The Jack Thompson Crusade

[AThousandLies]

Well I've been doing a little bit of reading, and an attorney known as Jack Thompson came up. He's (unsurprisingly) a conservative who violently opposes video games and threatens pretty much everyone with a lawsuit. He attemped to sue Take-Two Interactive for the actions of an 18-year old who killed three policeman. He made a claim that scientific study shows that people who play video games are more likely to kill (yeah right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhoo, a lot more information can be found here. I was wondering what everyone else thought of this guy and his actions?

[bloodkilla87]

He's a [developmentally delayed](nice word sensor :roll:) for blaming a company for someone killing those 2 policemen. I was reading an article in this gaming magazine, it said, how can people blame game companies for kids killing people, but dont blame gun manufacters for using their item for its purpose.

[knives669]

Jack Thompson is a n00b and can crusade all he wants to. There are millions of gamers and one Jack Thompson.

[Mr_Putter]

He has shares in Take-Two...And he's been on his little crusade for so long, and he attacks games (i.e. The Sims) without actually looking into what he's saying, so his allies are slowly distancing themselves from him...Soon enough he'll just be the next crazy cook yelling on a street corner about the evils of video games...Oh wait, that's pretty much already happened.

[stevester77]

Well there are studies out there that say that video games make kids more violent, so i'll give him that. But actually suing the company that makes one of these games for a murder.. please, thats a bit overboard. Instead, I think its the parents fault for letting that into the house and not raising their kids properly. :?

[bloodkilla87]

He has shares in Take-Two...

 

 

 

Oh ya, i remember reading that on 1up, he bought a share so he could get into meetings. :roll:

[yummy_kids]

well it is true that video games raise aggresion. but i really find it hard to belive that video games have caused any muderds that were not going to happen in the start. i think crimes have been stopped from kids wackin off to the girls in games instead of orced sex, staying home playing games instead of getting in fights and maybe leading to murders, and other things

[Mr_Putter]

Personally, I think video games make less murders...People will say "I think I'll go kill Billy"...but their brains and bodies are so wasted from video games that by the time they get to their gun case, they have forgotten what they set out to do, and are already too tired to walk any more...So they just go back to playing some kind of video game...It's easier. Concluding, video games stop crime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My arguement is roughly as valid as Mr. Thompson's.

[AThousandLies]

Well there are studies out there that say that video games make kids more violent, so i'll give him that. But actually suing the company that makes one of these games for a murder.. please, thats a bit overboard. Instead, I think its the parents fault for letting that into the house and not raising their kids properly. :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to see the credentials for those involved in the study, and all factual evidence that led them to this conclusion.

[Mr_Putter]

 

Well there are studies out there that say that video games make kids more violent, so i'll give him that. But actually suing the company that makes one of these games for a murder.. please, thats a bit overboard. Instead, I think its the parents fault for letting that into the house and not raising their kids properly. :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to see the credentials for those involved in the study, and all factual evidence that led them to this conclusion.

Yea, I would also like to see this mystery study.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://gr.bolt.com/oldsite/articles/violence/violence.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's one saying the complete opposite...Here's a quote that pretty much sum's up the whole article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the according to the FBI, the murder rate hit a new 40 year low in 2004. The best selling video game of 2004? Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(You should still read the whole thing, it's well backed up, and has a lot of interesting evidence).

[AThousandLies]

Oh yeah ... and on the topic of studies that show video game vioence does not affect the rate of murder/crime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://gr.bolt.com/oldsite/articles/vio ... olence.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the info for that in my english presentation. It worked.

[dempeople15]

Jack Thompson has nothing to do with his life and makes empty threats. He even blamed 9/11 on Microsoft, saying that it was

their fault they made a software where terrorists can fly 747's into buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also blamed any future assasinations on a very well known game that he says teaches the general public how to use lethal weaponry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The game? Halo 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:roll:

[Legolover64]

Well I've been doing a little bit of reading, and an attorney known as Jack Thompson came up. He's (unsurprisingly) a conservative who violently opposes video games and threatens pretty much everyone with a lawsuit. He attemped to sue Take-Two Interactive for the actions of an 18-year old who killed three policeman. He made a claim that scientific study shows that people who play video games are more likely to kill (yeah right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhoo, a lot more information can be found here. I was wondering what everyone else thought of this guy and his actions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good god.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spit out your Kool-Aid, close moveon.org and stop listening to Green Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't blindly insult Conservatives, I thought you were better than that...

