Last night, in the park, our dog killed a small, furry animal.

The dog nanny left the gory details on a note for us in the kitchen:
Cody was bad today without meaning to be. He killed a small animal at the park. It just popped out of it’s hole for a second and he had snapped it in half before I could pull him away. Even after I told him to drop it, he kept shaking it around and got blood on himself and me. I tried cleaning it off him but there may still be some blood in his fur.

I was shocked. Shocked! How could my innocent baby do such a thing?

Jay and I were discussing the incident over IM today and he said, “It’s because I brought GTA in the house.”

Does this dog look like a killer?

All seriousness aside…
As proud new Playstation3 owners and geeks in the gaming industry, of course, we had to buy GTA the second it hit the stores. I admit though, I have yet to play it. I just sat back and watched Jay for an hour. Then, I got bored and picked up my MacBook. I’m not sure I will ever play the game. It’s not fast-paced enough for me and their hands are too big, way out of proportion with their bodies. (Have I been spending too much time staring at character models? Yes.)

However, I am intrigued by the game and the millions of people who bought it. What’s the appeal? Jay and I have had several conversations on the topic and I’ve asked a lot of questions. Still don’t have any answers.

In the end, whatever the fascination is about, I don’t believe it’s fair to blame the game for people killing people (or dogs killing small, furry animals).

I am one of the last people who would condone unnecessary violence. But the one important fact to note is that the game never explicitly requires you to kill anyone. That is a choice the player makes.

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