Jack Thompson… Straw Man

How sad. If this guy was not on a half-minded crusade against the stereotypes he has formed in his own mind, he could well garner the support of the gaming community at large - and doing so would make his goal of protecting kids so much easier for himself, and for everyone else. The only people benefitting from his silliness are the media sites who report on it, as they get more hits from those who wish to have a good laugh at his illogical stance. But hey, they always benefit from bad things happening.

The guy’s going to achieve nothing as long as he keeps up an attitude worthy of an arrogant teenager who thinks he knows all. He’s just laughing material nowadays. The problem isn’t with games or gamers - it’s about the distribution of them and who to. If a parent wants to give their 10 year old GTA:SA, so be it, but then it becomes a parental problem. Games are not to blame.

I’m not going to take up for this guy personally he’s clearly an asshat but I want to get this message, up. Never, even think about dismissing the power of the Plaintiff’s Chair. The Plaintiff’s chair is really one of the most powerful forces in modern society. Just ask the tobbacco companies for instance. It’s something people in the industry, particuarily marketing people in the industry need to be aware of and conscious of, how things are going to be perceieved.

Unfortunatley, Mr. Thompson’s paranoia might be indicative of the gaming community’s prejudice against people with similar stances. If you ask me, Thompson responds to tons of gamer hate mail. That much negative exposure has poisoned him against gamers in general.
Where did the gamers get their animosity towards Thompson? Gamers are building stereotypes for people like Mr. Thompson when they hear about all these illogical, badly made arguments in the media. So instead of writing well thought, intelligent letters, they’re probably writting things that are on the same level of Mr. Thompson’s replys to you.
It goes to show stereotypes and hatred just lead to more of it. If only a majority of gamers could communicate as intelligently and as tolerantly as you did.

GameSpot decided to test and see if the code required for the hot coffee mod was indeed put in by Rockstar. It would seem as though it was - and while this doesn’t surprise me, Rockstar definately aren’t doing any favours to themselves (or the rest of the gaming community) by not coming completely clean about it in the first place.

It’s not an issue about it being in there, it’s about not owning up to it. Stirring up controversy like this is exactly what people like Mr Thompson seem to thrive on, and gives them a platform from which to launch their ill-conceived compaigns.

Wow…that guy seems like he didn’t read anything you put. As has been mentioned, he seems to rely on stereotypes of gamers having invalid opinions as they cannot possibly support what they are doing.

This guy, whilst having a good aim, has bad methods of going about them.

And on another note, am I the only one who cant see the Gravatas properly?

No, gravatar.com appears to be down. The only gravatars I can see are ones I have cached. It’s been like that for quite a few hours now, though I can’t find any information about it.

I’m actually glad that the content was already in the game. Can you imagine what could happen to mods if it had been inserted? Any game open to modification could in theory have AO rated content inserted into it, and the potential for some kind of legislation trying to control mods to go way too far worries me.

fortunately, that’s not going to happen now. that the game would get an AO rating for two pre rendered characters dry humping though… well, that’s a different matter. i really don’t see how dry humping, which you see in plenty of R rated movies, doesn’t fall under the ‘Strong Sexual Content’ the game is listed on the box as having already.

there’s no nudity or genitals… just dry humping. heck, i’d argue that that wasn’t even strong sexual content.

Rockstar have mishandled this, but at least that clears the ESRB and the mod community, which is the bigger and more important picture.

I hadn’t considered the point plagiarise makes about the effect this could have had on the MOD community if the content hadn’t been put in by Rockstar. That is a very good point.

However, I’m extremely pissed at Rockstar. Of all game devs (except maybe id), they should know better than to do something so inflammatory, something that gives their critics so much valid ammunition. And for what? Whether they did it because they were too lazy to take out some extraneous code before shipping the game or intentionally in order to create a guerrilla marketing event, either way it could potentially cost them millions of dollars due to lawsuits and lost sales because of an AO rating.

But what is even worse is that Rockstar made the ESRB look bumbling and ineffectual and the game industry adolescent and untrustworthy at a time when the political climate in the US is extremely hostile to gaming. I know Rockstar is in the UK, but good God people, have you picked up a newspaper in the last 5 years, or ever talked to your legal department? This one screw up could cause serious damage to the gaming industry for years to come. And I’m not just talking about litigation and legislation, I’m more concerned with the lasting effects of negative public opinion. Gaming is mainstream now, let’s wake up and start acting like adults. Rockstar has just given invaluable ammunition to wankers like Jack Thompson and his vision of gamers as irredeemeable sociopaths. Thanks a bunch, Rockstar.

Thompson claimed The Sims 2 had full nudity, but EA denies it. If it turns out that The Sims 2 does not contain any nudity, I hope EA sues this guy for everything he’s worth. He has committed libel and slander.

That was one of the best articles about this guy that I’ve read. Before I thought he was annoying based on some of his ridiculous claims, but now I see that he’s just an arrogant lawyer who thinks he knows everything. He’s not willing to hear another perspective on it even if it agrees with his own and that’s what’s ruining his chances of ever being heard by the gaming community.

I have no trust in this man trying to protect America’s children.

