@MattmanDude
What leads you to draw the conclusion that a child cannot separate these particular events (the killing of a person with the killing of a fictional representation of a person)? I've been playing violent games since about the age of four and I have certainly never connected the two, personally. There has always been a pretty clear and obvious distinction.
My first Grand Theft Auto game was around the same time I first started school, and yet I've never found myself carrying out any violent crime in my life. I'm going into my third year of Biomedical Science - not really the path of corruption that violent game experiences of youth should have taken me down. I should also add I'm not the only one - many of my friends from childhood have had the same general upbringing, but are now studying computer programming, sound production, business management, and so on. I only know a couple of (old) friends that have gone down a bad route, and they never even played games (they thought it too nerdish, if I recall rightly).
While I certainly don't doubt that there are cases of children being unable to interpret the difference, it seems clear to me that a good upbringing with decent parental guidance regarding the issues of the games will lead to one being perfectly capable of separating the experiences in a healthy manner. Hell, I didn't even have the parental guidance, and I managed. If a child becomes violent because of games, it isn't the fault of game exposure; it's the fault of bad or non-existent parental input with regards to said exposure (as with any other types of exposure throughout childhood).
Also, I must question your decision to state that nothing anyone says or does would ever change your mind? It seems a rather unfair dismissal of any potential future revelations you may encounter. It is always of benefit to maintain an open mind.
idshanks
Iain joined
I'm a 20 year old student from near Glasgow, Scotland. My passion is music (especially into progressive music and metal music). I have played guitar for four years, and bass for one year (though the latter is my favourite instrument and the one I've always wanted to play - wish I was as good at it as I am at guitar). A selection of my favourite games: The Witcher, Operation Flashpoint (not Dragon Rising), Armed Assault, ArmA II, EVE Online, Black & White, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I also quite enjoy the myriad of Source based games, and am a huge fan of Valve's Steam system.