Gamed reality
A young man [...] had been arrested for stealing motor vehicles and assaults with weapons. At interview he was found to be experiencing the delusion that he was a player inside a computer game (adult-certificate game, widely available) in which points are scored for stealing cars, killing assailants and avoiding police vehicles.
How many more of these are we going to see with games becoming more and more realistic? Should more realism force a change in the minimal age required to play games, pushing everything up?
My libertarian streak says these sort of games should be as unregulated as possible. On the other hand, my fearful side thinks this should be regulated, especially as the virtual games become more realistic. Obviously this guy had a hard time separating reality from digital worlds, but perhaps technology will make this distinction more difficult for all of us.
Try the following: – play two hours of GTA at 10pm – try to go to bed
It’s usually impossible to sleep because this game makes you hyper nervous. It affects us well beyond the simple pleasure of gaming. And I must say I am like you, fundamentally libertarian, but worried by the fact that this game might have extra effects on people.
So we have hundreds of millions playing video games and only occasional instances like this. Does that argue in favor of new laws or taking care of the mentally ill among us?