What a stupid asswipe… I sent him an email myself, regarding trying to get Sims 2 banned, because being able to remove the censor blur is ‘worse than Hot Coffee’ as it removes the kids blur, and it would be a pedophiles dream… And i fully agree with Steve

This feels somewhat fitting:

http://keepyourkillingclean.blogspot.com/2005/02/jack-thompson-is-douche-bag.html

He’s basically done the same thing to someone else as well, and dare I say it, even more offensively. This guy is unbelievable.

This might be a silly question, but has anyone passed the transcripts of these emails onto the professional media such that they can investigate (bodies such as The New York Times, BBC and others that are taken seriously)? It’s quite clear that Mr. Thompson has no intention of discussing his opinions and positions with “Joe Public” but I’m sure that he will have to clarify when requested for comment by the mainstream media. It might also be interesting to see the opinions of those that he would require support from in order to get any bill banning or regulating the gaming industry. I have no idea how the US system works so I’ll leave that up to anyone who fancies having a bash at this one.

Kelmon, that seems like a very good idea. Jack Thompson has one of the most unprofessional responses that I could think of. I’d like to see a larger publication to look into this. I’m sure it could spark a bit of interest.

I’ve seen responses like this from him to several different well-thought out emails. He doesn’t even bother to read them. Just sends back curt responses about gamers have no intelligence [seems quite fond of that oxymoron line] and doesn’t address any points made.

How pitiful. Your missives were well spoken and thought out. Too bad this man is on such a mission to prove that gamers are evil, gaming is a past time that will create killers and sociopaths and won’t even listen to advice on how to improve his arguments.

May I post a link to this? I find it interesting and would like to share it in my blog as well with gamer friends.

Thanks,
Tanya

Jack Thompson vs World.

“He’s not paranoid, he’s just crazy about games”

Thompson’s not just afraid of games, he wants a total oligarchy. One that tells people what’s right and what’s wrong, regardless of the personal experience of the people in that oligarchy. It’s strange that there are people mandating laws regarding petty issues, such as video games, they have not experienced first hand.

He is just incredible. He’s completely blinded by his stereotypes and prejudices. He is just as bad as the KKK or any other hate groups. People like Jack Thompson who cannot argue a point in a dignified manner shouldn’t have a voice in politics at all.

He’s no better than a racist, or homophobe. Your letters to him were well written, and he responded to you as if you were a moron, merely because you play video games.

The ignorance that this guy is spouting is amazing. You should see what he has to say about The Sims 2. You can tell, just by reading this

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/22/news_6129609.html?tag=lastword_pc_headline

article, that he doesn’t even bother to see if what he’s saying is true, or flat-out lies.

He claims The Sims 2 comes with full frontal nudity, including penis, pubic hair, and labia. Which is a lie. Buy the SIms 2, install it. You’ll see that the characters are behind a mosiac blur. Remove the blur, and they’re barbie dolls, no genetalia at all. Apparently somebody TOLD him this, and he couldn’t care less. He’s still right, even when it’s proven false. What a self-important, bigoted idiot.

I read the entire letter from Mr. Thompson, and to be honest, I wish I hadn’t. I will admit his argument starts out strong, mentioning that this is a nonpartisan problem. Sadly, his argument gets weaker as the letter progresses, going so far as to claim that Mr. Lowenstein’s founders are fictional characters. I kid you not, I had to struggle to finish it. Seriously, fraudulent and criminal excesses? The ESRB was CREATED as a compromise when this kind of controversy began. The industry has TRIED to police itself. The problem is, this kind of self-policing needs EVERYONE to work to its fullest. The parents are not doing their part, and it is at that level that the system falls apart.

If you’ll allow me to relate one of my own childhood experiences, my mother let me play, and indeed own, Mortal Kombat II, well before the ESRB recommended age of 17. I even pointed this out to her, albeit after we had both decided to buy the game. I suggested to her that we return it after a few months, and she actually told me not to. She explained to me that she thought the game would help me get out my aggression; that is, by playing this game, I would NOT be inspired to attack real people. In this particular instance, she was right. The game helped give me the message “It’s OK to do this on your TV screen, but not in the real world.”

While the above anecdote is certainly an extreme example in the opposite direction of Mr. Thompson’s letter, I believe it illustrates my point that, in the end, it IS the parents’ responsibility to make this kind of decision for their minor children. (For those that are sticklers for details, my parents were divorced by that time.) In this case, she made what she believed was the right choice, and I only hope that more parents will have the courage and wisdom to do the same. But, ten years of watching the post-ESRB industry, as well as limited firsthand experience, have taught me that many parents do not pay attention.

In closing, I feel I must say that Mr. Thompson’s letter is, while quite long and citing some accurate sources, is largely an extended version of what many on the internet would consider a flame letter. It’s an embarrassment to both gamers and the Republican party, as it sounds as though it was written by a Democrat. That’s an issue for another thread, though. Thank you for listening to my long ramblings.

I sent this email to Thompson just now, and am awaiting a reply.

Email starts from here down.

I’ve read your website, www.stopkill.com, and I’ve seen the points behind your crusade.

I just wanted to ask, you seem to be focused on the American game industry. What about overseas developers? You might be able to stop American kids from playing these games, but overseas, others will be exposed to these games. What is your opinion on that?

