Fribur asked on another thread whether we really think that game companies are not culpable as enablers when a gaming addiction becomes an issue. To be totally fair and precise, the question was:
Quote:
is it your belief that there is no ethical implications at all to knowingly enabling addictive behavior? If you believe in the case of MMOs there isn't, but you do believe there is for offering alcohol to an alcoholic, could you describe why you have that inconsistency? What makes it different?
In a shocking twist that I'm sure surprises everyone
, to answer that I have to tell a story.EDIT: No I don't, and I got some complaints from other folks who were there, so summary.
A guy who ran games at my father's comic/game store broke into his recently-ex-girlfriends place and tried to kill her. She lived, and he's out in a few more years. News stations blamed it on the roleplaying games, did a week-long segment of really leading interview questions, and then the city killed my dad's business through bureaucratic bullshit and permit runarounds.
Stop.
Blaming publishers.
You're killing perfectly good businesses.
No one is getting help as a result.
Think of some other approach.