Generally it doesn't bother me. Some guys that I enjoy and love, like Duke Nukem, Doom, Wolf (to name a few from back in the day) were all about violence and I loved them.

But I expect that my opinion too would change with kids in the house.

I hate the way it sounds but I like the violence and sex in video games. There's no reality to it and it's new/novelty enough that I'm always surprised/pleased when I come across it in games.

Of course I don't have kids and wouldn't want them to play it until I was certain they were mature enough to understand that violence/sex in games is separate from reality.

It only bothers me when kids play it like my 12 yr old brother and his friends. I hate when he plays Grand Theft Auto. That game is sooo violent! But, when my bf plays it doesn't bother me since he's 22. lol

My friend and I were playing Mortal Kombat Two last night (for sega genesis) and laughed at how when that came out, lots of parents were complaining that it was so violent because you see blood spurt out of your opponent when you damage them.

And to think of how games have progressed now!

I honestly could care less

Sex doesn't bother me at all. Violence is a little different. I play video games to relax; usually games that are violet have stuff jumping out at you, and they're loud and fast-paced, so that's not really relaxing for me. With that said, I love a good fighting game. First person shooters and war games are usually not my thing.

The majority of the players are adults and they can handle the violence and sex. The games stores ask for ID when you purchase these games.

I don't play violent games anymore. I grew up playing duke nukem, castle wolfenstien, etc. But the quality of that "violence" was like a comic book. But I haven't played a violent game since then because those aren't my style of games.

i think we are excessive in our violence and sex in all areas of gaming but i'm not a parent so it's not something i really worry about right now. i don't buy those games though because i like to have feel good moments when i game. if i want violence i'll go play team sports. as for the sex, well, i'll leave that alone. haha.

here's my stance on the whole GTA thing. GTA has been around for YEARS, people know its bad. Therefore, don't let your kid play it. It's not like they're surprising you with bad content, everyone knows its there. This game is strictly for adults, so only adults should play it. There are games appropriate for children and family, and games are rated as such. Its the same as movie ratings. You wouldn't let your kid get an R rated movie, so you should check the game ratings with the same mind set.

The whole thing bugs me because as a well-minded adult, I enjoy the GTA series. But it gets bashed because kids get their hands on it. It is NOT the game's fault, it is the parents' fault for letting their kids get it. I was at blockbuster shortly after it was released one night, and there was a family of a mom and dad and four boys. The oldest boy, who was only about 13 told his mom he was renting GTA. And she was too busy telling her husband what movies he liked and didn't like (nice), to pay attention to what her kid was getting. But if he picked up any movie that was R rated she'd be like HELL NO KID. My friend is a single mother of a 13 year old boy and I KNOW she doesn't let him play GTA. Don't bash the game because parents are too oblivious to do proper parenting.

Oh and I forgot to mention, back in the day, it was only kids playing video games. But those kids that grew up on video games, are adults now, so its adults playing them regularly too. Therefore, it shouldn't be that foreign of an idea to have games catered to adults and games catered to children.

I don't play video games... at all really, maybe Wii Sports once every couple of month, but I would never let my kid play some of the games that are out there today. I understand that adults play video games too, but there are also a lot of parents out there who buy violent and inappropriate games for their kids and I just don't think they are anything kids really NEED to be playing. I happen to think that GTA takes it a little farther than it needs to go. Even if the players understand that it is "just a game," I still think it glorifies gang/street crime and illegal behavior on some level.

Sex and violence in video games don't bother me when we're talking about adults playing them, but I do worry about what effect they have on already antisocial or poorly adjusted teenagers. I'm not saying that I think video games cause antisocial behavior, I just worry that when you take a kid whose only experiences with women are painful and who has a lot of rage and an undeveloped brain (our brains don't fully develop until we're in our mid-20's), handing him games that glorify violence and show women exclusively as objects to be played with or killed you're going to validate and encourage violent and misogynistic behavior.
Obviously most kids and nearly all adults aren't going to have any trouble separating the gameplay from the real world, but I do have issues with the culture of female objectification we live with now. Of course, video games are only a small part of that culture.

I agree with you, Kawaii. My hubby loves video games, and I recently picked up GTA IV (special edition, w00t) for him for our anniversary. He is (obvs.) an adult, and it's fine for him to play grown-up games with "adult themes and situations"

I won't let him play anything with guns or violence in them until my daughter (who is 2) is asleep, though, not even Lego Star Wars. And before you say I'm overreacting, she watched him play it one time and when the characters get up close the punch each other. Well, she recognized it and started banging her fist into her hand. He told her "No, hitting is bad", and she started yelling to the TV, "Stop it guys!"