Quoted from www.stopkill.com:

In April 1999, eight days before Columbine, Jack Thompson appeared on national television to identify the role that shooter video games, specifically Doom, would play in future school shootings. A week later in Littleton, Colorado, Klebold and Harris, who obsessively trained on Doom, killed thirteen.

I’ve read some articles about Harris, and his playing of Doom. I was first told of rumors that Harris had created levels for Doom based on the layout of Columbine High School, and played them. I looked into the matter further, and was told that Harris had created levels, but not ones based on the school. I don’t have the website where I got this information from, but should you choose to reply, I will look into it further.

I’d hope that you would reply to this message.

And that’s the end.

Does anyone else have any information on the Harris/Doom/Columbine connection? I got my information from www.wikipedia.org, but I won’t tell him where unless he asks.

I’ve been told by many that these are exactly the sort of responses ‘gamers’ always get and haven’t sent them on anywhere, but with this whole Sims 2 thing it feels like Jack’s blown a gasket. Ignored my advice and then ran off into the sun set laughing.

I hope he realises that Ken and Barbie dolls can be defrocked and placed in sexual positions. The clothes they sell them in are an admission of guilt!

Sue Mattel!

The blur is there so that they don’t look stupid. If he wants to take on mods and therefore the whole internet, then he’s going to hit a brick wall. It still just pisses me off that he’s on TV talking about violence in games more than anyone else. Whatever his side on things, he’s definately the not the best educated person on the subject matter.

I’m… I’m shocked at this. Does he treat everyone like this, as an invalid without a third-grade education or the life-experience therein? I don’t understand why such a person has such movement with the american community… but he does, and there are people who agree with him a lot. It makes me sad that there are people like this…

It’s unbelieveable, not only that he thinks he can have a decent court case with attitudes like that, but that people like him actually exist.

USPS free boxes anyone?

Oh my god, am i glad i live in europe, a man like jack thompson would never even get into politics here. he would be in a mental institution. he sees conspiracies everywhere, and the guy apparently thinks he can make laws for all over the world or so, in europe even nuns laugh if they would see, this,
why doesnt he make american woman wear burka’s or so, and forbids them to come out in the street, so man wont get tempted,
A nipple on tv became a national scandal, now this, america is becoming more backwards than friggin afganistan or saoudi arabia.
in europe, everyone understands that a adult naked body is not pornographic, i mean we all have one. are these people so scared of their own body or something ? just unbelievable.

Someone told me that it’s dangerous to group all Europeans as accepting of public nudity, but that’s just me.

Anyway, any games that support mods are automatically capable of having sexually explicit material. There were nude skins in the original Sims, to help players design their own clothes. That Sims game was also a big hit. Where was the scandal that time?

Regarding the ESRB issue, I agree that parents aren’t holding up their end of the bargain to supervising and interacting their kids. If you don’t understand the games that they’re playing it’s more of a reason to participate with them. The lack of doing so is the cause of scapegoating and blind hate and ignorance to such activities. If you can participate in their little league softball game, how much harder is it to get in a session of Mario Kart once in a while?

Parents seem to have less patience when they listen to their kid tutor them with something, than the other way around. At least, it’s how I see it.

Someone told me that it’s dangerous to group all Europeans as accepting of public nudity, but that’s just me.

nudity on a tv or computer screen that the user self chose to install and see is something totally different than public nudity, and yes, on most west european beaches, you always see topless sunbathers, especially france and spain. and noone is bothered by a naked breast or so on tv.
so your statement is totally wrong justchris

To quote Eurotrip: “You know America was founded by prudes, right?”

I believe Mr. Thompson to be a direct line of that prudishness, a distilled prude, if you will.

How the hell did that guy get into politics in the first place?
He insults anyone whose views even slightly differ from his with the grammar of a 10 yr old AOLer.
If a parent buys an M game for a 10 yr old child who she/he knows still has trouble distinguishing between real life and fiction, the PARENT should be held responsible, not the industry.
It’s not like the developers of GTA go to a little 6yr old in the streets and say “Here you go, little kid, it’s a game with guns, prostitutes and violence galore!”
If he were to come to Europe with that kind of bullshit, he’d be in a mental institute before you could say GTA.

This Sunday, ChatterBox Video Game Radio will be interviewing the now infamous Miami lawyer, Jack Thompson, regarding the GTA-EA-ESRB ratings scandal currently in the news.

The interview will be prerecorded, but there is still plenty of time to submit questions to the producer, Alon Waisman, to be asked of Mr. Thompson.

As members of the game-loving media, the interview will NOT be your standard, pandering, Fox News-esque effort. We want to get a feel for what his real concerns are, and what, if anything, he can sympathize with, from our point of view.

At no point will anyone be attacking Mr. Thompson for his views. Hopefully we can figure out what makes him so conscientious in his effort to shut down what we see as acceptable entertainment.

If you would like to submit questions for review, visit the website and e-mail Alon with “Thompson interview” in the subject.

