Jack Thompson, WTH?

Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:33 pm by Aravis

Jack Thompson will give $10,000 to charity if any videogame company makes and releases a game based on a scenario he created.

Miami, Florida Attorney Jack Thompson, a long-time outspoken critic of violent and sexually explicit videogames, has done something totally unexpected. Thompson today actually proposed a violent videogame, and will pay $10,000 to the favorite charity of Paul Eibeler (the Chairman of Take-Two Interactive) if any videogame company will "create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006" based on a scenario he created.

Thompson's proposal is titled A Modest Video Game Proposal and has been sent to members of the press and apparantly to Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA.

Here's Thompson's proposal (italics are his, not ours):

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule

This writer has been saying for seven years that violent video games can be "murder simulators" that incite as well as train some obsessive teen players to be violent.

I've been on 60 Minutes and in Reader's Digest this year explaining how an Alabama teen, with no criminal record, shot two policemen and a dispatcher in their heads and fled in a police car--a scenario he rehearsed for hundreds of hours on Take-Two/Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto video games.

I have sat with boys in jail cells, their lives over because of murder convictions, after they, with no history of violence, have killed innocents while in a dreamlike state. Said one cop who investigated such a murder in Grand Rapids, Michigan: "The killing was like an extension of the game."

The video game industry, through its lawyers, its spokesmen, and its head lobbyist, Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Entertainment Software Association, all say it is utter nonsense to suggest that what is dumped into a kid's head hour after hour, day after day, year after year, could possibly have behavioral consequences. Cigarette ads can persuade kids to smoke, but interactive simulators in which these same kids punch, hack, bludgeon, and maim affect not a wit their attitudes and behaviors, notwithstanding the findings of the American Psychological Association, published in August 2005.

The video game industry says Sticks and stones can break my bones, but games can never hurt me. Fine. I have a modest proposal for the video game industry. I'll write a check for $10,000 to the favorite charity of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc's chairman, Paul Eibeler - a man Bernard Goldberg ranks as #43 in his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America - if any video game company will create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006 like the following:

Osaki Kim is the father of a high school boy beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The killer obsessively played a violent video game in which one of the favored ways of killing is with a bat. The opening scene, before the interactive game play begins, is the Los Angeles courtroom in which the killer is sentenced "only" to life in prison after the judge and the jury have heard experts explain the connection between the game and the murder.

Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the video game industry whom he is convinced contributed to his son's murder. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" he says. And boy, is O.K. not kidding.

O.K. is provided in his virtual reality playpen a panoply of weapons: machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov ****tails, you name it. Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats.

O.K. first hops a plane from LAX to New York to reach the Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son's killer trained. O.K. gets "justice" by taking out this female CEO, whose name is Paula Eibel, along with her husband and kids. "An eye for an eye," says O.K., as he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal2.

O.K. then works his way, methodically back to LA by car, but on his way makes a stop at the Philadelphia law firm of Blank, Stare and goes floor by floor to wipe out the lawyers who protect Take This in its wrongful death law suits. "So sue me" O.K. spits, with singer Jackson Brown's 1980's hit Lawyers in Love blaring.

With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. "Game over," O.K. laughs.

Of course, O.K. makes the obligatory runs to virtual versions of brick and mortar retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart to steal supplies and bludgeon store managers and cash register clerks. "You should have checked kids' IDs!"

O.K. pushes on to Los Angeles. He must get there by May 10, 2006. That is the beginning of "E3" -- the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage.

How about it, video game industry? I've got the check and you've got the tech. It's all a fantasy, right? No harm can come from such a game, right? Go ahead, video game moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you.

Jack Thompson is a Miami lawyer who has for 18 years been involved in efforts to stop the marketing of adult entertainment to minors.

It is unlikely that Thompson's proposal will actually be turned into a game, as most videogame companies do not simply accept proposals from individuals. We'll keep you updated, however, as it is very likely that there will be some sort of response to Thompson's proposal from members of the videogame industry.

