I remember when GTA5 came out there were a lot of youtube videos of under-10-years-old kids crying of hapiness because they received the game from their parents like it was christmas....

I bought it for myself after I moved to South Florida and drove on I-95 I considered it "combat training". :)

Unfortunately the logic doesnt work like that.

"Cannot give to child without checking yourself" => Ban

Which is kinda weird especially in US, where apparently every kid over 5 years should have their own magnum, hunting rifle and "Defense Distributed" 3d printer set to make "toys" for the whole neighbourhood as well. Ill just leave it at that :)

( i may or may not have exaggerated a little)

Okay, now I understand. I think some of what you said is the truth but I also think you are creating negative effects from violent video games in your mind that will never become reality.

"Your elevated aggression might progressively impair your ability to judge things critically, you might start imagining real people as victims in games you play and round and round it goes, leading who knows where." A violet video game that makes you aggressive doesn't elevate your aggression outside of the game. After the game, your level of aggression goes back to where it was before. Living somewhere like New York City makes people more aggressive and last time i checked, the majority of people there are sane adults.

"If you keep coming back or can't resist not to, you may start losing your friends, start neglect yourself and/or your partner etc. "
This is something all video games can be guilty of and what if you don't have a partner? It's not too hard to be gamer and have friends. Friends don't take up so much of your time like a relationship does. And compared to other kinds of addictions out there, video game addiction isn't so bad. It has it's Pros and Cons.

"Now, we can perhaps talk about the regulation angle."
I can see the benefit of not having a game like Hatred advertised the way Call Of Duty is but I believe, every store should be selling this game. If not, on the shelves, then at least in the back.

"I hope you at least agree that this kind of game should not be sold to kids and mentally ill. In other words that at the very least these groups should be _free from_ its influence even though someone who wants to make a buck might think otherwis"
I agree that Hatred shouldn't be sold to kids and the mentally ill. Exposing them to a game like Hatred would be like opening Pandora's box. We all know children are stupid and...the mentally ill are ill... But when I mean mentally ill, I mean those with a history of insanity. I think a lot of people who are labeled, mentally ill are not really mentally ill but just different and society can't handle that.

" Oh really? Did you have anything specific in mind?"
Hatred brings to the world, the same benefits all other video games bring to the world.

Here is one of the many benefits, I copied and pasted from an article from a psychology website.

" For most gamers, video games are played for enjoyment and to help improve their mood. Along with distracting them from real-world problems (a special concern for young people looking for escape from bullying or other negative life situations), succeeding in video games can lead to positive feelings, reduced anxiety, and becoming more relaxed. Many gamers report intense emotions of pride and achievement by immersing themselves in games that allow a high sense of control that "takes them out of themselves." According to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept of flow refers to the mental state often reported by gamers during which they are performing an activity that leaves them fully immersed without feeling self-conscious. Flow experiences have been linked to positive outcomes such as greater self-esteem and a sense of achievement that can translate to greater mental health benefits though this has not been directly tested in video game research.

The positive emotions that can result from becoming immersed in video games on a regular basis may also increase awareness and encourage a more novel outlook on life. According to psychologist Barbara Frederickson who first proposed a broaden and build theory of positive emotions, experiencing positive emotions can help broaden the number of behaviours seen as desirable and build social relationships that provide support for achieving goals and coping with failure. Frederickson also suggests that positive emotions can counteract the effects of negative emotions which decrease motivation. While it is still not clear whether video games produce the sort of positive emotions that can lead to the sort of broadening and building to which Frederickson referred to in her research, many gamers report emotional benefits they perceive as important to them."

Oh come on, why are you all bothering to debate about violence and mass shooting when AS can answer such a society question in two tweets (or less than 280chars)?
https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/525793436025118721
https://twitter.com/femfreq/status/525834975942164482

I guess the bodies weren't yet cold when she wrote this.... :(

When was the last time a woman went on a shooting spree if she didn't have her way in life? They usually just drown their kids.

Well, it would be my wish that was the case. But I've been there, seen that or heard stories from people who are or were my friends... It might or it might not - if you've never experienced or heard of anyone snapping after a power outage while playing, or a family member "rudely" interrupting them in the middle of a carnage, then you don't know the half of it.

Same goes for denying someone their next fit of hacking'n'slashing. Teenagers hold grudges and worse over that kind of shit. And it's not about getting back to play Dreamfall or Riven either, be sure of that.

As hilarious as it might seem, you prolly wouldn't want to annoy this gentleman after he rage quits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwIaFFNpCuM
Also, don't mind him. Think about those socially-awkward gamers who grow up surrounded by shooter games, never truly recovering from their effects. I've met quite a few of them on gaming conventions. While most of them are not violent, their perceptions of the world are in some respects seriously skewed.