If you’d like to listen to the interview, a short clip will be aired on Sunday’s (July 31) show. You can also call and discuss it with us, but we need to wait a week to play the whole thing because we’ll also be doing a live interview with a producer and designer from The Behemoth, makers of Alien Hominid this Sunday as well.

__________________________
Ripped from Penny-Arcade Forums…

Hey guys, looks like here’s your shot to make him really feel the burn Sagan wanted everyone to avoid.

I wonder what kind of response someone would get if he/she were to resend the above emails with all references to being a gamer removed?

Why is it that Rockstar games is getting flames thrown at them for a MOD that was created for the PC version of GTA san andreas? isn’t GTA a game that is aimed at Adult audiences Only?. As far as I’m conserned I think this issue is a matter of paerents not paying attintion to ESRB ratings and looking at content more than it is rockstar aiming a game with Adult themes at younger kids. I would really like to get some feed back on this comment, you can email me at www.RockstaRgamer@yahoo.com

I am also from Europe, the UK to be precise.

This guy is great, hatred gives me energy. Didn’t he get some record declared obscene a while ago? Strange guy.

I have heard much talk about people using games to ‘train’. I would like to see someone who trained on a game trying to function in the real world. For example, doom, what if a person were to be higher up then them? Confusion.

Ah, I have lost myself.

Oh yeah, last thing, him saying that pedophiles could use the Sims 2 to practise really was very amusing. How, exactly?

JJMarmite:

“Ohhhhhhhhh! So that’s where the naughty bits are!
Come here timmy…”

JJMarmite: “I have heard much talk about people using games to ‘train’. I would like to see someone who trained on a game trying to function in the real world. For example, doom, what if a person were to be higher up then them? Confusion.”

I don’t know about that, I’m Australian, and our gun control laws are very tight here. I fired a gun for the first time a few months ago and it was disturbing how accurate I could be with it. Having said that, I think using GTA as any kind of training material would be nigh impossible, considering the game is played in the third person.

I want to cry. Jack Thompson is a joke. This man obviously does not know who gamers are, and that most of them are not different than “normal” people.

Hmm, reasonable point Mock, but there are no naughty bits in the game and surely their locations are quite obvious to start with.

Bah, at anyrate I still fail to see how they could be used, there are reasons for this. I am probably just ignorant and full of dust.

Stumbled on this by accident.

If you could make those emails known to the world, they might just bring him down. But that’s just a wandering idiots opinion.

I can sort of see where he’s coming from, but he troll of the sort I though was reserved only for religious morons and Ann Coulter.

Can we say mass ownage to the SSJ5th degree? I’m sorry, but ya know what? Intill all of the !@#$%^& controling the goverment, and media, are dead, and long gone, and those who played something more than an Atari, take control, then this problem will still ensue.

Wow, just…wow.

I’m truly surprised how someone like that got so high in the government.

Well it isn’t total hogwash that Video Game Simulations can be used to train. The military has used this type of training for some time now I believe. However, these are used to train tactics and accuracy perhaps, but not to turn soldiers into big mean killin’ machines. There is a different kind of training for that.

I have to admit when I first started playing paintball I acclimated myself instantly. The game is so similiar to team based online games that there was no learning curve for me. Tactics, running and moving and using cover. It is all common sense really but a year or so of counter-strike before hand helped. The same tactics work. Even the gun itself. Accuracy-wise I didn’t have an edge (paintballs are slower, less accurate and more likely to be effected by wind). However, simple things like using short bursts rather than beserker fire helped too.

Also the code was found hidden into both the unmodified PS2 and Xbox versions (for those who asked). This means that “Hot Coffee” was not created by modder rather than unlocked. The means to get to this content, however, is pretty ridiculous on the consoles involving steps that would never be taken unless users knew it was there. It is not as if you do a mission you get some blocky polygon ramming action as a reward.

The hot coffee thing was odd, as someone said that GTA’s graphics were realistic. Their better than last time, but still not that good. Besides, doing those missions is very annoying as I hate the women, her shrill voice injures my soul.

Wait, I have a soul?

whoops, should be ‘they’re’ not ‘their’, I always screw that up.

Oh yeah, since when was sex so bad anyway? I mean, killing people is all well and good but the act by which humans are made? Dear lord no!

Or something like that.

Very well written. You sum up Jack quite well with this article. Personally, I am against legislating/censoring video games. However I am aware there is an argument to be had there, unfortunately I have yet to hear much of an intelligent one. Instead I see Mr. Thompson spreading is nazi like views and arguments.

If you go public with this, it will reveal some of the uncomfortable truths that people need to see. There are far too many Jack Thompsan’s out there, and the real issue of bad parenting, which, I might add, seems to only be said by gaming sites and magazines, is constantly pushed aside.

Probably because that problem makes up the majority of the voting population.

it makes me sad witness such arrogance and that a thirdparty patch/hack has become such a political target (Clinton going mental over this)…why can’t they use the taxpayers money on something useful?

