Houellebecq,

I think you're right, I'm concerned about the bubble wrapped society too, I think we lose something organic and free in an overfocus on avoiding risk.

RE: "Let the kids enjoy a game for god's sake, it will keep them from shooting birds with bb guns and air rifles and putting fire crackers inside letterboxes."

The danger is it won't. The danger is that it desensitises children to the inflicting of violence on another living thing. I think it's difficult to argue against that.

The important thing here is not simply what should or should not be allowed in games, but who should have access to what games. Classification of games needs to be taken much more seriously than it is by parents and authorities alike, precisely because exposing children in their formative years to simulated behaviour to some degree establishes that behaviour as a norm.

If that occurs at a time when children have not already inculcated a strong and robust moral framework that rules out any such behaviour in anything other than a fantasy context, then it runs the risk of normalising it AS the framework, rather than as an exception to the framework in a particular context of entertainment.