Nerve.com has gathered some of the most prestigious names in game academia for an online discussion called; Voicebox: Sex, Violence and the Furture of Video Games. It’s kinda old news, I just forgot about it for a while…so sorry about my lateness!
The panel is Steven Johnson, Brenda Brathwaite, Ian Bogost, Eric Zimmerman, Henry Jenkins, Rob Levine and Katie Salen.
And the questions are:

1. 1. Is the sex-and-violence content of video games a legitimate social concern? Or are Hillary Clinton et. al. criticizing games for easy political points? And why is there so much more violence than sex?
2. If the average age of a gamer is 30, when did video games become more for grownups than kids? (Was there a Gladwellesque tipping point?) Did the Nintendo generation grow up without growing out of games, or was there a latency period in between? Is it attributable to regression or midlife crisis?
3. How will video games affect the future of online social interaction? Will they develop into an extension of online dating and IMing?
4. As video games’ interactive worlds become more complex, what ethical issues might arise that need regulation? What about commerce in gaming – do you foresee it?
5. What is the future of sex in video games, and where does the 20th-century idea of virtual reality fit in?

Right…I’ve only read the answers up to and including nr. 3! I’m saving nr. 4 for my next break! Yup…that’s right! Instead of 5 pages I’ve only written 5 sentences so far! But it’s sooo great cause I found Synthetic Worlds, Half-real and My Mother was a Computer at Studia yesterday!! Isn’t that great?! Maybe my university is finally waking up and smelling the strong virtual coffee! Ofcourse…they only had one copy of each! Urgh…how can I be expected to write when there’s just soooooo much interesting to read?!

Sorry about that little sidetrack! Just also wanted to mention my favourite comment from the above mentioned discussion, so far. For question nr. 3 Steven Johnson concludes with the question:

“…as the AI gets increasingly powerful, and your avatar starts to act more autonomously, will avatars develop flirtations on their own? You’ll log into your account in the morning, and your avatar will greet you by saying: “I med the greatest guy last night…”” – and I say “COOL!!!!“