When I play a game with violence.. I don't see it as killing people.. I see it as killing virtual creations. DATA.

No where in my mind do I make the connection of pretending there real people.

But sadly some people do... But we shouldn't have to be punished for other peoples mental instabilities.

Any person that goes and kills someone, and then it's blamed on games... Was already a messed up a person and most likely would have killed someone anyways..

Art is creative. 'Creative' implies creation. Violence is destructive. Therefore violence is not an art.

As for games being art, that's a load of bullsh*t. Games are not art, they're games. Games may contain artistic elements, yes. But a game itself is not art. It is an interactive medium.

Videogames aren't the cause of violence. It's simple : just compare Canada and the US.

Both play the exact same games. Both play GTA, Manhunt, Postal, Counter Strike, etc...

But Canada has among the lowest criminal records in the world. Why? What's different from the US? Their culture and gun control. These are the two things that matter.

^^^^^ Battle of the bubbles, who will run out first?

ON TOPIC:

Video games are artistic expression, much like a painting COULD be, or a movie, the hook with video games is the intensity of the video game, the visceral actions that might make a gamer feel empowered, to empowered, drunk with it possibly, distorting reality can be playful, but to push it as far that's it's over writing your ethics and morale's but not only stopping there, because all people are different, so as a social norm as well.

Video game violence is as much as a problem as Tv violence. Taking this into consideration, by the standards of America, Video game violence SHOULDN'T be a problem, but seemingly and some how it is, in the likes of Fox News and CNN, I believe Video games are 1950-70's rock and roll, 1980's heavy metal, 90's Rap. Every civilization goes through a phase, it used to be "devils music" now it's, "Kill Simulators" take it as you will, but video game violence to me isn't REAL, there is a reality where I act totally different then who I would play as in a video game (cosplay aside, J/K!!!)

Seriously thought at though, absolutely not, it's not a problem for adults, but then again it's probably not the demographic we, or the rest of the world is aiming for, it's the kids that have the sponge like brains, who soak up millions of tidbits of information.

I know tons of kids many like myself who grew up fine with violent video games, sure they weren't as vivid as they are now, but I turned out fine, many of my friends did, and all drug deals aside we're pretty constructive people, and so are most of you out there. I used to work with kids with a good friend of mine, I'd hear about GTA, Halo, you name it, hell I even believe we had CS at the computer labs, as far as I knew most of the kids I looked after were fine.

North Americans are really numb to the violent potrayal of life, especially Americans, growing up in a War culture. To take video game violence as seriously as we do here is ridiculous there are infinitely bigger issues at hand than this junk, if you blame some body for going AWOL because of a game, chances are they were pretty screwed up to begin with, long before they got there copy of doom or counter strike.

@ Kak, while it might not seem logical, time makes the biggest difference, every inch of maturity, certainly 17-18 can make a difference, however slight, but I will agree the ESRB system is in need of an overhaul, or we should request competitors action for a better system, right now it's setup like the MPAA and they're crap.

Lol, such sophisticated comments

this is what n4g should be like not immature people arguing over crap

the arguements you are having now make a difference and are logical rather than two fanboys yelling over something the will not go anywhere

we are learning, opening our eyes to others opinions and expressing a desire to argue something worthwhile and something we truly believe in.

"It's a work of art"
That sentence means that something is beautifully or well done.
Every one has their own opinion and thus define art differently and find different things beautiful.

The art of destruction is to destroy/to harm and to hurt but hell it's just a game where we can enjoy this art without human restrictions. Where this art is encourages and kept. Once our videogame systems are off, this art is saved within save files. The art doesn't leave the game and go with us. The art is the game and all its content. It is not real and doesn't influence you

Having this type of art can be stress relieving too
You had the worst day in your life, divorced or dumped, fired, or failed an exam. Your really angry and pissed at the world. Now you can take your anger out on the real world or you can use the videogame and express your anger without harming others in real life.

I will agree with every single comment because they are all different opinions that represent they way you view things. Veritanimus, i will not agree or disagree with you because you don't care what other people say or think. You won't open your mind to others peoples opinions and your tone makes you sound angry. You dont use exclamation marks but you just sound rude

It’s not that Gen Z isn’t interested in AAA or story driven games, a lot of them simply don’t have the financial freedom to explore. When you’re budgeting, you stick to games that give the most value for the least cost, which is why ecosystems like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft dominate. What looks like a preference is often just economic constraint.

This really doesn't mean anything, when you can pirate PC games with a mature or AO rating. 😂 You can pirate without any age restriction bullshit.

Controversial take but maybe parents could start parenting and be more attentive and involved in their kids life? Then maybe other adults can buy whatever they'd like without worrying about "the children" that aren't in the slightest a concern to em, cause…they're not their children? Also we don't need to stop letting out of touch boomers in government from deciding what is and what isn't "good" for people in the US. There is a surprising amount of things that are banned in this country that in multiple other countries are more of a net positive, yet for some reason they aren't allowed here.