Ok, you caught me. I've been desensitizing myself in the last few weeks playing Doom 3 on my computer but I've worked up some wonderful justifications. I also feel no propensity to blow anybody away....yet.

1. I've recently upgraded my computer to a gamer's dream although it wasn't for the express purpose of playing violent video games. It was more to make my computer better for the flight simulation programs I enjoy. Just out of curiosity I've even learned all about overclocking and have pushed this thing to the max. My oldest son is extremely jealous. I wanted to see just how fast it is and asked him if he had a game that would test it out. The only one he had at home was Doom 3 which involves blowing to shreds monsters on Mars with a wide array of very lethal weapons.

2. I played the first few levels normally and all the killing and bloodshed was actually an annoyance to me. I just wanted to get around the next corner to see the scenes the graphic artists and animators had produced. Eventually I went to a cheat site and found out how to get into "God mode" where nothing can hurt you. You still have to blow away the monsters but at least they can't hurt you.

3. The rooms and scenes are an absolute wonder to anyone that enjoys computer graphical animation and I suspect that many of the kids are not necessarily lured as much by the violence as by the artistic awe one get when they see how close to true virtual reality we're getting. The bummer about Doom 3 is that all the scenes are somewhat dark. I'm anxious now to get some game that really shows fully lit outside scenes and the marvelous things they're doing simulating the Earth's environment.

4. The same guys that are creating this bloodshed and mayhem in computer games are also on the cutting edge of 3 dimensional graphics, physics, and mathematics and the audiences out there are becoming literate in the vernacular of the science involved. Had I had some of the examples you seen in modern computer games presented to me from an early age, I would think my own understanding of those subjects would have been enhanced.

5. I wish we could do without the violence in these incredible games but I have the feeling that it's something that, if banned or social pressure simply forced it to stop, would also cause the tremendous innovation to slow considerably. Sure there's some marvelous sports programs out there like racing games which push the boundaries of computer graphics but, like any entertainment, they only go so far in capturing human interest.

6. I have during my lifetime become desensitized to violence but the effect of computer games has only been a tiny portion of that phenomena. I would think watching an episode of CSI would go a much longer way towards that end than playing some game where the player clearly understands the bloody pulp on their screen didn't start out as an actual fellow human being.

Bottom line here is that yes, these games do affect us. However, my guess is the danger only lies in the people exposed that already have underlying problems such as poor parenting, abuse, bullying, etc.

Art