Considering that everyone outside the gaming world envisions gamers as a hostile bunch roaming in mobs, committing heinous crimes, and ending up inside the chambers of prisons nationwide, it comes as no surprise that Reader's Digest (yes, the magazine with all the stories your grandparents read - right beside Yankee) has posted an article titled Computer Violence: Are Your Kids at Risk? in its January 1999 issue. And luckily, the publication gives readers a chance to write in and voice their opinions. Before you start to flame, read on.

　　The writer of the article used a 10-year-old boy to rent and buy titles like Resident Evil 2, Mortal Kombat 4, and Parasite Eve. Reader's Digest claims that "the most popular games are pushing the envelope of sadism and depravity." Which games does it list as the most popular? Carmageddon, Carmageddon 2, Postal, and Duke Nukem 3D. Strangely, there were no examples of nonviolent games in the article.

　　Considering Reader's Digest's seemingly blurry view of gaming, the publication is so bold as to state that games are "how youngsters across America are being taught to savor the increasingly realistic thrill of brutality and murder."

　　Of course the article is chock-full of comments from such knowledgeable groups as the National Institute on Media and the Family and from the president of Virtual Image Productions (a company that only makes E-rated games).

　　At one point, the author comments about his video-gaming-violence experience. "It was like a narcotic," he comments, "that feeling of being swept into another world."

　　As we said before, Reader's Digest has invited anyone to voice his opinion about this hot topic. Remember to use nice language.