Can players be duped or not?

James Gee dedicated the last chapter of his book What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy, to discuss whether players can be duped by videogames. He concluded that just as learners may not necessarily take the view propounded by authors when reading their books, and in some instances may take a totally opposite and unexpected view, in MMOG too there is likelihood that players may not necessarily “read” MMOG as game designers and developers would want them to. But this did not stop protesters, marching and chanting out “War is not a Game”, calling for the closure of the "Army Experience Center" in the Franklin Mills Mall. The centre, while meant to increase recruits into the army, allows kids to run an iteration of America’s Army from playing videogames,and it is fear that it is likely to promote violence among teens and “create a generation that is wired to kill and think that killing is something that is easy”. I was quick to brush this off as another paranoia until I found this post below in GamePolitics.com.

I won’t risk having my kids play RapeLay even if all the James Gees of the world were to unite and assure me that my kids are above the negative influences of this game. Game like RapeLay is rich with experiences that will allow in Loyers's word, "dynamic experiences of subjectivity, affect, and emotion". I wonder to what extent can players' discerning ability of what is right and wrong influences how they respond to such experiences. While it is natural to expect discerning ability to be positively related to age, but is this true for every players? Perhaps the protesters against the "Army Experience Center" is concerned about teens not being able to be discerning on what can be taken into the real world from playing and what should be kept purely within the confine of the gaming environment. I wonder what the field of psychology has to offer to enlighten us on these issues.