We're often being told about the influence videogames wield over the young and impressionable in modern society. Is this a negative influence, turning us into addicted couch slobs, wallowing in our own sweat and spilled pizza fat? Or is it somehow positive, providing a greater challenge and social buzz than slumping in front of Celebrity Morris Dancing 5 for hours on end, turning away only to jab in a mobile phone vote hoping to flush one onscreen specimen of human slurry back down their beckonging career toilet?

The questions for this friday, then: what have games made you try in real-life - good or bad? Have you ever been inspired by a game to read a specific book or watch a movie? Have you taken up a sport because the game version was fun? Have you become involved in a minor pub scuffle and attempted a dragon punch? Or even better, a spinning bird kick?

I have to admit, I read a couple of the urban planning books mentioned in the Sim City bibliography at the back of the instruction manual. I got really interested in FEMA and Mount Weather after interviewing Warren Spector about Deus Ex 2. I also once attempted a Scandinavian Flick in my old Volvo 340 after playing Colin McRae Rally for several hours...

How about you?