[QUOTE=Alienblue]Actually, mOzart, we may be over-defining things here in video games at that. Truly, most older games were shades of grey. Mario was the hero, but he sure stomped on a lot of goombas and koopas just to save one princess. Here we could say he was wrong since "the needs of the many..." , but it's the way videogames are.[/QUOTE]
Well I never accepted, and will likely never accept, the "needs of many" argument. Of course, I am a hard individualist, and define my ethics as such. But I especially wouldn't accept it in terms of fighting against another person or persons to secure your life or that of a loved one who is violating it. It's just a video game, right? So we all know that before I continue -- but in the story the Goombas were bad guys, as well as the Koopas. They were willing to harm Mario/Luigi, and prevent him from saving a kidnapped loved one. Sounds like they deserve being stomped to me

[QUOTE=Alienblue]You aren't really killing ANYthing, they come back to "life" in the next game. (I think it's called cartoon violence.) I agree it's fascinating how these threads evolve into other subjects.[/QUOTE]
You could say that about any art medium though. Movies are played over and over again. They are fixed sequences, but they always start with everything undone. A painting of violence is an act basically frozen in time.
[QUOTE=Quill]I'll bet by the time this is all done we'll be having a debate about the significance of the Futurists movement and how it relates to Nazi Germany.

[/QUOTE]
If we're lucky.