Anyway, for those of you who say your opinion of violence in video games might change when you have kids, I personally became more aware of it but it doesn't change the fact that grown ups should be able to do what they want, and that kids should be protected from stuff they're too little to experience. And that's a call only the parent can make.

Doesn't bother me directly, but then I'm old enough to choose my own entertainment (music, movies, and yes - videogames). What does bother me is that most parents are too un-involved in their children's day-to-day activities to know that they're playing a game called 'Grand Theft Auto' until it's bludgeoned into them via the nightly news.

I don't believe that coarse entertainment causes a decline in personal or societal mores. I believe that it reflects that decline, and then perhaps enhances it.

I can't say it bothers me because I enjoy watching my husband play GTA.

No way. The more, the merrier! =D

it bothers me, but i don't play the games. my bf is a big gamer, and he is loving GTA, which bothered me at first, but after he explained the concept of the game and the fact that you technically don't have to kill anyone in it, it made more sense to me. i'm just not into violent games anyway--give me tetris or mario kart and i'm good to go.

I think people make too much out of it. How is it any different from what's on television or popular movies? It's just part of the big picture. Sex and violence have always existed in entertainment whether overtly or implied. It's not going to change until people change. Frankly, I could care less.

I find it disturbing that in the violent society we live in, and with violence going on in the world, that people think it's fun to be violent. Perhaps they're working something out? But I worry that it desensitizes people to violence's real effects by literally turning it into a game. And I hate that part of the "fun" in Grand Theft Auto includes killing prostitutes. Violence against women is real, and I don't think this stuff helps.

On principle, fictional sex and violence doesn't bother me as part of video games. Unfortunately, so much of the supposed video game sex seems geared toward male gamers and frequently comes across as very misogynistic. As much as I may want to think myself personally "hip" enough to deal with this portrayal, it makes me very uncomfortable.

While it does not bother me, I do think that it is important for parents to teach their children that the games are not something realistic. It is important to instill values in children that would allow them to see these things just as part of the game and not something to go and act out. The same goes for movies.

I play video gameas a lot and it doesn't bother me unless it is really extreme or graphic, like rape or something. I feel the same way about books, tv shows, and movies though- video games are just a form of entertainment like them. I hate it when people point to video game violence/sex but ignore other media. I personally find it more offensive on TV, which is much more accessible. I can choose to pay $50 for a video game after all. I remember I was watching the news and they had a youtube video showing graphic violence. I changed the channel, but not before I could get a glimpse. That to me is much worse than a video game!

I actually like the sex and violence in games, that are meant for adults....Just like I enjoy Rated R movies. I personally dont think it glorifies violence on women, because in games like GTA, you kill everyone...

I love GTA! And I like violent video games. I don't know why people get so worked up over it. It's just a game.

no, its awkward

It bothers me that so much rampant violence is ok, but a tastefully done love scene- with zero nudity- (like in Mass Effect) gets people up in arms. Seriously, the game's rated Mature anyway. Why is it ok to hack people up with a chainsaw, or to shoot them with a shotgun and watch the body parts fly, but it's the end of civilization as we know it if two characters have a love scene?

That said, I don't mind sex and violence. I'm an adult and capable of handling such things. It's not for kids, obviously, and parents should educate themselves about the games their kids are playing- but you can't blame the games themselves. That's just lazy.

I have to say, my first game was at the ripe old age of three or four, and it happened to be the first 3D first person shooter out there (Wolftenstein 3D). I moved from there to Doom, Duke Nuke'em, and other oldies but goodies. Violence, explosions, guns and weapons and great graphics to go along with them (that means I don't turn off the gore), are part of the gaming experience for me. But, I don't like sex being brought into the mix. Sex should not be a partner to violence and vice versa.

I think the majority of people's problem with GTA stem from the fact that the violence is realistic. You don't see People for the Ethical Treatment of Dragons getting riled up about the Final Fantasy series. Even completely innocuous games like Super Mario contain violence; the game routinely requires you to kill enemies to get money and points (sounds familiar...) but because it's not realistic people aren't bothered by it. And really that makes sense. We're more easily bothered by something that hits close to home.

