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This is why I want to move to Scandinavia. Even if the beer is nearly £7 a pint…

Indeed. Another fancy Scandinavian perk? Paternity leave! On the downside? Byzantine drunk driving laws. And, as you say, absurd alcohol tax. (And there is that odd obsession with trolls..)

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that is all

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If I recall correctly, Sweden was one of the first countries to pass Manhunt 2 for sale. Totally uncut, didn’t bat an eyelid. I think the rest of Scandinavia followed suit on that one, too.

Scandinavia has the reputation (at least in the UK) of being far more socially progressive than the rest of Europe – kind of veering a little off topic here, but it is illustrative of my point; I’ve seen documentaries about how they deal with violent crime in Sweden, the one I most remember being about child killers (that being children that kill other children, not adults that kill children). After the Jamie Bulger incident in the UK a few years ago, the two child killers were carefully hidden away and had their identities changed to protect them from being exposed by the tabloids and being torn apart by an angry mob – and they’ve got to live in fear of being exposed for the rest of their lives. The approach for similar crimes in Sweden? Don’t chuck them into a children’s institution – completely reintegrate them with society and make them face up to their crime and the effect it has had on the community. In the long run it does less damage, because everyone can see how this kind of tragedy can devastate communities. Seems like a much more sensible way of doing things to me.

There was also this story about a prison in Norway that does such a good job rehabilitating offenders that they don’t want to leave. The complete opposite of the UK’s “chuck away the key and let ‘em rot” mentality to criminal justice.

The problem with violent crime in the UK isn’t anything to do with the games we may or may not play – it’s about attitudes – about wanting to blame other people for bad things, instead of taking some responsibility for themselves.

This is why I want to move to Scandinavia. Even if the beer is nearly £7 a pint…

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The Germans are gonna have a hell of a time in 20 years or so when every family has a robot, and their youth think its ok to blow up/dismember/fire plasma rifles at them….because they can do it in their games

Ah, but they’ll have the upper hand during the zombie apocalypse.

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An “anything goes” approach can work (Scandinavia is a good example)

Mind if I ask what you mean by this Iain? I’m not doubting you, it’s just I never got that impression about their attitudes towards violence. More liberal towards nudity/sex perhaps, but violence? (Maybe I’m just used to my Norwegian mother complaining about violence on American TV. I suppose things may have changed..)

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I dunno. I just find the reaction of making violence *less* consequential by removing the gore et al to be a little odd.

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Personally I feel that violence in media should be *more* graphic. If game/movie/tv violence showed the real consequences of, e.g., shooting someone in the face, I think some people would be significantly less likely to do it.

I tend to agree, but with a slight caveat. An “anything goes” approach can work (Scandinavia is a good example), but even then, some people are going to watch or play graphic media and think “Yeah, that’s cool, I should try that.” because that’s just the way some people are wired in the head. It’s a tiny minority of people, sure, but that doesn’t stop them from screwing up everything for everyone else…

Though to be honest, I think we’re a long way from having videogames truly represent violence and killing in an emotionally realistic way. Has there ever been a videogame where the game has tried to make you feel guilty or remorseful over killing someone? I’m struggling to find an example.

[HUUUGE SPOILER] Planescape is the closest I can come – I felt pretty guilty about spending all that time with your party, only to get them all killed at the end of the game. [/HUUUGE SPOILER]

But their deaths weren’t through an active choice of the player to kill them – it was an inadvertent consequence of those characters’ choice to accompany you, so I’m not sure it’s really comparable…

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The Germans are gonna have a hell of a time in 20 years or so when every family has a robot, and their youth think its ok to blow up/dismember/fire plasma rifles at them….because they can do it in their games :)

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(it just struck me the gta games, at least the 3d ones, have all been set within honor cultures. it makes for good drama.)

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Whew. Rant over. It just vexes me that yet again the powers that be completely miss the point and look for someone to blame, rather than looking for a solution.

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