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Anyways, political views aside, I think that this Thompson guy has some stuff right. All the Columbine shooters were BIG Doom fanatics, so that's obviously a factor. Grand Theft Auto is not doing anything positive for you, and you have to admit it. It's making you think of violence as something less, something you've seen. It will make you more likely to kill, because we are all human, and judging by your blatant attack on another political party (lemme guess, your parents are also liberals?) it's obvious that you can be altered and molded by what's around you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video games are part of it, they're not all of it, but they're a big part of it whether you like it or not.

[Barihawk]

Do not call Jack Thompson a Conservative, since that insults Conservatives everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The man is horrible, he promised to give $10,000 to charity if someone made a game where you hunt down and kill video game executives and Gamestop workers, urinate on thier bodies, and hunt down and kill the family of Paula Eibner (the owner of Take Two Studios, who published GTA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group of GTA modders made the game, and demanded the $10,000. Jack Thompson went forth to say that his proposal was merely a "satirical farce".

 

 

 

Tell that to the orphans, Jack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The owners of Penny Arcade then wrote a check in Jack's name to a charity organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My views on violent video games are simple. I dislike games like GTA and 25 to Life...but this guy is insane. His methods are attrocious and he has lost support from various conservative and Christian organizations like Focus on the Family.

[Hannibal]

Good god.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spit out your Kool-Aid, close moveon.org and stop listening to Green Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't blindly insult Conservatives, I thought you were better than that...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where does he do that? And wasn't that second line filled with pointless insinuations and insults? You want him to stop, but in order to do so you return the favour?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, political views aside, I think that this Thompson guy has some stuff right. All the Columbine shooters were BIG Doom fanatics, so that's obviously a factor.

 

 

 

They probably ate either bread or cornflakes for their breakfast every morning, so that's obviously a factor! And did I tell you all those highschool killers played baseball too!

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

Just because people do A and then B doesn't mean A causes B. That's a silly thing to assume, especially since they're greatly outnumbered by the people who did A and never B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Theft Auto is not doing anything positive for you, and you have to admit it.

 

 

 

Wait a second... aren't computer games supposed to be fun? That's positive in my book...

 

 

 

Also, telling me I have to 'admit' to everything you say is kind of making me sick. I'm able to make my own decisions, you know, unlike what you insinuated about AThousandLies (again totally unfounded) a few lines below. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, first things first...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's making you think of violence as something less, something you've seen.

 

 

 

I've also been to funerals, does that make me see death as something less? You're using an entirely unfounded claim here to support a point that's simply disproven by reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It will make you more likely to kill, because we are all human, and judging by your blatant attack on another political party (lemme guess, your parents are also liberals?) it's obvious that you can be altered and molded by what's around you.

 

 

 

Way to go on the pointless insinuations and irrelevant insults! You're basically telling him here that he doesn't know what he's talking about and that he's just copying his parents. Let's, just for the moment, speculate and try to imagine what it would mean if this claim were true. So. His parents influence his political views. They might also influence his religious views, and his ideas of morality. That does NOT mean he's not able to make his own decisions. It's also totally wrong to compare the effects of being around several human beings all day to the effects of playing computer games several hours a day. Computer games don't talk, they can't argue with you, they're not intelligent, and you don't love them like you can love a person and your parents. Point being, your analogy here is just totally wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video games are part of it, they're not all of it, but they're a big part of it whether you like it or not.

 

 

 

I'll believe you once you provide some good arguments.

[Necromagus]

Those of you that have anything to do with videogames might have heard about Florida lawyer Jack Thompson, who has made it his personal goal to rid the world of the evil of videogames, armed with a plethora of lawsuits and personal attacks and with Take Two Interactive as his main target. In his latest attempt to get his name in the headlines, he has plagiarized Jonathan Swift by promising to donate $10.000 to a charity that can be chosen by anyone who will take his own idea for a videogame and produce it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's his idea you ask? Simple. You play an angry father whose son has been brutally murdered by a kid, because that kid played a violent videogame produced by the 'fictional' software company Take This Interactive. Now, you must seek retribution by going on a killing spree, because according to mr. Thompson, that is what videogames are all about. However, now that the game has actually been made, big surprise, Thompson withdraws his offer, claiming it was all just meant as "satire."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, in these online days, such blatant stupidity rarely goes unchallenged. Both Control-Alt-Delete and Penny Arcade have unleashed their craft upon mr. Thompson, which has resulted, surprisingly, in a fistful of threats and harassment lawsuits. In stead of causing them to back down however, it seems that the online gaming comunity is now unified against a common enemy. The Florida Bar Association has been flooded with letters and faxes regarding Jack Thompson, all of which have been forwarded to their disciplinary comittee, which might have been harmless if it wasn't for the fact that he had already earned himself an official warning in 1998. Also, the man's most important ally, the National Institute of Media and the Family, has officially distanced themselves from him. His response? Threats of lawsuits and personal attacks, what a surprise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As target of such extensive ridicule and with his support crumbling on all sides, how long does Jack Thompson think he can carry on his private cruisade?

