"As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it."
Now, I don't think these controversial games are "crap"; quite the opposite. I am happy to admit that I enjoy, nay love, the violent behavior I live out when playing Double Dragon, Resident Evil, Virtua Fighter or Spyro the Dragon. I also get considerable gratification from being drunk and having sex for non-reproductive purposes (or any combination of the three). I find them all very enjoyable ways to pass the time and make no excuse for doing so. If only the industry was less defensive and more candid about their policies, arguments proclaiming the evils of videogaming would be far less persuasive.
I think the campaigners' problems stem from a fear of realizing the human condition is not based in a just and moral world, yet to sit back and avoid acting on the principle that some form of cosmic justice will make things right is a luxury far more decadent than any amount of time spent on a depraved videogame.
And the inherent principle of censorship carries severe problems of its own, easily outweighing the consequences of our youth being entertained by blood and mayhem. You needn't look far into history to see the types of people and organizations who made considerable use of censorship, and many of them undoubtedly believed they were acting for the greater good. The freedom to make, play and protest about such controversial forms of entertainment is part and parcel of our quest to become a more advanced civilization; it's no use complaining when it tastes bad.
It's quite clear that restricting people's privilege to disagree with each other is wrong. Coupled with the fact that players and anti-gaming lobbyists are never going to convince each other to see reason, common ground must be found. Luckily for the free world, I have a solution. It's so simple and so easily implemented, no one'll ever go for it, but here it is anyway.
Whether we like it or not, none of us have (and should never have) any control over the beliefs of others. The plus side is, so long as our willpower is fortified enough to mind our own business, neither do we have any responsibility for other peoples' actions, issues or demands. But it's of vital importance that we do take control and responsibility for ourselves and all the cumbersome emotional baggage that accompanies a fully developed personality.
It's all a question of having good manners. If a person exhibits a pleasant demeanor to the people around him - despite the fact that most of the time it will not be reciprocated - many of the most destructive and antisocial elements of modern society become impossible to enact, such as intolerance, oppression or hatred. And other than the way in which you deal with people, having good manners won't affect your own beliefs or your way of life one bit. Let me give you an example.
Take the witch hunters of years gone by, who would burn heretics alive in order to "cleanse" their souls for the crime of non-belief. Once again, it's too convenient to portray all these people as malicious, twisted malcontents out to murder and maim for their own sense of self-satisfaction. (Kind of like videogamers of today!) Many were deeply religious people who believed what they were doing was an act of charity, even though it effectively put their own immortal soul at risk.