“If I were the lunatic you claim, you would ignore me”. Come on!!!!
When does America, or anyone else for that matter ignore lunatics? Just to name a few that were not ignored : Hitler, Stalin, Osama, Saddam. The lunatics are the ones that we dont ever ignore. His comment was immature, and not very well thought out. But I ask this: What can we do as gamers to get others to see our side of the story? How can we get through all of the red tape and name calling? If being a gamer was as simple as black and white this dude would be a racist.
I am a 25 year old father, and my son, loves to game. And i let him. I dont let him play GTA, or the sims, but i believe that the decision on what he should play should be in my hands, not regulated by the government. Is there any way we can have our voice heard? A respectable way, that cannot be disputed, or labeled stupid by non gamers? If there is let me know. My name will be on whatever list it needs to be on to fight the ill informed. I hope that there is a way the we responsible gamers can try to fight to make it more the parents responsibility to learn more about what their children play, and less the fuel of some regulatory machine of , and forgive me, this guys personal form of communism.

“Why is it that Rockstar games is getting flames thrown at them for a MOD that was created for the PC version of GTA san andreas?”

Because all that mod did was unlock acess to content that was already on the disc.

Having said that, I tried to send a reasonable, calmly-worded email to Thompson… who answered none of my questions and simply told me to get lost.

What a douchebag.

This is an e-mail and reply I got from him:

nope. why don’t you get back to minding your own business?
—– Original Message —–
From: “Rai”
To:
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: Request

>> Could you please get back to more important matters like domestic
>> violence and child abuse?

It seems that this guy is completely arrogant and only believes in his own opinions with little respect for the opinions of others.

In face it doesn’t seem like that - he just is.

On a side note aren’t many gamers being hypocritical in debates over controversial games.

Many of the people who claim that “it’s an 18 rated game - kids shouldn’t be buying it” are under 18 themselves.

Older people aren’t exempt from this kind of double standard either - I’m sure that many of them watched films like Terminator way before they were 18.

And it’s not fair jus to blame the parents either. just as it wasn’t exactly hard for a kid to watch Terminator without his parents knowing, it isn’t exactly hard for kids to get a hold of games like GTA witout their parents knowledge.

The moral crusading brigade are just as bad, advocating games like Bully to be banned before their content is clear is ludicrous (at least wait till things are more clear before you voice your opinions).

Clearly the certification of games/movies is inadequate to stop kids getting a hold of them but this is no excuse to call for censorship. Laws are not without their problems and just because they don’t work doesn’t mean more should be done to try and make them work instead of resorting to extreme measures like banning games and films.

Neither side in this debate is completely right, however this is a subject which should be able to be discussed sensibly and clearly these e-mails from the likes of Jack Johnson show that people are not willing to do this.

Hopefully he can be outed as the arrogant stuck up idiot he is before he does any damage - to both gamers and his own cause.

Ok everyone, I’m gathering up all the e-mails to Thompson and his immature replies I can get, and sending them to CNN. Hopefully, they’ll see that Thompson is a asshole of an attorney and reveal him. Because news programs LOVE revealing corrupt lawyers.

If ANYONE has e-mail transscripts of replies to Jack Thompson and their own replies, my AIM is appledude211, contact me, and we’ll show the country the real man behind the lies.

I recently E-mailed him and found out that he thinks with only a 10-minute video clip of a game (probably Killer 7), it deserves an AO rating. What a douche-bag. Also, I will be send you everything he told me, appledude211. What’s your E-mail address?

jack your going after everything you gotta stop and think about what your doing your being a complete ass

“I don’t need no arguments cause you all know i’m right without such stupidities…”

Ok.

As I look at the different things this man has said and done I almost wonder what fools put him in any sorta power place. I have been trying to keep up with all the different events and emails he has sent to people but its kinda hard when all the guy ever says is that Gamers are stupid and I’m an adult thats all that matters.

A day or so ago I came across this on vgcats.com he had sent a letter to Scott and then did this major reply feast only to say he was a moron and needed help. http://vgcats.com/jack.php

I feel that this man should be taken out of the office he is in, he is the child and no one wants to play his little game. I also want to say I like the first email with the quote from Carl Sagan Smart man.

Anyways I just wanted to share that last little bit of information.

If anyone with an lj cares, here’s an anti-Jack Thompson community:

Jack Thompson is a douche-bag!

It honestly surprises me how I can’t go a week without hearing of some idiot leading a charge against something he has little to no knowledge on, and disgusts me that Jack Thompson for the past however many months has continually taken it onto himself to be that idiot.

I came across this article searching for (after reading of Scott from VGCats’ incident with him) Jack’s opinions; needless to say what I found was enough to satisfy my curiosity of Jack’s debating skills, though far, far below my expectations. Almost everywhere I turn I find people insulting this ‘law person’, and upon reading every word he says I realise that the guy practically insults himself.

I’m all for games not falling into the hands of those who would be unable to distinguish the game from reality, but it seems what Thompson is aiming for is a total genocide against a particular media, one that is merely a part of a much larger whole. The fact that he is ignoring the other medias entirely doesn’t give me much faith in his devotion to the safety of children; the notion that he would purposely ignore them to get at another that he has extemely prejudiced (and practically unfounded) views on takes away any faith I had in the first place.

