When Video Games Merge in with Reality, it Can Be Deadly

A few years ago a very controversial game hit the shelves at local game stores worldwide. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. I wanted it, I needed it, and I had no problem shelling out $55.00 for the PS2 game. I became addicted, playing the game day in and day out. Blasting my way through civilian's, and taking shots at virtual cops with my rifle, throwing bombs, knifing street walkers, and best of all though was having gang wars with rival gangs.

In the game my rivals wore all purple, so they were easy to pick out while cruising up and down the streets in my car.

I became obsessed with taking over their territory, which was marked on a map using the color purple. It showed me where to find them, and in order to take over their territory I had to knock em' dead. It was fun, funner than I had expected.

However one sweet day my boyfriend and I were cruising our town and I had spotted a purple wearing person, who in my mind resembled the rival gangs I had be killing in the GTA game. In my mind I was brought back to my game, and jokingly I said to my boyfriend... hey look! A rival gang! We should shoot him up!

Now of course this was all joking, but the reality was, the man wearing purple made me think of violence, harm, and destruction... and he was a REAL man doing nothing but minding his own business, not some virtual character carrying a gun waiting to shoot at me when I drive by.

Now thankfully I have a pretty good grasp on reality and virtual reality. For some though, when video games begin to take over and merge in with their reality, it can be/become a deadly game- but for real.

One story I remember hearing about was about an older man whom gave his account password to a friend to play an online game called Legend of Mir 3. the friend than decided to take his weapons (or what have you- I never played the game), and sell them for a real life profit. When he discovered that his friend sold his WOW weapons, he reported it to the police. Seeing how the weapon was not a real object, the man decided to instead stab the man to death.