Jack Thompson

[fishamaphone]

You heard any of the latest stuff? This is the attorney based out of Miami, FL who has a vendetta against the video game industry. His latest stunt was a "modest proposal" wherein someone should develop a game where the protagonist runs a vengeance-driven rampage against the video game industry that bred the boys who killed his son. He includes graphic descriptions of aspects this game should include that would probably push Dan's PG rating. In the end, he says that if someone produces this game, he will donate $10K to their favorite charity.

Well, someone made the game, and now he's backing down, saying it was all satire, including the $10K offer.

Now, I honestly empathize with this guy a little here... but I just love the atmosphere he's created. The sheer energy with which the gaming community (particularly Penny Arcade) has responded is just so uplifting. The idea that people still have this kind of passion in them, and that it's actually having an affect on society.

I'm a little blown away at the moment.

[edcool1]

Pfft this happened like yesterday. Where have you been? This is old news.

[ma-kun]

i loved the fact that Penny arcade bitch slapped jack by donating the money he wouldnt donate "in his name"

[fishamaphone]

Pfft this happened like yesterday. Where have you been? This is old news.

A) I'm 7 hours off, time-zone wise. I get everything a li'l late.

B) I'm more reacting to the reaction. I think it's amazing. Jack Thompson might just be the best thing that's happened to video games... he's getting the Microsoft fanboys, the Sony fanboys, and the Nintendo fanboys all on the same page. Hell, even the PC fanboys... ESPECIALLY the PC fanboys, when you think about games like Soldier of Fortune. Our generation can do amazing things if we put our minds to it, and it's really starting to impress me.

[Maelstrom]

It's an old topic, but I'll give it a whirl.

Essentially, video games are just one kind of media. Media includes a countless list of other material including books, movies, and TV. There is very little that separates any of these four from each other. They all have the potential to be graphic, interactive (this can be difficult, but it is possible), or educational. Video games are not fundamentally different from books, movies, and TV; it is just that they are more effective in presenting certain material and features, and they are less effective in certain respects.

Books, movies, TV, and video games are all subject to regulation for the "maturity" of the material (although pornography is just about the only way a reasonable book can hope/expect to be regulated).

So I guess if we are going to ban video games, let's ban movies and TV (the latter of which is quite ironic) and books. It's Fahrenheit 451 come true.

We all realize his stupidity, but I wanted to put a new spin on it.

And that is all you need to know about Jack Thompson, besides the fact that he's just tooling the media to push his book, and he doesn't care how absurd he has to act as long as he pads his wallet.