I've never seen the point - personally - in looking too deep into this - although obviously the media has a field day whenever something happens they can somehow pin onto the evils of gaming.
Let's face it - games are seperate from reality - and the choices you make in a game don't affect the choices you make in real life. Unless, of course, you're an impressionable retard who shouldn't be allowed to roam society unsupervised.
The fact is, games allow you to explore your alter-ego and darker side - to do things you wouldn't normally do, in a way that affects and hurts no-one. And deal with it, even if you won't admit it to yourself, everyone has their little dark side. So if you have your little murderous moments that you just want to go out and kills something, gaming is a harmless way of releasing that urge. To put it bluntly - what is in your mind stays in your mind, there is no such thing as a thought-crime.
Myself - I usually end up playing the good guy. Whether that's a reflection of my personality is completely up to debate. I just enjoy doing the good guy thing in games where choices matter - although sometimes (like the second time playing Mass Effect) - it's usually just quicker to punch the dude you want information from rather than running around and doing him favours first
