Recently a young boy shot his grandmother just moments after playing GTA IV. I am truly sorry for the family involved and it pains me knowing that a young boy will have to live with that guilt for the rest of his life. But this is just a testament to the fact that violence can have a profound effect on the mind of a young child.
In the report CNN gave, it suggested that the lack of supervision and the graphic nature of the game were to blame. And I must say that I agree. It appears that society is finally coming to terms with the fact that it's not the video games alone that cause the violence; but rather the lack of supervision and moderation that children need while playing such games.
This leads me to another question, is the playing of such games morally wrong? Is acting out the malicious acts you do in GTA (and similar games,) not the same as acting them out in real life? Obviously not. But there is that mentality; that state of mind, that's the same as what was in that child’s mind that day. The only difference is that he was not able use proper judgment and differentiate between what is okay to do in a virtual world, versus what’s okay to do in the “real” world. So in a sense, are we not all that little boy?
Food for thought.
P.S. I am looking forward to the game mentioned in the title even though it completely goes against everything I just mentioned. hah. This is just a testimony to the duality of man.