From all that I’ve read, Jack Thompson was right about one thing - I am scared of him. I would say that about any unpredictable, irrationally thinking person who would try to force his beliefs upon me, or anyone else, without knowing our beliefs to begin with and just assume that as I enjoy a certain thing I am void of intelligence and opinion. I am scared of him in the same way I am scared of cancer, domestic abuse, murder and rape. There is nothing positive about them, but (unlike ‘Mr. Hot Coffee’) they can end up successfully controlling many people’s lives.

It’s 2:25 am. I could have done something constuctive in the time it took to wite this; could have done something of importance, and I feel bad for not having done that.

I can’t bring myself to wonder if Jack Thompson feels bad for doing this all the time.

Thank you if you took the time to read this, after reading all those above I felt compelled.

First off

nope. why don’t you get back to minding your own business?
—– Original Message —–
From: “Rai”
To:
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: Request

>> Could you please get back to more important matters like domestic
>> violence and child abuse?

That is something that seriously needs to be made public. With responses like that, it can clearly show he only cares about screwing the video game industy with god’s will, right wing, republican dick. This is almost blackmail Material, and if brought to the attention that he cares more about video games rather then issues that are far more dangerous then GTA, He could easily have his reputation from wannabe savior to obsessive wannabe politician.

Also, I dont see why the M rating isnt set to 18. with the M rating at 18, there would be no need for adults only, because the legal age to buy stuff dealing with sex is 18. I dont know if it would work or not.

I rate this page a 9/10 but I’ll wait for OUR THE SUPERIOR HILLARY CLINTON VERSION. That so nice and it goes great with chocolate milks I thinX (imo)

gg

Well, we might as well revel in the big “Hurrah!” for common sense that has apparently taken place Alabama according to a CNet Blog:

An Alabama jury took just one hour to convict a 20-year-old who had killed three police officers, and whose lawyers claimed that Grand Theft Auto made him do it, the Associated Press reports.

I’m sorry? I can’t believe that the lawyer even had the nerve to argue that a video game made his client kill police officers. Oh, wait, yes I can…

Anyway, the jury in Alabama evidentially saw straight through the sham of an explanation for the ills in this particular case, so I can only hope that equally sensible people see Mr. Thompson’s arguments in the same light.

“GTA made me do it…” Good grief.

todays fun thoughts on this matter.

I was reading a brilliant article over on the escapist and it had a rather worrying statistic.

since 1993 violent crime in teenagers has fallen 66%.

wait… fallen? surely that can’t be right. that’s like, just about when Doom came out isn’t it? why hasn’t it been increasing since then?

i mean though, that it’s a worrying fact. it’s worrying because i’d never heard it until yesterday. no one is looking at the numbers here. they’re looking at the occasional case where video games get blamed, and not seeing that right now, violence in teenagers isn’t an issue that they should be pursuing with any major force.

i mean, here’s a plan, why not find a problem that’s *growing* and try and work out what’s causing it and stop that. like the autism crisis. something like that.

by actually quoting statistics everyone could check themselves (unlike what Jack tends to do) I could argue (though I wouldn’t, because it’d be ‘Post hoc, ergo propter hoc’ from Sagan’s list) that video games are actually decreasing violence.

of course, the problem with that is, they aren’t going to put me on TV saying that, and I’m not going to win any potentially lucrative trials with such a belief.

seriously Jack, go after the pharmaceutical companies on the autism thing. at least then statistics would be on your side.

Plagiarize, that’s nothing…

http://jackthompsonowned.ytmnd.com/

I’m trying to find a screenshot of the sex scene in Killer7 that is “full-blown” in Jack Thompson’s and IGN’s words. I think he should at least see what he is accusing before trying to condemn it. Especially when all there is of the full-blown sex scene is a head moving across the screen.

miedo :

I don’t belive it will help in Sims 2 case Jack was told that they appear only Barbie & Ken like under the blur. But he still claimed that even the Ken and Barbie features should not be displayed.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/22/news_6129609.html?tag=lastword_pc_headline

http://www.stopjackthompson.com/

Actually sent the webmaster there this article, cause it is so well written. I love the last paragraph, it sums him up so perfectly. I can’t stop reading it lol.

“I’m trying to find a screenshot of the sex scene in Killer7 that is “full-blown” in Jack Thompson’s and IGN’s words. I think he should at least see what he is accusing before trying to condemn it. Especially when all there is of the full-blown sex scene is a head moving across the screen.”

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/639/639839p1.html

“Thompson’s campaign seems based solely on the description of Killer 7 in the IGN.com review — a description that is open to interpretation. In fact, Killer 7’s so-called “full-blown sex sequences” could appear tame when compared to those in some of today’s movies. The sexual scenes in question showcase a fully clothed wheelchair-bound man pleasuring a straddling woman, who is also fully clothed. Although she moans, indicating a sexual orgasm, neither nudity nor intercourse is illustrated in the cut-scene. The same scene in a movie today might warrant only a PG-13 or, worst, R-rating. Which raises another issue: are videogames and movies being judged by the same standards or is explicit content in software being scrutinized simply for being so drastically different from the days when Pac-Man reigned supreme?”

First he accueses the Sims of having sexual organs, which is false. Now he is accusing Killer 7 of having pornographic material, which is also false. He should quit while he is still (barely) ahead, before the industry hits him with a class action suit or they take him away in a streyjacket.

