@Buttonstc FYI, those studies areisproven and therefore irrelevant. They got the laws of cause and effect mixed up; many of the kids that do the sort of things that they claim that FPS games make kids do are the type of kids that tortured cats before video games existed. Violent games don’t create murderers; murderers are attracted to violent games.
That said, I agree that it is quite possible to have a good game without violence. For the most part, I am not a fan of FPS games in general as most care more about being gratuitously violent than in actually being a decent game. I like Deus Ex, for instance, as it is a rare FPS with a great storyline, decent world design, some RPG elements, and what violence there is is realistic in that you really don’t want to get into the sort of fight that you would in, say, Halo or Call of Duty as that is a quick way to end your game.
Postal 2, on the other hand… jeez! While there is a way to beat the game without firing a shot, it actually goes out of it’s way to be objectionable. Whether it be decapitating policemen (or gary Coleman) with a shovel and urinating on their corpse, or using a cat as a silencer for a shotgun, or just going through the mall trying to get a Krotchy doll for Christmas, Postal 2 is really not appropriate for children period. In fact, it’s just inappropriate. And rather proud of that too!
And are RPGs considered violent? I mean, yes, there are swords, spells, and attacks, but often stylized so that they look nothing like the sort of violence you see in FPS games. Amongst that genre, _ prefer the Disgaea series and have >400 hours in on Disgaea 2. There are puzzle elements, a lot of depth, and the violence is pretty tame. There are some that consider even that too violent though; I don’t know where you fit in there.