If that’s how you feel then I agree that video games are not for you and I respect you for avoiding them.
I’m curious, though: How do you feel about books (mainly fiction)? Many books contain elements of violence, murder, and sexual activity. Does this necessarily make them pornographic? [not talking about the books that are blatantly pornographic and sexual fantasy based] Is The Odyssey pornographic because Odysseus has sex with Calypso?
Not all activites become addictions.
Just a note of thought -
Bishop warns against graphic video games
Published: February 28, 2008
Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney Julian Porteous says desensitisation to violence or sexual imagery does not promote the dignity of the human person and is not in the best interest of society.
While Bishop Porteous believes the causes of violence and crime in society is a very complex problem, the problem should not be compounded by video games that “numb our natural repulsion to violence”, he told The Catholic Weekly.
“In regard to sexually explicit games, it reduces women in particular to mere objects of instant self gratification,” Bishop Porteous said.
“We know from psychological research that exposure to violent video games can desensitise people to real-life violence,” he said.
The most violent video games on the market could soon be sold in Australia after the Federal Government said it was considering updating the classification system for games to include an R18+ rating.
Unlike films, magazines and other publications, there is no adult classification for games in Australia, so any titles that do not meet the MA15+ standard are simply banned.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus confirmed that the issue of whether to allow an R18+ classification for games would be discussed by censorship ministers at the next Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting on March 28.
Also -
What the Catechism Says About Pornography
Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials. CCC #2354
Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. “Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end.” CCC #2339
Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge … obedience to God’s commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer. CCC #2340
Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life. The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and adolescence. CCC #2342
Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. “Man … day by day builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth.”[Familiaris Consortio 34] CCC #2343
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to “lead” us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both “do not allow us to enter into temptation” and “do not let us yield to temptation.” “God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one”[James 1:13]; on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle “between flesh and spirit”; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength. CCC #2846
The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man, and temptation, which leads to sin and death. We must also discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation. Finally, discernment unmasks the lie of temptation, whose object appears to be good, a “delight to the eyes” and desirable, when in reality its fruit is death. CCC #2847
).
I love guitar hero though…my dd, ds and me all play this together…it’s great! Not all video games are bad, that’s for sure.