I was talking about Killer7, not Sims 2. If Thompson needed something to support his case in Sims 2, I would have sent him a naked Ken and Barbie doll taped together with duct tape. The duct tape represents the censors that you need to lift in order to see the happy areas.

Has anyone considered archiving the original emails from Jack, both from this site and others where he’s said similar stupid things, and save them so the next time he approaches Hillary, or whoever, they can just be forwarded to that person as evidence that Jack Thompson is completely out of his mind? Maybe the EFF or someone should start backing all of this info up. Because if it doesn’t get shown to the lawmakers who Jack goes off and rants to, they’ll never know that this has nothing to do with protecting children for Jack Thompson.

Well, at least you gave it your best shot to make him understand. You’re a good person.

I’ve read a number of articles on this Jack Thompson, and every single one ultimately comes back to the same conclusion: Jack Thompson is dumber then a b0×0rz O’ r0×0rz.

i wont quote statistics, they’ve already been quoted.

i wont quote Jacks replies to intelligent and legitimate emails, that’s already been done.

i wont email him myself, because i know ill get those kinds of responses.

what i will do is what i’m doing now: i will be a star in the sky. I will be a voice in the crowd. I will add my light, my voice, my support to the ever-growing crowd of gamers and non-gamers alike who believe that something should be done about Jack Thompson, be it a lawsuit, a trip to the room with padded walls, or a good roll of duct tape.

whatever ultimately happens, whoever out there has the bravery to take on a man who can sue you penniless because he has a loud voice and no proof, whoever can stand up to the man who’s trying to single handedly bring down our entire civilization, I will be there. I will be on the front lines shouting and fighting with all my heart and soul.

And when the dust has settled, I will lay a copy of San Andreas on Jack Thompsons tombstone.

Previously, Jack Thompson has E-mailed Hillary Clinton and other politicians along with responding to certain gamers. Does anyone know the addresses to send E-mails to these politicians? I just had a wonderful idea of a more active approach in dealing with this situation.

Okay, here’s my plan: I’ll e-mail him and pretend I am not a gamer, but a respecting parent, and I’ll try to voice our opinions across. If, and only if, he’s actually willing to listen to me, we might be able to make a difference. I apoligize on behalf of hare-brained media bigots like Jack, and hope that one day, people won’t have to go on quest like this, at least not without the knowledge of what to do. As soon as possible, I’ll respond back with the results. Before I go, I would like to make one simple request: join me in this dire mission. Together, we can change the face of our currupt government into what it needs to be: a nation that knows which problems to deal with at the right time, and how to deal with it.

If I reach an undesirable point in my struggle, I’d love to hear what Zoghade is planning to do.

Just occurred to me that I never actually said what my idea is .

I don’t think pretending to be something you’re not (assuming you’re not a parent…sorry if you are and my assumption is wrong) is the best approach. Instead, I’ve noticed that every E-mail correspondence with Jack Thompson has been aimed solely in his direction, whereas in many instances, he’s not only sending it to the person, but also some politicians. My thoughts? Send the link to this and other E-mail correspondences Jack Thompson has had with people online, put a short summary of the situation before it, and make sure that it’s obvious that the intended audience is not Jack Thompson, but rather the politicians he corresponds with. With the situation in its current state, we will get nowhere. Using the fine art of allegory, if a kid were taking drugs, the more sensible thing would be to alert the parent rather than confront the kid. To the kid, you’re just a stranger; he doesn’t have to answer to you. But to a parent, who gives him lodging, meals, etc, he’s dealing with someone he HAS to answer to. He can’t brush it off and act like the points don’t matter if it’s something that those in a higher position than him are asking him about.

And my example is not meant to make him out to be a child, it is simply a vague comparison to make it easier to assess the situation. I say this only to try and avoid misconceptions as to my intents.

What a douche =P BAN JACK THOMPSON!

He’s such a freaking moron. If gamer’s can score higher on an IQ test than MOST the nation can, I think that we are a force to be reckoned with. (6 points under Bill Gates here)

“Rockstar definately aren’t doing any favours to themselves (or the rest of the gaming community) by not coming completely clean about it in the first place.” ~ Cyrris

Of course they did themselves a favour. I think Rockstar left it in on purpose. They knew someone would discover it eventually and make it widely known. And even if it was a “stupid mistake”…. Look at the effect it has had!! The spotlight of everone has been placed on their newest game, GTA:SA. FREE PUBLICITY! I’ve been in gaming stores, and heard people buying the game “because it’s AO now”. No lie. AND NOW they are releasing ANOTHER version of SA which doesn’t have the minigame… Guess what? They already have everyone’s attention, and with this new “now okay” release, they are GARUNTEED sales.

The gentleman claims gamers have negligible intellectual capability. If only passing the Bar endowed one with a sense of IRONY.

A great article about mighty Jack.

http://gr.bolt.com/articles/jack/jack.htm

The author was nice enough to link to us again.

Lets see what mistakes Jack made this time. First of all he thinks that Senator Clinton got the videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas pulled from stores across the country, with his help. The fact is the ESRB rerated Hot Coffee after it turned out that the inappropriate content was on the disk. This was prompted by the controversy Jack and Clinton helped generate.

