[MUD-Dev] Re: WIRED: Kilers have more fun

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 04:25 AM 7/22/98 -0500, I personally witnessed Dr. Cat jumping up to say:
>
>There is a novel by Allan Dean Foster that suggests another alternative, 
>of course.  It was called Quozl, and involved a species of aliens that 
>had amazingly violent art, literature, videogames, etc.  And an 
>incredibly strong taboo against anything that even came close to violence 
>against another real person.  The idea was that they got the urges out of 
>their system in fantasies, and thus could work off any urge to actually 
>really do anything.

Well, yeah, but what they *did* invest most of their time doing is
something that brings up a lot of *other* issues... great book, though. ;)

I've argued for a long time that violent or otherwise 'unacceptable' games,
movies, art, literature, or what have you tends to act as catharsis a lot
more often than it acts as an instigator. Basically, if someone wants to do
something, they're going to have to do it in one way or another... and if
they do it vicariously, no one gets hurt. If we take away all the outlets,
where are all those urges going to go?