People like this make my blood boil. Most kids do not play a game and think " Wow, this is so cool let me go try it in real life". The few that do are the ones who's parents need to be teaching them. I am a 16 year old gamer and I've played every violent game under the sun, and last time I checked my kill tally is at 0. This situation boils down to the parents. THEY need to be teaching their kid right from wrong. THEY need to be monitoring what their kids play until the kid has a sense of reality. I'm hoping to get some feedback from everyone about this who is a gamer.

EDIT : Had to fix title.

Edited by - Aravis on 10/14/2005 9:33:39 PM

Fri Oct 14, 2005 11:14 pm by sycho warrior

Hmm...interesting.
My position on thistopic...yes,games can make kids kill, but only in about 1 out of 100 000 kids, if it is that many.
99.99% of gamers won't kill because of a game, but games get a bad name becuase of the other 0.01%... pah

Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:04 am by Mike G

Old article on the BBC (well, about 4 months old) that links violence to video games here

Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:13 am by The Evil Thing

Yes, I know all about this. He realises he's running out of steam. There have been no good murders lately so he's got to think of something.

Have a look at this

Still, a bit pointless, really. Why not have a game company give 10k to charity instead of spending millions building a game that no-one will want to be associated with.

Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:28 am by sycho warrior

And Dr Guy Cumberbatch, head of the independent Communications Research Group in the UK, said: "If the findings in this study were the same as when people responded to imaginary situations, why is it any different to seeing violence in films or at the theatre?

"The problem is, it's very much a witch-hunt in relation to video games."

He added: "The instinct to punch someone on the nose is pretty basic. I don't think it is influenced in any way by playing these games."

I think I like this guy...

Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:11 am by freighter fighter

i've been saying that for ages.

Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:17 am by Wizard

Sims 2 content "worse than Hot Coffee"
[UPDATE Miami attorney Jack Thompson claims cheat codes make EA's life sim a pedophile's paradise by showing genitalia; calls for ban on T-rated game.
[...
He cites a cheat code that can remove the blur that covers the nether regions. "The nudity placed there by the publisher/maker, Electronic Arts, is accessed by the use of a simple code that removes what is called 'the blur' which obscures the genital areas. In other words, the game was released to the public by the manufacturer knowing that the full frontal nudity was resident on the game and would be accessed by use of a simple code widely provided on the Internet."

It's not just the adults that are liberated from their wardrobes. Sims kids can also be nudified, "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse."

Were this to be true, Thompson would have his smoking gun, and EA would be forced to recall all copies of The Sims 2. However, it's what's under the blur that Thompson's after. And what happens when the blur is lifted? A simple mannequin-esque smooth body, according to EA.

I stopped taking Thompson seriously they day I was born.

How about this on Thompson?

Loss To Janet Reno
In 1988 Thompson was the unsuccessful GOP challenger to Janet Reno for the Office of Dade County State Attorney. Following this, as the "Man in Miami" for NewsMax.com, he made a series of bizarre allegations regarding Reno, met with incredulity in the press, claiming that she was a closet lesbian suffering from various mental disorders as side effects of Parkinson's medication, and that she was being blackmailed by the Mafia.

Sat Oct 15, 2005 2:29 am by sycho warrior

Maybe he found the cheat and it didn't work? He was probably disappointed when he couldn't view the kiddies without clothes.

Unfortunately...people will choose to believe his ideas and allegations about videogames causing violence pfft!

Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:12 am by Aceaz

Jack Thompson makes my brain hurt. The sheer idiocy of his actions seems, well, just plain stupid to me.

Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:16 am by Chips

Thompson never actually checked any of the Sims mods or others for their content, so I am firmly in the belief that he had no intention of going after EA at all. His intention was to hit headlines, and get his name out there.

Same with the above as well - he knows it costs a fortune to create games these days, and a games company is never going to create a game on a $10,000 incentive - it's far to small to make it worthwhile - especially if you then follow someone elses game script. He knows his money is as safe as houses - I am surpised he didn't up the anté a bit more actually.

