Violence in Computer Games

As a young teen I enjoyed violent video games, for what they were.. games. I did not see them as anything to do with real life, just something for enjoyment or recreational purposes. The violent games included Grand Theft Auto, Tekken, StreetFighter, Smackdown, Goldeneye etc.

I would not have a problem with my child playing any of these games, however i can see today that more games are a lot more realistic than the games i played back then, but i still cant see how this would affect young people as long as they are thought to seperate their real lives from their gameplaying.

There have not been any video games that have disturbed me by the violence, granted some of the violence is quite graphic, but i can determine what is real and what is not. If i was to watch someone being shot i would be disturbed and preferably not have wanted to watch it in the first place, but when i see violence on a computer screen i do not get disturbed by it as i know its not real, it is not one human being inflicting pain or violence on another human being, its computer characters they have no feelings or emotions they are just doing what the computer is telling them to do.

I do think that live action sequences and the more common use of actors in video games does make the game more lifelike and could influence people as you can be disturbed by violence in a movie. However you could also argue that the actor could separate you from the game, as you are playing as someone else, not yourself.