To me, it's rather a question of what comes from within ?
I can force someone into folowing laws,
or I can try to ignite the conscience in someone.
And that - imho - has something to do with empathy.
Most games I know don't favour empathy and compassion anymore. The old Vitues of Ultima seem to be lost.
Instead, games like the action RPGs by Blizzard are so designed that they don't even imply compassion. all that counts is killing. Killing, nothing more, no mercy. Only killing vbrings one to the end goal, so to say.
One must step back and actually consider that this is NOT a real-life-lesson, but instead that of an in-game world. (With)In Blizzard's Action-RPGs it works very well, but how far is the ability to actually step back from all of this developed ? Especially in younger players ?
Because the deed of actual "stepping back" and being aware of the own self and its actions is imho quite a thing which must be learned ? Are *all* gamers able to "step back" and look at the own deeds made within a game, look at the emotions they felt meanwhile doing certain in-game deeds ?
I often hear the argument of rationalizing a game ... I believe that this is also a learning process which must be made.
One must actually learn to distinguish between the "game self" and the "real life self" !
I do hope that all gamers succeed with this learning lesson, but I fear that some don't as far enough as they should to, imho.
