Jack Thompson: a bit confused

[Vince Twelve]

EDIT: Jack calls this "Satire" and has cancelled his offer

Jack Thompson, in case you don't know, is a lawyer who has been pushing around money and laws in America because he has some personal vendetta against video games.  He riles up the government about violent and sexual imagery in games and proposes censorship and legal penalties.

Now, the nutter has proposed that the game industry publishes a game in which the main character is the father of a boy who was killed by another boy imitating his favorite video game.  The father then goes on a rampage across America, brutally murdering game executives of companies that make violent video games.

Jack claims that if a game company makes and sells a game that follows his proposal, he will donate 10,000 dollars to charity.

In his head, he is proving that the game companies know that gamers are influenced by the games they play and will act out the scenarios in real life.  He seems to believe that, the game companies will not make a game in which game execs are killed because gamers may act out the scenario in real life.

The fact is, game companies would never make a game like this because it would make a terrible game and no one would buy it. 

Regardless, Jack will claim that the fact that the game companies won't make the game proves his point that games make people more violent.

Here's the rub: Jack's proposal states challenges ANY game company to make this game, and reading his proposal, it's completely possible that one of us could make this game and sell it via cafePress or something, making a monkey out of Mr. Thompson.  Not to mention that simply making and offering to sell this game would get you instant media notoriety and probably a lot of novelty sales.

I believe that one could make this game to his specifications in AGS and, through the story, mock people who blame the easiest thing (video games) while ignoring the harder (but more likely to be valid) issues such as poor parenting, economic status, mental illness, etc.

Here's the full text of his ridiculous proposal that he mailed out to a number of game execs:

"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 cocktails, 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.

I don't personally have the time right now to work on such a project, but I want to challenge anyone in the community to make such a game, even if it completely sucks.  You can probably make a bit of money off of it as well!  Just an idea I wanted to throw out there.

[Nikolas]

You know, now that I think about it I believe that I'm a musician because of LOOM!

I never thought about it. God, I wish there were more games about doctors and lawyers. Then I would be one of them...

What a bunch of bullshit! If the money were going to the game maker and not a charity I would gladly make a game, and then take the money and find the best way to prove him wrong.

I just can't believe that people are so blind and are willing to put the blame on video games and Marilyn Manson and anything else, rather than poverty, poor education, goverment and whatever else.

Thanks Vince, this was... educational, really...

[esper]

I wonder if he realizes exactly how many people want to decapitate him and urinate on his brain stem??? That right there is PROOF against what he's saying... People don't kill people because it is learned behavior... They do it because people like him are asshats.

I would make the game, but this is no adventure game. He seems to want a clone of GTA3. I would do it simply to offset his cockmastery. However, here is the thing: he could VERY WELL BE SUED for what he said here. This is as close to a threat letter as the moron could possibly have written without saying "I myself am going to perform these actions directly to the people parodied in the description of this game." He even used Paul eibel's real name, with an "a" added on to it. I say, rather than make this game, we attach incendiary devices to this man's hair and laugh.

Okay, do you see what I'm talking about? I DON'T play violent games... I tend to play more intellectually stimulating games. However, I would like to murder this man in horrible ways. Does this not prove that he's a fool? Just the very thought that he was able to think up what he thought up there is proof positive that he, along with ANYONE, is capable of the worst kind of offenses. People don't play violent video games and become violent. Violent people play video games as a way to release their violence without doing something that would lead to life imprisonment or the death sentence. People, as a whole, suck. That is why they do things that suck. And that is why game companies make such games... They are pandering to the suckage of people. If everyone liked to bounce around and eat mushrooms then every game would be like Super Mario brothers.

I'm a writer. I have had to rewrite my precious novels a billion times because, although I told the story I wanted told, it was not a story that people would pay money to read. Likewise, no one would pay 50 bucks a game if every single game was about chasing butterflies and playing hopscotch. I have a challenge for Captain Jackassery: Make a game the way you think gaes should me made, and sell half as many copies as GTA has sold... No... a quarter... Even a TENTH!!! It could not be done.



Fool.

[PsychicHeart]

Jack Thompson does not realise how many people play GTA etc. for the sole fun of doing something many players would never do, like holding up a Hardware store titled "Screw This", or driving an RC Red Baron, or obtaining a jetpack. I play GTA, i don't feel like going through a Police Station and torching everyone and anyone in there. Do you?
I play Leisure Suit Larry, and i don't-- err, anyway, the point is, some games are violent, yes, but gaming companies aren't evil monopolistic monsters. Well, they're monopolistic, but what company isn't? If Thompson's game is made, then doesn't he realise there is just as much chance that players may start killing game companies in real life?

