Ah yes, it's another study on the many effects video games have on their players. Violence, sex, drugs, ...dog training, princess-making, and even baby-rearing; you name it, they've made a study out of it. Fact of the matter is, video games can influence you, one way or another. Now comes driving.

In New South Wales, Superintendent Dave Evans is asking why teenagers seem to be getting rowdy on the streets - breaking speed limits, DUI, and racking up other transgressions. Meanwhile, a study in Germany points out that men took more risks on the road than women, especially after driving in a video game.

What's the verdict? According to Evans, it has something to do with an increase in complacency, and the "indulgence in risk-taking behavior."

In games you race, you crash and it is a matter of pressing the buttons and off you go again. In real life it doesn't work that way, you can be killed.

I guess it does have some sense to it. I have, once or twice, had this vague notion that if all else goes wrong (say, I fail a huge test in school or something), I could just hit the reset button (or the shoulder buttons and Start + Select, in some RPGs) and simply re-load my life/file - ironic how both words are anagrams of each other. Wouldn't that be cool?

There's a 20% chance, after all, that our life is a computer simulation.

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