Just because people have gut reactions to things after extended gaming sessions doesn't reinforce that crap about real life violence. The bazillions of responses to this thread would seem to indicate that there are a lot of people who experience a bit of overlap. Only once in a while does some idiot actually do something crazy and blame it on games, though. The number of idiots who do that stuff is dwarfed by the sheer number of video game players in the world. Though I've not done any kind of math on the topic, I would have to imagine the number of criminally insane video game players is statisically insignificant.
Most of us are smart enough to be able to think one thing and yet act differently. Those people that actually haul off and kill a prostitute a la GTA3 were probably lacking in psychological stability in the first place.
The video game connection is a legal defense cop out.
That same thing happened to me. When I would climb way up and jump off, my stomach would get queezy on the way down. I never thought of myself as afraid of heights, but I've never jumped off the Empire State Building in real life either.
The same thing happens when I use SuperJump in City of Heroes.
...last July on my 25th birthday. I slipped and told someone I dinged 25. I laughed for like 10 minutes about it, then felt overwhelmingly depressed.
I live in a third floor apartment with a balcony, and I'm reasonably convinced I could not only survive but walk away from a jump off of it with only a few hit points damage, which would no doubt regenerate in mere moments. Jedi Academy really screwed me up with Force Jump...so did City of Heroes.
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Just because people have gut reactions to things after extended gaming sessions doesn't reinforce that crap about real life violence. The bazillions of responses to this thread would seem to indicate that there are a lot of people who experience a bit of overlap. Only once in a while does some idiot actually do something crazy and blame it on games, though. The number of idiots who do that stuff is dwarfed by the sheer number of video game players in the world. Though I've not done any kind of math on the topic, I would have to imagine the number of criminally insane video game players is statisically insignificant.
Most of us are smart enough to be able to think one thing and yet act differently. Those people that actually haul off and kill a prostitute a la GTA3 were probably lacking in psychological stability in the first place.
The video game connection is a legal defense cop out.
I was so dissappointed with reality when I realized I could Force Pull stuff. My inability to Force Jump was even worse, though. Physics really sucks.
That same thing happened to me. When I would climb way up and jump off, my stomach would get queezy on the way down. I never thought of myself as afraid of heights, but I've never jumped off the Empire State Building in real life either. The same thing happens when I use SuperJump in City of Heroes.
...last July on my 25th birthday. I slipped and told someone I dinged 25. I laughed for like 10 minutes about it, then felt overwhelmingly depressed. I live in a third floor apartment with a balcony, and I'm reasonably convinced I could not only survive but walk away from a jump off of it with only a few hit points damage, which would no doubt regenerate in mere moments. Jedi Academy really screwed me up with Force Jump...so did City of Heroes.