Before we get in to this I am going to ask you to leave your sensible self at the door. Forget about normal stuff like pet insurance, family and friends. Forget about what’s right and what’s normal, just think about what feels good…And now ask yourself the following question: are violent video games fun to play? And now scream out the answer “Yes they ARE! They are the most fun EVER!”

And why are they fun? Well–because they’re violent of course…If they weren’t violent then they’d lack a certain something. That’s all there is to it, really. I mean, would you rather have a game of golf, or would you prefer to spend several hours imagining the fun that would be decapitating your annoying boss and watching his face drop in disbelief as he realises you managed to sneak a massive sword in to his office without him knowing? I’m sure I’m not the only one whose grinning right now.

But the key-word here is imagine, and in the last few years the powers-that-be seem to have got the word confused with fantasize. What’s the difference? Easy enough: imagining something is fairly innocent. Fantasizing about something is slightly more involved, and, in the case of virtually decapitating your boss, has the capacity to be dangerous…

The problem is that some people honestly believe that every child who plays a violent video game or watches a video nasty has the potential to transfer that imaginary world in to their normal daily life. Which is rubbish, of course. Yes, undoubtedly there is the occasional case of a teenager apparently doing this, but it’s few and far between.

I say let the kids have their games. Haven’t we got bigger fish to fry?