However, it was pulled from certain stores because they do not stock any game of an AO rating, which it now possessed. The stores pulled it because of policy that was in place before Jack Thompson did anything.

Jack completely fails to mention of course, that the game was pulled because of sexual content, that has nothing to do with the cop killing aspects of the game, nor that once the M rated version of the game without that sexual content is in production that the game will most likely return to the shelves of any stores that pulled it, cop killing intact.

Furthermore, bolt.com isn’t part of the videogame industry.

Removal of the icon at the creators request is an admission of nothing but manners. It doesn’t prove that they ‘knew’ it was inappropriate, and further more, the icon doesn’t even implicitly show the ‘death’ of Jack Thompson.

His rants on Bully still never having seen the game continue, as of course does his constant ego stroking. Me and Hillary clinton did this. I was on TV. Readers Digest wrote about me…

and the NYPD need to know that why?

As we all know and express kids buying mautre games is not somthing any person really wants. Somthing should be done to at least make people to listen to the true (if not sometimes streched) dangers that surrond those they live with and around. Yet what jack tompson is pushinf for seems more like a hatred against games, A topic that may not even intrest him makes a perfect debate to get noticed without getting a strong hate back at him for his plain stupidity and single mind paterns he seems so pleased to follow. Yet he tries his best to seem intelectual by ignoreing people’s opinions in what seems perfect to him, and when it becomes to mutch for him to read he uses what he thinks is his athority to threaten people with legal action.

sorry if my grammar is a little bad my keybord is a little sticky.

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2005-08-08

Sorry, it had to be said.

well a picture is worth a thousand words. A strip is wirth many more. and and to exprees ones self needs numbers of words as vast as the broadness of their mind

Folks, Jack is just trying to once again jump on the electorial bandwagon. I lived in Florida when all you could hear about was how bad 2 Live Crew was with Nasty As They Wanna Be, not something I would normaly buy myself but his whole temper tantrun backfired. That album went PLATINUM!!! All because of Jack. In reading about him and the things he says and does I see a spark of good intentions but he forgets something, the more you make out of something the more you make people want to see it for themselves. I am along time gamer and can remember when Tempest was the hottest thing about there so I can see where the idea of making sure children don’t get to play certain games can come from. I can also say that over the years I have, in one game or another, seen the slaughtering of MILLIONS of people, aliens, animals and other living things. Does this make me want to climb a clock tower? No. Why you ask? Because I can still hear my mother telling me a great age old lesson, “Now son, when you watch this please remember, this is not real, people don’t act that way. Monsters are only a figment of the mind and not real. Those people aren’t really dying, it’s all make belief”. Sounds like good advice to me. So Jack, take it from me when I say to you that you might have good intentions (doubtful, you are both a lawyer and politician after all) but you are taking the wrong road with it.

Man, I have to commend you for trying to talk to him, I really do. Honestly wouldn’t have been nearly half as nice as you were, and I hope that there is some light shed on this exchange of emails.

As much as I do agree with games not being sold to children who shouldn’t have them (say, a 15 year old with gta), theres a limit.

At any rate, if you ever get the chance I wouldn’t mind an intelligent conversation with you ^^. Email should have been included somewhere in there - made me put it, at any rate.

considering that jack seems to be threatening law suits against numerous websites that link back to this one, the lack of any threatening legal action against myself or this website leaves me wondering if i did something right, or for that matter wrong. just today’s random musings on the whole affair.

It means he’s a pansy who can’t take criticism when he shows fallacy in logical thought. If he doesn’t want to come across as ignorant, he shouldn’t present himself as such. And if he does somehow silence these sites for merely showcasing how he’s responded to people that are not trying to be hostile in the slightest, he reveals that my comparison of politicians and himself to adults and children, respectively, is more true than I could ever have possibly imagined.

He is going to encounter people that will not budge in telling the truth just because he’s throwing a temper tantrum and thinks he can get away with it through the misuse of the law.

Do I have training in law? No. But I know that the law is not set in place just so he can go on a jihad against a medium, and those who enjoy it, that he dislikes. It’s there for fair and equal decision-making.

The controversy of recent games, and Jack Thompson’s involvement in said issues, does NOT divert our attention from issues such as the lack of investigation on 9/11 or the U.S. elections, nor on the war in Iraq or the Patriot Act or any of Bush’s other more global and widespread actions. Some of us have time and energy to invest in multiple issues at once, and we won’t forget just how much is going on around us just because the media is in an uproar over some things with less meaning. For many, this is a valid issue to be addressed. But for some, this is a much-needed distraction other important affairs. Such tricks won’t always work (and to make sure there’s no confusion, I’m not trying to say anything bad about plagiarise or this article; I’m just making it as a statement).

i think i’m going to throw up… i thought this man was an attorney… but i’ve been taught not to make these logical fallacies since 11th grade…

that guy is so lame I have sent him emails before and this was the reply I got:

—————————————
It’s just that–an opinion. You gamers really need to grow brains.
—————————————

you’re right. i have better things to do than bother with gamers’ ideas, which is the latest oxymoron.

Well, he got my e-mail. People who hate me call me Oxymoron, but it has a capital O.