do you just reply with unrelated responses out of habit? Can you tell me where exactly I stated I have "been desensitized to violence through movies and videogames that glorify crime"? I didn't did I. I was talking about REAL life situations. There's plenty of websites where you can see deaths, accidents and mutilations that are actually legal to view and far more disturbing than any video game or movie and as for porn that's even easier to see. Please READ before replying with something that has nothing to do with my comments. Thank you!
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Posted: May 2nd 2008 10:26AM (Unverified) said

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I have read your posts and I am responding specifically to what you write.

Although there are "websites where you can see deaths, accidents and mutilations that are actually legal to view and far more disturbing than any video game or movie and as for porn that's even easier to see" these also do not portray the long term horror of crime.

Real life experiences can also desensitive a person to the horror of criminal behavior. That is why cycles of abuse are observed within families.

You seem to wear desensitization as a badge of honor. To me, desensitization is like shoving a stick through your eye and up into your brain. You seem to think desensitization is adaptive. My point is that you are crippling yourself.

Posted: May 2nd 2008 10:39AM (Unverified) said

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I think you're missing the point. Whether I am desensitized or not, seeing horrific deaths and playing violent video games doesn't make me want to go out to kill or rape people! In GTA IV when I was offered the chance to kill the guy by kicking him off the roof I chose to save him. If I am some sick desensitized freak like you seem to think everyone is who plays this game, then I would have kicked him to his death and probably jumped down to decimate the corpse afterwards! Maybe it is your own moral standing that is in question if you feel so strongly about something which most people don't even think about once they turn off their console. To be honest this conversation is getting dull, but you're entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.
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Posted: May 2nd 2008 10:52AM (Unverified) said

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It is amusing how so many of you say that I'm suggesting that GTA is turning you into criminals or serial killers when I have repeatedly denied that assertion. My point has been that GTA impairs your ethical reasoning and diminishes the likelihood that you will exhibit compassion and humane tendencies in everyday situations. That doesn't necessarily mean that you will be a criminal. It simply means that you are more likely to be an amoral punk.

I do agree that the discussion is getting dull though.

Arrivederci

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