Let's face it, most videogames contain some form of violence. From menacing mallets to strafing soldiers, aggression is part of the gaming landscape. In this week's episode of "Extended Play" we take a look at the role of violence in videogames.

When you think violence in videogames you usually think guns and blood. But this isn't always the case, as Daphne White, executive director of the Lion & Lamb Project, points out. "The videogame people say, 'Oh, it's cartoon violence, so we'll rate it E for everyone,'" White says. "Just because it's a cartoon doesn't mean it's not violent."

The Lion & Lamb Project is an organization trying to keep violence from being marketed to children. Every year the Lion & Lamb Project publishes a list of the top nonviolent toys and videogames it recommends for children, as well as the top violent toys and videogames to avoid.

One of the most popular and violent games of this year is "Grand Theft Auto 3." In GTA3 you play as a gun-for-hire and go on missions entailing murder, carjacking, and perhaps random acts of violence. Why is this game seen as more violent than "Super Smash Bros. Melee," where players bash their opponents with mallets, slice them with swords, and burn other players with fire-breathing flowers?

Freelance game designer and Gamasutra columnist Ernest Adams explains, "Videogames get into trouble when they are both highly realistic and have an ethical system that is highly different from what's going on in the real world. If it's unrealistic, like Space Invaders, you can blow up aliens left, right, and center because it has nothing to do with the real world. But when you are blowing up real people and it looks realistic then that starts to bother people."

Is violence the key to great gaming?
Despite the controversy behind GTA3, it continues to be one of the top-selling games since its debut in October 2001. What makes this game so popular?

"For me, it's popular because it is so outrageous," says Hal Barwood of LucasArts. "I had tears of laughter in my eyes after about 15 minutes of playing that game. And I just think it's the most hilariously funny game I've played in years. So I mean it's just outrageous, it's wonderful."

Ion Storm's Warren Spector, creator of "Deus Ex," says, "I do not subscribe to the belief that people are playing GTA3 because you can get out of your car and beat people up with baseball bats. And a lot of developers are now looking at GTA3 and thinking that's the secret -- that havoc games are the future."

So what is the secret?

"It's because of that deeper, more free-form game experience, not because of the violence," Warren says.

"Grand Theft Auto 3" has received praise for its compelling gameplay, but GTA3 and other similar games have also received criticism on the violent content and what children are learning from it.

"We're teaching children a model as they're growing up, which is shoot everything in sight and blow it up," White says. "It's you against the world and you're the good guy and everything that comes at you is bad guy. Shoot them before they kill you. That's not the kind of collaborative model that we expect them to practice when they get into the workplace."

Who's responsible?
There are many fingers pointing at who is responsible for keeping violent games from children.

"The whole question of videogame violence affecting children, I agree with completely," says David Perry of Shiny Entertainment. "So I feel very strongly that the retailers should be the people that do check IDs. If some kid comes walking up with a pack of cigarettes, they're supposed to not sell it to them. If they come walking up with a porn movie, they're supposed to stop selling it to them. If it's a violent videogame, don't sell it to them," Perry adds.

"We think everyone has to behave more responsibly," White says. "That includes parents because parents do need to be more aware of what their children are playing with, the technologies, and what the games are. But the industry needs to be more responsible in what they're marketing to children. Just like we don't market cigarettes to children or alcohol or pornography, we should not be marketing adult-level violence to children."

Is violence here to stay?

"We do violence in games because it's easy," Spector says. "And like every other medium we're going to outgrow it, we're gonna move beyond it, and we're gonna broaden the range of things that we can do and will do in gaming."