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What I do when I play GTA 4 is go on rampages. It gets my anger out and it's fun. But after I heard about the batman movie shooting, I felt guitly for a few days and didn't play it. Seemed tasteless or something. I'm over it now, but IIN?
You felt remorse because you had done something similar to a real life event that caused much death and suffering, it just means you aren't as morally bland as most people which is a pretty good thing. Don't worry though, those people in the video game weren't real, so you don't need to feel bad for them ;D
There is nothing wrong with releasing your anger in a manner in which others in reality do not get hurt.
Just so long as, when the game it put down and you walk outside, you are fully aware that those people walking around you are people, with lives, families and feelings, and not groupings of pixels in a video game. If you can't, then you have a problem.
When I'm beating a hooker to death and screaming "I ain't payin for no pussy bitch! give up the money ho"
It does kind of prick my conscience.
Normally, I would say no, but in this case, I'll say yes.
If you want to stretch it, you could say that it's a good thing that you feel odd about playing GTA after the shooting- it proves that you haven't been desensitized to violence by video games at all.
Yes, it's absolutely normal. Even if feelings of guilt aren't entirely rational, the response is there for a reason. To keep us in check.
It would be a problem if you felt no guilt about anything at all and just did anything you want, regardless of how it may affect others.
It is very important to distinguish the difference between video games and real life. If playing videogames makes you want to do the stuff you do in the videogame in real life, then you probably shouldn't be playing them.
That being said, I've been stabbing hookers since I was about 13 and have played violent videogames for even longer. That doesn't mean I'm going to go on a real life shooting rampage though.
99.99% of people who play video games can distinguish between reality and the game though :) generally it's other media that would cause a problem - if media is even the problem at all - but in most cases of massacres it is due to the person creating their own world where they see it plausible to cause harm to others, perhaps because of bullying. In the case of the Batman massacre my verdict is that this man spent too much time deluding himself into thinking it was fine to kill others.
Also, he studied neurology, I believe, which points to the possibility that he believed he had a problem and was aware of some psychological issue.
Anyway, I believe it's normal for feeling remorse, but try to remember it's only a game :)
I know how you feel. I was on a GTA IV rampage the other day and then I remembered what happened at the Batman movie, and I'm like, "what's wrong with me?" It's better to take your anger out on the game instead of real life though.