[Paper Carnival]

From http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com

[Nikolas]

You know being a gamer is just fine.

I'm one. I hope my son will be one, seriously.

But sometimes I don't think of the monsters behind the gaming industry as well as the music industry as well as the IT industry etc... I do wish that independent games and independent music through the net probably will flourish and sent this big ashes to hell.

Which reminds me that thank god, here at AGS and at other places we make games for free and distribute them for free again so we don't need Vivendi or any of the fuckers.

I wish though that life was just so simple. I wish that I could give away my music, or make music lessons for free, but then how am I going to live?

More precisesly on the topic. I do feel that not everything that Jack says is wrong. Tim Buckleys' comic, although of high quality, seems a bit simplistic...

Anyway off I go once again, (to come back in a while...)

What a stupid thing I did...

[esper]

I agree. While I applaud Guybrush for the post, the comic does lack logical argument. It seems to me that Jack Thompson is saying "The sky is red," but Tim Buckley is saying "No, it's blue, because I think you're wrong." While the former is still an asshat and the latter is still right, the latter is only right because he is, not because of any spectacular argument.

Fluke: you do realize that the last sentence of your post is not in favor of what we're talking about here, right? I think you meant to say, "People are as likely to do it whether or not the game is made."

Actually, I believe if there were no violent video games, there would be more violence in real life. People who play video games and find release from their violent urges would have no outlet for their ire, and very well may run around town pulling a GTA. I know, when I was in high school, there was this club we used to hang out at. One night, the cops showed up there before me and my friends arrived.

"Blimey, esp," says my pal Steve (yes, I go by esper in real life, too... And Steve is British) "I just had a hell of an idea. Let's swipe the pig's ride and take it across the bridge."

"That's ignorant," I said, "we'd never make it."

"The bridge is right there, out of state. They'd never be able to get us before we were out of their jurisdiction."

"The stateys would be on us like flies on shite."

He attempted to persuade me diligently to enact his plan with him. In the end, we went to my place and played GTA2. Thus, the urge was settled, and the po-po's maintained their cruiser without incident. Thus too was proven that violent and criminally-inspired games are actually more beneficial than... ummm... malefactoral...

[modgeulator]

Are there any plans out there amonst amateur groups to make this game yet? I think it could potentially make a hilarious point and click style adventure game. There are a few ammedments I would make to his plot though.
When O.K. leaves the courtroom he would be picked up in a private limo and taken to the evil underground fortress of Dr. Thompson. Here Dr. Thompson would brainwash and train O.K. to become his personal soldier.
O.K. would be unleashed on the world to commit his mass murder spree, the whole time under the command and guidance of Dr Thompson.
I could just see the whole thing being done with ripped graphics from the GTA games with puzzle and dialog based adventure game gameplay. Chock full of sick humour and jokes. It would be the game exactly as outlined by Jack, but with a very different feel to what I'd imagine he was invisioning.

Create, manufacture and distribute? He didn't say how many copies did he? hehe

[Nikolas]

You know, you're right! Let's make the next One week One Room, or the next MAGS competition about this. Let's ridicule this guy the best way we know. And while we're at it let's ridicule and all the copyright, music, game, blah blah industries.

That would be fun, having 10+ games under the same subject, distributed free over the internet...

[esper]

I would almost tend to agree with Nik, but... but...

::burning with fury::

listen, before I wind up chucking a haduken the size of antarctica, or summoning a lv. 50 Greater Horror, or driving my car into a police station and stealing a cop car and then running vigilante missions in it, or one of the multitudinous other things I could only do in a video game, let me just say:

Let's ruin this cunt.

Someone make the game. I am good friends with the manager of my local game store, and he has sold some of my books in his store from time to time. If someone were to make this game (create), send it to me and I'll burn it (manufacture) and give it to my friend at the store (distribute). Under those conditions, he would have to pay up. He NEVER said how long the game had to be, how good the graphics had to be, or the size (or independence) of the company that was to produce it. He never said MASS distribute, and he never said MAINSTREAM game company... We could do this, and screw that bastard. Someone call the guy that made "Earwig is angry" and get him on staff

Seriously...