These things unfortunately do happen. But they are mostly invisible and off the radar of most people. Similar to domestic violence - you don't see it in the news a lot, yet certain socio-economic groups suffer from it dearly. If a game goes from a hobby to passion to obsession and finally to addiction, you just start neglecting other things, whatever they might be. Sure, you can get addicted to almost anything but speaking games, non-action games in particular have much higher threshold to substantially contribute to that kind of a problem. What happened to freedom? If I were a shop owner, I'd never put this kind of garbage in my inventory. In your world, would you somehow pressure all stores to sell all games? That would be not only despotic but totally against business. Oh come on, I'm a gamer too and I watch Extra Credits... you don't have to feed me the basics. Let me ask again, with some emphasis: What positive things do you expect to come from a mindless murder simulator done in a grim and serious tone, where you assume role of a batshit crazy terrorist stabbing cops to death and executing swaths of unarmed citizens? Indulge me.

Flame war baiters... It's getting really difficult to even take these people seriously anymore. But at least her twitter account hides her shifting eyes. Her videos betray the truth... she's reading from a goddamn teleprompter. So very sincere, indeed.

Ponies, puppies, kittens and rainbows shoot out of their open wounds.

How do you know the stories from your friends are due to violent video games and not something else? People tend to blame things that are innocent to cover up the truth because the truth hurts...

"It might or it might not - if you've never experienced or heard of anyone snapping after a power outage while playing, or a family member "rudely" interrupting them in the middle of a carnage, then you don't know the half of it."
And people snap when they become stuck in traffic or when a person is rudely interrupting them in the middle of watching a TV show. It's normal to snap when someone is being rude to you or when something bad happens. Teenagers hold grudges over that shit because they see themselves as adults and find it extremely disrespectful when people treat them like babies. And parents cutting them off from violent video games is parents treating them like babies.

The guy who rage quits in the video is a rageaholic and needs anger management. He would be unleashing the same rage while playing hockey or poker or football. This guy would also go into a rage if he spilled coffee.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rageaholic

"Think about those socially-awkward gamers who grow up surrounded by shooter games, never truly recovering from their effects. I've met quite a few of them on gaming conventions. While most of them are not violent, their perceptions of the world are in some respects seriously skewed. "
Their perceptions of the world is seriously skewed because they have lived very sheltered lives. In other words, they need to go out into the world, interact with real life people, do some traveling, then they will be okay after some years. People tend to become insane when they spend too much alone... Humans weren't designed to be alone 24/7. And not only insane but ignorant too.

"If a game goes from a hobby to passion to obsession and finally to addiction, you just start neglecting other things, whatever they might be. Sure, you can get addicted to almost anything but speaking games, non-action games in particular have much higher threshold to substantially contribute to that kind of a problem. "
I agree that it's harder to get addicted to non action games. But the reason for that is non action games are not as fun as action games. :)

" What happened to freedom? If I were a shop owner, I'd never put this kind of garbage in my inventory. In your world, would you somehow pressure all stores to sell all games? That would be not only despotic but totally against business. "
When I said "should" I meant if stores want to be reasonable and fair. Nobody is talking about not letting stores not sell Hatred... That would be like something straight out of North Korea and why would anyone want that?

"Oh come on, I'm a gamer too and I watch Extra Credits... you don't have to feed me the basics. Let me ask again, with some emphasis: What positive things do you expect to come from a mindless murder simulator done in a grim and serious tone, where you assume role of a batshit crazy terrorist stabbing cops to death and executing swaths of unarmed citizens? Indulge me."
A game like Hatred simply offers players, something different for those who don't find the content disgusting. Some people like variety. It gets boring playing as a Allied soldier during World War 2 or some army ranger going after terrorists or some survivor fighting against zombies 24/7. Who wants to eat the same food everyday? Same thing. Hatred offers us gamers a breath of fresh air while allowing us to express our hatred of political correctness.

If it's any comfort, I really liked Grand Theft Auto IV. It was a great sandbox where one could act out their aggression on almost anything and everything. It was probably one of the greatest stress relievers out there. I should have some investigation as to its therapeutic abilities. All I can say is that I've done some very bad things in that sandbox which I could never do in real life.

I think that sometimes games keep reasonable people sane.

I agree with you. It's not healthy to bottle things up inside you and games like GTA IV help with it. Unfortunately, that game is insanely demanding so I've never been able to play it. I heard that the Saints Row games are really good for relieving stress.

I'll have to get some more specifics about that. When I was younger, I would go out into the woods and chop fallen trees into pieces in order to alleviate stress. Sitting behind a computer monitor, you don't have that Luxury. Games (like Gary's Mod) which are an open sandbox really help release stress.

A bit too sick. I wouldn't want to see it on GOG.

And I don't want your favorite stores to sell you anything that disgusts me. :P So I hope you like bananas or you are going to have to find new favorite stores to satisfy your needs...