I hate even talking about this any more, but I should clarify my opinion, because I did not state it well before, and must admit that I was a bit too single-minded.
Do I think that violent games are the sole cause for the violence in society today, and esp. among younger people? Certainly not. It's a myriad of factors. But until some efforts are made to try and isolate the cause(s), how will we ever know for certain the exact reasons ? All I can go on is to compare to the days of my youth when things like this were so rare that they were practically non-existent, and then ask what is different in the world today vs. 30 years ago? A lot is different, for sure - games, movies, artists and even sportsstars putting out albums full of violent and demeaning (to females) lyrics, unskilled parents, single parents, parents working too much (IMHO, it is better to have less money in return for a better family life), little or no discipline, a legal system that punishes simple crimes more than capital crimes, the list is far too long ... As for the games, maybe they do/maybe they don't, teach or encourage people to kill, but for sure they "condition" people to be less affected by violence. Psychiatrists can babble on and on with their theory(ies), but then again Freud recommended the use of Cocaine for a host of problems, and all that did for him was get himself and others hooked, and he became a laughingstock of the scientific community for years until he wrote "An Analysis of Dreams". In other words, I don't buy any of their arguments totally.
But I can't see the harm in trying to limit the access to violent games to people under a certain age, along the lines of when they made stores put Playboy magazine out of sight. It doesn't hinder access that much. And Indy's legislation sounds like such an approach.
As for what happened to my friend, and specifically in regard to his son, I cannot say for 100%certain what triggered him to stab his father in the back. But I have known the boy since birth, indeed I am his godfather. All the time he, and his father and I did things together, fishing, hiking, and the like. I saw him on practically a daily basis. And in almost 14 years, I can never recall him showing much, if any anger, let alone violence. He was a model student, active in sports and other school activities, and well liked/popular. In other words, the kind of child every parent hopes for. But he did become uncharacteristically angry when his father uninstalled his FPSers, for some reason unknown to all except him. Maybe he felt betrayed, violated, who knows. And I don't know if he really meant to kill his father, or just hurt him, but he unfortunately hit the aorta with the knife and that was the end. Now his life is screwed, and he has also ruined his mother's and sister's life as well, because of some silly argument over computer games. Whether it was because the games predisposed him to violence, or whether it was just because he wanted those games and couldn't have them, it doesn't really matter, they played some part in the overall equation.
I've been drifting from sadness to anger, back and forth. Sad I lost my friend and the best damn tool and die maker I ever had the honor/pleasure to work with. Sad that I lost a friend that always put others needs before his own. And so damn mad that I destroyed every FPS game that I owned, U, UT, HL, they all got trashed. And forever determined that my youngest son (4, and the only one still at home) will never get his hands on such things. I know I can't forever & totally control what influences he is subjected to in life, but I'm going to try as hard as I can without stifling/inhibiting him. My wife, who is considerably younger than I and probably a lot more open-minded about most things, is so freaked out on this that she at one point last week was on my case big time for just working with Zac (our son) on the computer. She also has it set in her mind that she is quitting her job soon so she can teach our son at home, rather than send him to school. That saying about people doing drastic things in drastic times seems to be ringing true here, esp. with her. I'm sure a dose of reality will set it eventually, but it's going to take time. Meanwhile, I need a scapegoat to blame; whether it's right or wrong, I don't know, at least it made me feel somewhat better to bust those discs to pieces and place the blame with them since at this point I don't have any thing else to go on. But I should have known better than to bring this personal issue in to a public thread as this, so I apologize for doing so. Meanwhile, I have lived up to my 'nick, I'm Rambling at this point ...