Wow, these comments are disappointing. Although someone with pre-existing violent tendencies might play a violent game, the causal link between game violence and real violence has been disproven repeatedly.

The act of murder isn't just something someone goes out and does because they did it in a simulated environment, people do it because they are inspired by something whether it be their own anger or resentment for how they view others, or a moral pretense that is laid out specifically condoning, instructing and justifying it (think ISIS)

Furthermore, there is no moral flavor to video games like gta. Imagine a soup kitchen simulator. Would someone who volunteers at soup kitchens find any equivocal satisfaction in playing a soup kitchen simulator? Fuck no, because there is no moral flavor to it.

Video games (as well as sports, mma, etc) are only played because it is a non-complex risk/reward system involving complex logical thinking and coordination. The risk/reward system in the real world is far more complicated. There are real consequences to real world actions, and children inherently know that...it's what they learn when they constantly push parents' buttons and test boundaries while they grow up. They are establishing the real world consequences to their actions and have years of compounding moral hardwiring by the time they're able to play sports or play a video game. This is partially why contact sports, mma and video games are liked: because it is a temporary escape from the real world risk/reward system where we can tackle, hit, kick, and judo chop each other (or press buttons on a controller) in an environment where the results on those actions don't have the same consequences.

We like to think that kids are simple copybots when it comes to everything because it's a non-complex answer to a complex issue that is observed when kids are engaged in non-complex acts such as swearing. (They hear an older person swear, they observe no consequences, and they copy that action. (And get confused when they get in trouble for it).). We need to stop pretending that the factors inherent to motivating a non-complex behavior like swearing versus a complex behavior like violence are the same. They're just not.