This guy is just getting his name out there and known. The more famous a lawyer is, the more they can charge. High profile cases, or just a high profile - will ensure that he is the first person that the media will consult - simply because he is now such a "well known figure" in that area, and people will listen perhaps. In effect the guy is trying to create his position of being the man to talk to with regards to this type of item (lets face it, there will always be murderers who played games, and Jack Thompson will most likely comment in the media - or offer his "expert opinion" to the media every time. Makes money).

Edited by - Chips on 10/15/2005 4:18:23 AM

Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:48 am by Wilde

The problem with Jack Thompson is that he falls prey to the Fundamental Attribution Error all too easily. 'Boys are turned into murderers by video games!'

...he doesn't seem to understand, however, the sheer number of gamers who do not murder. Stastically the game cannot be the only factor in leading to the murders; it's physically impossible. And one cannot construct a sound argument from that. Furthermore, I would dare to assume that Thompson has never been in a fight of any kind. He does not have the direct experience to judge one's reaction to violence in simulated reality and one's reaction to violence in life. Most psychologists don't either.

Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:38 am by Arcon

i wouldnt worry about wacko jacko much longer:
NIMF distance themselves from thompson
Thompson gets shirty and starts burning bridges

muha!

-arc

Sat Oct 15, 2005 6:36 am by gromit

There is a really easy away around this...

Thompson said "based" on his idea. So all they have to do is create it word for word accurately. Simple solution - extend the game. But make the hero become a pitiful character obsessively encouraged by tv news reports showing Thompson condemning games writers as being the devil's spawn. Twist Thompson's opinion so that he becomes a fundamentalist leader in charge of a covert underground gang of terrorist-like, over-obsessed, right wing parents bent on destroying the game industry. As the story progresses, the antihero can realise that he's being twisted and manipulated by the extreme opinions of others and then turn on the very man that began it all - Thompson.

The game could conclude with a scene were the antihero stands over Thompson's crumpled body and realises that it was his own fault in the first place, because he should have talked to his kid more about the games he was playing.

I actually would do it myself if I had the funding

Edited by - gromit on 10/15/2005 7:39:04 AM

Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:27 am by Aravis

@Evil Thing : I go there everyday, thats where I heard about him, just decided to bring the topic over here.

@Aceaz : I like you sloganizer

One reason this ticks me off so badly is the parents who listen to him, then they look strangely at me whenever they see me playing postal. They'll edge away from me and usually take some of my friends with them, its not that my friends dont like me, its their freakin parents telling them to stay away from me. [sarcasmTHAT is what causes violence[/sarcasm. Doesn't this really boil down to the parents? Video game publishers are being blamed for "corrupting Americas youth" when all respectable game retailers won't sell M-rated games to minors without THEIR PARENTS THERE TO BUY IT . So their parents should be the ones talking to them and give them a sense of right and wrong. Video game publishers haven't done anything wrong. They made a game for adults to play and have fun with. Most parents will just buy the game for their kids if they ask you to and forget about ratings. Because the game retailers dont ask " Are you buying this game for your child?" God, I hate ignorant people.

________________________
Watch the head humpers Gordon!

Sat Oct 15, 2005 11:05 am by Wilde

It's not just parents. It's all mentors. A teacher has an obligation to pass on vital life skills to the students being taught; among them are basic concepts of morality!

This is a guy whose Halo trained Malvo to kill in D.C.

I find it funny that Thompson forgets Malvo's father was coincidentally a military-trained sniper with a blood-stained history of domestic abuse and violence.

Edited by - Wilde on 10/15/2005 12:07:06 PM

Important Message

You are browsing the archived Lancers Reactor forums. You cannot register or login.
The content may be outdated and links may not be functional.

To get the latest in Freelancer news, mods, modding and downloads, go to
The-Starport