I want to talk about two topics today, two news items firstly this: Star Wars Galaxies shuts down
 
Well... It had to happen, my favourite MMORPG of all time limps off into the sunset to die quietly.  It was the most ambitious MMORPG of it's time and in some ways still is.  The article skirts over the issues as if they were minor.  However really Star Wars Galaxies is a detailed account of 'How not to run an MMORPG' so many aspects of the development cycle, the testing, the design, the promotion, the community - were wrong.  World of Warcraft - as much as I hate the game, is likewise a detailed account of how to do it 'right'.  The result SOE are closing down servers due to lack of subscribers, and WoW is grossing millions of dollars a year with the highest subscription rates of any MMORPG outside of Korea by far.
 
It's sad, but it needed to happen, my only hope is that some kind soul will leak the Jump to Lightspeed code over to my friends at SWGEMU so we can start flying starships again...
 
The second article that caught my eye was this : US Court rejects California ban on violent games 
 
And so the debate rolls on, I followed another link from that article here: -  Games 'don't lead to violene'
 
Now I think this is an interesting article, it suggests that maybe the lower youth crime rates are partly down to violent video game playing - as these games are fulfilling a need for competition and being able to instll respect on their peers by a show of strength (Or skill if it's a game).  And that makes a certain amount of sense to me.  The California ban is important because in the US the only system for game classfication is PEGI which isn't legally binding - it's voluntary and there are loads of kids playing games over there which we can't play until we are 18 because mature games recieve BBFC ratings too - which are legally binding.  The trouble is I think young children shouldn't play violent games for a myriad of reasons... But I'm not convinced games are remotely responsible for violence, and if the anti-gaming lobby wants to persist it's stupid campaign they need to start looking for other reasons because the violence debate holds less water than erm, a thing which doesn't actually hold any water...
 
I was thinking about this debate whilst watching the television with my wife a few nights ago - a man multi-tasking?! W00t! 
 
Well, I say watching, my wife was watching more than me, some 'Real A & E ' Programme based in a deprived part of London... And glancing across at the programme, a few times something occured to me, there were basically two groups of people being treated on this particular programme, people who were drunk or black gang members who had been stabbed.... In fact amazingly there were two young men who had been stabbed and two respective gangs prowling the hospital hoping to finish the other gangs member off.... Damn it must be stressful to work in these places!
 
A previous week, they were patching up a guy who'd downed a bottle of Vodka, then decided to 'teach' himself BMX stunts on a half-pipe... 
 
Not one of the mutitide of people being patched up are ever quoted as having being 'Hadoken'd' or Dragon Punched... And I didn't see one claim to have been jumped on by an italian plumber in red dungarees... Likewise there were no rifle wielding, camoflage wearing soldiers moaning complaining about being griefed, ganked or people using aimbots.... 
 
It struck me that actually in a cost to the NHS and hence the government point of view gaming is actually incredibly safe and it's very hard to spot evidence of it causing physical harm to people... In fact it might actually cost the country less to furnish said black gang members with a PC, an internet connection and a copy of Counter Strike or Modern Warfare and get them to kill each other from the comfort of their bedrooms rather than doing it for real on the streets... And the dude who mashed his face in after a bottle Voddie... Well, perhaps an XBOX and a copy of Shaun White would be a better, safer bet?  The drunk drivers having had car accidents?  A copy of Forza and a Driving ban effective until they've 100%'d the achievements list...
 
The net end result is that actually, as the article says, violence begets violence, gaming begets gaming... And lets face it - there are a certain demographic of people who's lives would be much safer and much better if they actually spent MORE time gaming...
 
More resources: - Violence in Games 
GameFace : Violence in Games You tube violence in games 1 Chris Cleveland : Violence in Video Games