And I'm sure a lot of you people know store managers, etc... that would eat this up. As a matter of fact, this is the type of thing that becomes a web phenomenon. Someone make a web site, and we could sell it from there...

Jack Thompson could, very well, become our beeyotch.

[modgeulator]

I don't think a $10,000 tax deductable donation to charity is really going to ruin him unfortunately. If anybody wants to do this do it because it's funny and because making fun of tyrants is the best revenge, really. He isn't worth the energy expended on hating him, just laugh at him.

[Nikolas]

When you consider that here in AGS we have games that have been download 20000 times (!). Aprrentice for example. Imagine what would this do to his reputation.

Imagine a worthy try from most people in here, to try to distribute this game as best as they can. Imagine having a game that has been distributed a lot of time. It's not about money. Sarcasm is so much better than a financial attack.

And even though I find Moore, very low, I think that he's hitting Bush where it hurts. And that ain't money. Same here with Jack then!

[modgeulator]

So who's keen to have a crack at it? I'd be willing to contribute story/puzzle ideas, programming, music and sound fx.

[esper]

AMEN! That's the whole deal. It isn't hating HIM, it's hating the type of ignorance he stands for. It isn't the payout, it's making him HAVE to pay out. It might not ruin him financially, but...

I'm totally in. I'll do whatever's needed. Matter of fact, I'll even contact Paul Eido-whatever-his-name-is and tell him our intentions. He might even make AGS the charity in question, if it goes through!!! (wishful thinking).

Besides, think of the fame that might incur on our ends. His negative notoriety would become our positive notoriety. It's totally worth it.

[modgeulator]

Something I just noticed: he never explicitly states that the player controls O.K.
O.K's murderous rampage can be depicted entirely in cutscenes, while the game itself could focus upon something else - for ex. how about some gamers who want to go to E3? They could have various run-ins with O.K. on their little quest to get passes.

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

How about in the end the man who was brutally murdering game execs realizes that the boy who killed his kid was a demented freak who went insane because his father brutally beat him whenever he played a video game?  Just a thought 

I say a man on a giant pink elephant rides in and kills him similarly to many of those sierra game deaths, with one of those text boxes telling how he died that pops up after.

You know, murdering video game execs isn't at all better than killing a person.  He should be shot by the police the second he tries to kill an exec.

[esper]

modge: true, but that kind of denies the point. I like your idea better, but unless the player actually is controlling the murderous rampage, it makes Jackie-Boy's argument of little to no effect, which most likely calls all bets off. He wants the point to be that if the player controls a character rampageantly destroying video game execs that they will do it in real life. If we don't deliver that, then we aren't fulfilling our part of the bargain, and he would therefore have no obligation to fulfill his.

Nip: first idea is brilliant, and the second would be hilarious, but a bit out of place...but as for the third: he can't get laid waste like that because it would not fulfill Jack's "Game Design Document..."

And for everyone else: seriously!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!11!!

The only reason things like this don't get done is because no one takes the gumption and does it. This could very well put AGS, adventure games, and our community on the map. We could r0x0r people's s0x0rz. Think of it as Star Wars Kid, on a bigger scale. Instead of a bunch of punk kids stealing a video of a fat loser dancing an Irish/Jedi jig with a mop handle and posting it on the internet, we're effectively taking the stupidity of "The Man" and laying it bare for all to see. This isn't some fat Canadian. It's the Man. THE Man. C'mon, people.... add your strength to the hand that felled an imbecilic giant.

[Andail]

Making the game sounds fine to me, but do we need another violent-games-versus-violent-behaviour discussion? We had one not long ago.
I for one think it's ridiculous to blame computer games for all bad things that happen in society, but do I think they're completely harmless?
Nah, not really, together with violent movies and books etc they add to some sort of general  level of violence and bad energy that surrounds us daily. It won't affect the majority of people, prolly just a fraction, but it sure as hell will affect somebody.

Having said that, I'd love to see a game ridiculing that prick Thompson, who clearly hasn't got the big picture.

[jetxl]

We had to think up a controversial topic for our presentation. I suggested Violence in computer games. The other guys didn't want that topic because it's a "non-discussion". Everbody knows that violence and games are as related as violence and religion.
So we chose Higher tax for SUV's instead.

[Pet Terry]

When I saw the whole thing about anyone being able to make the game I instantly thought about a silly joke game a la DGMacPhee.