But senseless violent acts have existed long before the age of pervasive media and video games. I'm pretty sure Jack the Ripper didn't get the idea to brutally murder prostitutes and Bonnie and Clyde didn't decide robbing banks would be fun from playing a video game. Sociopathic behavior is just inherent in some people regardless of what stimuli they're exposed to.

MuhAAHAHAHAHAH

I love violent video games.. I cackle gleefully to myself while I play them..

I LOVE that in God of War you get to rip some mofo's head apart with your bare hands.. BLOOD EVERYWHERE.. and you can go behind the secret wall and have an orgasm with some water wh*res..

and I love to play jack the ripper in GTA.. Cept instead of a knife I use a chainsaw to kill the hookers

And in reality?

I am an anti social person who loathes general society.. and I have never and will never harm a person or thing.. Hell.. I pick worms up off the sidewalk and place them on the grass so they won't get hurt..

People need to get off the pot when it comes to video games..

It's all about communication.. COMMUNICATE with your kids people.. Don't sit around hen pecking about how violence is bad etc etc etc to all your friends and the media ... Talk to your kids about it .. Make sure tehy understand that it is just a fake thing.. Not reality...

Great googamooga.. I loathe that people are willing to put the responsibility on everyone but themselves..

And btw.. I loathe how people blame violence and video games for Columbine as well as music and blah blah blah.. Kids being pushed to the point of snapping after verbal and physical abuse by their PEERS is what led to them snapping.. You can only push someone so far before they blow their stack..

It depends. First of all, sex is much less likely to bother me, as is also true with other forms of media/entertainment (books, movies, music, etc). As for the violence, it depends on the context -- some of my favorite games include fighting games, but things like GTA are too much like the real world and real people, and the activities in it give me the creeps. My husband tried out the first one, to get a more clear idea as to what the whole series was about, and didn't enjoy it, which was good, because the little I saw of it squicked me. Our society is too enamored with violence.

I don't personally flock to games with violence and sex, but I don't begrudge people from enjoying/playing games like that. Some adults like games like this, because in a way, it can expose people to things they would never want to do in real life or allow them to take out their aggression/frustration on a video game character. I don't think kids should play them because they are impressionable, but that's why there is a rating system for games and why they have parents/legal guardians.

Why pick on the gaming industry for violence? If anything, the industry are trying to keep up with Hollywood/movies/television and other media forms. Over the past few decades, movies have been growing progressively more and more risque and violent. I don't hear nearly as many politicians complaining about that trend as they do about video games. And the reason why people complain about video games? Because some parents are too lazy to pay attention to their kids. It's not fair to punish adults that play games like this, just some parents/guardians don't want to take the time to educate themselves on what their kids can get into these days.

Also, to be fair, you can kill prostitutes with the GTA game... but you can kill anybody, man or woman. I know there is a video floating around the internet that creates that impression, but there isn't a marked purposeful violence specifically against prostitutes. You don't get bonus points or anything.

doesn't bother me too much

I do not tolerate violent or sexy video games in my house. But I have seen my husband fire up a good Army-like computer game online with one of his friends a couple of times. Which is fine...after my son goes to bed. And I ask my husband to turn all the blood and guts off beforehand.

I'm not going to be one of those over-active moms that complains to everyone about violent games...I honestly do not have any animosity towards them whatsoever...but I do not tolerate them in my household. My son is WAY too good at impersonating characters in movies and cartoons...and I don't need him impersonating ripping someone's guts out at school.

The only thing that I AM worried about...when he gets older, I'm sure some of his friends will have these kinds of games and stuff...but hopefully by then he'll be old enough to be able to tell fantasy from reality.

I don't feel very comfy when I'm playing in front of my cousins.

From the very moment violence are sex are part of society, I don't see why they shouldn't be depicted in a videogame (for example in GTA IV which has been mentioned a couple of times and which tries to depict a realistic city).

I love violent videogames, but in real life I don't dare even kill a fly. We adult players know how to distinguish reality from fantasy so I don't know what's all this fuss on violent videogames about. I guess it just sells as news headlines.

Oh and I totally agree with Kawaii: some people should pass an exam to prove they're capable of parenting kids before actually having them.

It doesn't bother me. Like others have said, the parents who let their under age kids play the mature games does.

Yes, it does, but thats my personal taste. I prefer an amazing story, and it if happens to include both, then cest la vie.