Blood Sport

Another question: Are games like these steam valves for the chronically cranky, or are they incitements? Gamers will say the former; moral guardians will insist on the latter. I'd hazard a guess that both answers apply, at different times and in different ways. I know that when I finish an intense four-hour session of, say, Quake and walk out on the street, I'm still subconsciously scanning the buildings for shamblers and scrags; the game window seems superimposed on reality in the way that you still feel the skis on your feet during the ride home from the slopes. I know, too, that angry people will probably superimpose their reality on Postal. They may find release from their grievances, or they may find a rationale for them. I can only hope they know how to find the quit button.