Yep, basically condensing the above post, because I had to do this in a sociology class, twice, is the point that, people that play video games may tend to be somewhat more aggressive, but that is most likely what causes them to play video games, not the effect of playing them. Cause and effect are two very different things...

Of course most "researchers" or publishers that say video games cause violence have that impression off the bat, so they naturally interpret the data as they see fit. The last thing a publisher knows a parent wants to read is that it's YOUR fault your kids are messed up and YOU need to do something about it. It's much easier to blame video games.

In answer to the OP's post, no, no, and yes. I say no in that it had no more effect than anything else in life, like breathing or trying to change a tire in the rain... and sure occasionally I think I'd like to have super powers or dodge bullets, but then boring old reality kicks in and I think, I should go play a video game instead :P

Give gaming a decade or two. Most 30 year olds I know now have at least some decent video game experience. Eventually, those in a position to complain will have this experience too. However, poloticians like it because its a means from diverting attention from themselves, but eventually their main voter base will most likely be swayed by online opinion, and guess who sways opinion online, we do my friends... (heh, if I have any here...)

Anyways, I say let it go for now, we'll have our spot eventually. Just don't do anything stupid, like shooting people on the street and then say "oh I practiced at home on my computer!"

Hard restrictions are certainly not a new idea, but in addition they do make a game less desirable. One thing I've considered before, and probably most of the industry with me, is soft restrictions, or conversly, bonuses for casual players. A soft restriction example would be, after playing for 3-4 continuous hours the amount of exp you gain is cut by a quarter, after 6-8, it's halved. An hour or two or four rest in between removes that limiter. I don't really favor this one. An example of a bonus, which I think I have seen, is that when you log in, in the first two hours your exp is multiplied by 1.5 or something like that, but this bonus applies only once in a 12 or 24hr period.

In any case, I highly doubt the government cares what you do with your time. If you're playing a video game, you're one less voice that will be complaining. It's the difference between casual and hardcore gamers that needs to be bridged somehow. Many games end up with an elite group of players, and everyone else. The elites are almost always the ones with no job, no life, and a room in their mother's house... No one wants to put up with that, so it often ends up hurting the game. These discussions are nothing new, but I think they're still worth having as one might randomly give birth to a decent solution... might...

I would base it off of what you're looking for. As far as I'm concerned the major difference game play wise between AoC and LoTRO is PvP vs PvE.

PvP => AoC

PvE => LoTRO

In addition, I see LoTRO as being a game for the younger crowd whereas AoC is certainly more mature.

I thought I was the only one, but apparently adrake4183 agrees. STALKER just hasn't appealed to me yet. I bought it a few weeks ago when GoGamer was selling it for $9.90. I had really high expectations based upon all of the gushing I'd heard from everyone over the last year or so.

I'm a huge FPS fan - though my tastes probably lean more towards action - and being forced to read the huge WALLS of text in STALKER was a big turn-off. Yes, that's right, the spoken dialogue is minimal (except for all the NPC chatter which is not in English) and you're forced to read. And read. And read. Sorry - but I just wanted to shoot and explore.

Also, the shooting felt really sloppy to me.

I keep loading it up, hoping that I'll finally get what it is about the game that people like so much and that I'll be able to overcome the design decisions and gameplay that I dislike. Until then, I guess I'm in the minority here.

halBU

Yeah, it's really Russian... I like it because it's so close to Fallout. As far as the gun play, it's most likely because you haven't gotten the really good weapons yet. Of course in the beginning most of the weapons are horribly inacurate, but that changes as you progress. I like it overall, but it can certainly be very frustrating. The one thing that does make this game more like an RPG is the open world. There are objectives and things like that, but basically you can go wherever you want and kill almost anything you want to, provided you can survive of course.

Not my favorite game, but it's fairly unique. I'd recomend it.

The game is just telling you to look forward to the new MMO ;)

It was a sleeper bug...

lol, just imagine, sleeper bugs...

Sorry I'm no help, ignore me!