[d-von]

someone here said once a sentence like "when rules fade u see a true person"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and when i play a game there are no rules so then im a killer yes... but not in real life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

im not going to beat someone with a baseball bat, grab his money and say "gheej thats really kind" :roll: :roll: :roll: its fun to pretend and thats what videogames are for :wink:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is my opinion... maybe thompson has some problems with the diffirence of real life and video games himself :roll:

[Rizla]

What i find funny is that in most cases where you have someone who blames the actions of a child on a video game, the game in question is usually meant to be sold to people who are older than the child they're talking about.

 

 

 

Parents buy their kids these games then look to blame something else when they react to them, it's pathetic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That being said, i'm a firm believer that video games, films, or any other material that is seen to "promote violence" will not have any negative effect on a normal person. The sort of people you read about who go out and hack up their friends after playing Doom are screwed in the head to begin with - the game/film was merely a trigger for this behaviour. If it wasn't the game or the film, it might have been something they saw on the news, something they heard at school, something they saw in the street.

[Chaosbringer]

I agreed entirely with you Rizla, if a person is going to go and commit the heinous acts, they would have done it anyway. They just use Video games as an excuse for an insanity plea. :?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Thompson, I don't have any problem with him, sure let him try, he has no grounds to base his arguments on? Why should anyone care, he can try and bring down gaming companies, try and start lawsuits against them, try and do whatever. Because in the end, he won't succeed so why should we pay attention to him? He'll get sick of it eventually.

[Mr_Putter]

http://gr.bolt.com/oldsite/articles/violence/violence.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 Minutes Later. The next post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah ... and on the topic of studies that show video game vioence does not affect the rate of murder/crime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://gr.bolt.com/oldsite/articles/vio ... olence.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's as if I don't even exist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, political views aside, I think that this Thompson guy has some stuff right. All the Columbine shooters were BIG Doom fanatics, so that's obviously a factor. Grand Theft Auto is not doing anything positive for you, and you have to admit it. It's making you think of violence as something less, something you've seen. It will make you more likely to kill, because we are all human, and judging by your blatant attack on another political party (lemme guess, your parents are also liberals?) it's obvious that you can be altered and molded by what's around you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video games are part of it, they're not all of it, but they're a big part of it whether you like it or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hmmm. I bet the Columbine shooters also enjoyed Coca Cola. By your logic, Coca Cola makes people shoot up their school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How is the fact that them being big Doom fans make them wish to shoot up the place?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a HUGE GTA Fan, and I've never shot up my school...In fact, I've never killed anyone, jacked a car, or initiated a gang war. But apparently since I'm a GTA fan, I will very soon.

[Greatsilverwyrm]

Hannibal, Putter, sorry, your satirical analogies are completely false, and don't help support your argument.

 

 

 

Of course corn flakes and coca-cola won't make you want to shoot-up your school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legolover is right, to be honest.. or at least kind of. Violent videogames do put those kinds of violent thoughts into your head, they do. Unless you're going around GTA saying "Wee! Feed the kitties milk!" as you bash their head in with a baseball bat. Maybe you do, I dunno, but prolly not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the real distinction is that sane people don't act on those thoughts. Or at least don't act on them anywhere where it would actually matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes I think video games do slightly contribute to the problem, but the fact that the people who do this stuff are batsh*t f'ing-loco to begin with is 99% of the problem.

[Legolover64]

Corn flakes, baseball and Coca Cola don't incite violence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLAYING it, however, does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you watch, in 1080p HD graphics, yourself beat someone to death, you're going to be more violent. You're doing it, that makes you violent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does that mean that when I sit down and play Unreal Tournament on "Ultra-Low" gore mode that I'm being influenced? Of course I am! It's just that the abundant level of gore and blood in newer games is stupid and un-needed.

[Faux]

I've never been to a violent funeral before.

[Lionheart_0]

I have never done a violent act because of video games, and ive played them since i was little, and nothing (except a few violent outbreaks due to anger CAUSED BY ANOTHER PERSON). I watched saving private Ryan at like 9, i saw death. And as said, i thougth less of it. Less of death, more of life. I now value life more because all of the violent things i have been exposed to. How can you say this is hurting me?

[vladmoney]

ANyone capable of murder is already messed up, I don't believe video games themselves can make somone a murderer. I do agree that it makes kids more violent, but so do a million other things. ie movies, sports (u know some sports do), wrestling shows, toys, etc. Some kids can handle this stuff, some can't, it is up to the parent to decide how their kids will react. IMO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This dude is probably trying to get rich quick or something by sueing the video game companies. He is cookoo.