From games as far back as the Wario series (where you play Mario's twisted, evil twin brother) to the new 25 to Life, and of course the Grand Theft Auto series (which seems to be getting all the attention these days), a large number of games let their players be evil. But what does that experience do to them?

This writer's two cents: The article is well written and insightful, but this is just more of the same dead horse, beaten and whipped for the millionth time. Video games aren't truly doing anything new here: People have been able to experience and partake of horrible acts of violence and evil through the magic of television, movies, and books for years. Yet they don't imitate it.

Sure, every so often some guy'll put on a cape and jump off a building, but people aren't doing it in droves. Because they're not that stupid. In a video game, murder can be undone with the flip of a switch; in real life it can't. And most people smart enough to play the games realize that.

Besides, the whole point of any fiction, interactive or not, is to let you do things you wouldn't normally, be they good (like battling zombies with only your trusty shot-gun) or evil (like running drugs and jacking cars).