Jack Thompson is at it again

[Samwise]

Crazed attorney offers 10 grand to charity if someone will make a violent video game for him.

Unfortunately, his game "idea" is sufficiently shitty that it'd cost more money than it's worth to make him the game and shut him up.

[Samprimary]

This man sure likes making friends on the internet, doesn't he.

[Mesozoic]

How about it, video game industry? I've got the check and you've got the tech.

Yeah, you've got a $10,000 check, congrats.  Does he think this is a lot of money?

The obvious answer here is to make a game based on his idea, fill it with snuff, gay sex, and racially-motivated killings, then put it on the shelf with the sub-title "From the Mind of Jack Thompson"

[schild]

The obvious answer here is to make a game based on his idea, fill it with snuff, gay sex, and racially-motivated killings, then put it on the shelf with the sub-title "From the Mind of Jack Thompson and the ass of Serek Dmart"

I agree.

[Ironwood]

Apparently after an E-mail from Gabe, he phoned them and got angry.

I have an honest question :  If these games turn us all into one-shot pyschopaths, how come no-one's nailed him with the railgun yet ?

Hmmm....

[schild]

Apparently after an E-mail from Gabe, he phoned them and got angry.

I have an honest question :  If these games turn us all into one-shot pyschopaths, how come no-one's nailed him with the railgun yet ?

Hmmm....

My question is what the fuck was he playing that made him so angry. My only guess is "the incest game."

[Ironwood]

It's fun for all the family.

[Pococurante]

If'ns she ain't good enuf fer her own she ain't good enuf fer us.

Sorry, old joke where I'm from. :P

[Samwise]

The obvious answer here is to make a game based on his idea, fill it with snuff, gay sex, and racially-motivated killings, then put it on the shelf with the sub-title "From the Mind of Jack Thompson"

My thought was to have a little Jack Thompson avatar floating around that tells you what to do next, like the bad conscience in Black and White, or like Starkweather's voice in Manhunt.  And in between giving you instructions he sodomizes children.

I'm really more than a little tempted to make this a Half-Life 2 mod.

[Merusk]

If'ns she ain't good enuf fer her own she ain't good enuf fer us.

Sorry, old joke where I'm from. :P

I know that joke!  It's law 'round these parts.

[Evangolis]

Once again we see that everybody thinks he can design videogames.  How hard can that be?

[Llava]

I searched around the web just a bit to find his personal email.  Unfortunately, the link is apparently outdated or has been spammed so much since the link from Penny Arcade that it's been deactivated.  Still, I sent him something.

I don't think most people here will agree with my sentiment in its entirety.  Understand, first, that I do not believe this site to be representative of the "average gamer" these days, and I'm sure you'd all agree.  So try not to take it personally when I talk about gamers- I don't mean you, I mean the proverbial "them" and, to be honest, "me".

I've also had the discussion about responsible use of content in games before, and I'm sorry but I just cannot see any reasonable defense for being able to run around, dildo in hand, beating hookers to death- with the exception that it, of course, should not be illegal to put this in a game.  But it's a question of taste.  I find myself rolling my eyes when I think of the mindset that decided to include that in a game, and I find myself with a feeling of profound disappointment when I think of how popular that game was precisely because of content like that.  Then I find myself self-doubting, because I have chosen to associate myself with that very crowd.  But I digress.

I just wanted to let you all know where I stand on this, and say that I'm not trying to provoke a debate here.  But, as this site is largely a giant collection of editorials, I thought I'd put my drop in the bucket.

For what it's worth, the address I found was jackpeace@comcast.net

Short Version:

You're a douche and you're not helping.

Mr. Thompson,

I'm not sure I understand your proposal.

Why would a game company spend millions of dollars developing and distributing a game that will be a failure so that a mere ten grand would be given to a charity?  Would it not save them a great deal of work and money to simply donate two million dollars of their own money to this charity?

I say your game would be a failure because the story you offer is linear in the extreme and uninteresting, you've proposed no actual gameplay at all, and the amount of adult material you include would bar it from most retail venues.

You know, it's funny.  I do think developers should be responsible with the games they create.  I think Grand Theft Auto is an irresponsible game and is causing damage to the game industry.  Individuals like you (one might call you a "wacko" if one were so inclined) are making it harder for me to make that point.  I think that by catering to such low-brow urges, such as running around with a chainsaw attacking whoever happens by, the industry is short-sighted and marginalizes itself as forever outside the mainstream.  But everyone who matters has become so reactionary due to insults like yours that they feel I'm making a personal attack on them- as you have.  It's unfortunate, you've really done a great deal of damage to the group who is reasonably suggesting an actual improvement in the quality and content of games.  So thanks for that.  Enjoy your bloody mess, it's not going away if all you can do is hurl out insults and treat the people you're trying to sway like monsters.  Last I heard, the only group that worked for was the Inquisition- and they also used thumbscrews.

There's something you don't understand.  Sure, the people in the game industry like making money.  Everyone does.  But they're in the game industry because they love what they do.  They love games.  And guess what- most of them have spent their entire lives being hounded by one rabid asshole or another, so what you're doing isn't helping things at all.  All you're doing is reinforcing old behavior.  You think that by humiliating them, by trying to force them outside the mainstream, you'll do any damage?  These people THRIVE outside the mainstream.  I know, I'm one of them.  Want to know why they make violent games?  Because of people like you.  When you spend your entire life being mocked, demonized, and held outside of the mainstream it's only natural to find your mind wandering and sometimes indulging in revenge fantasies.  So they become adults with these issues, and make these games as a catharsis and sell them to kids in the same position who play them as a catharsis.  So, again, thanks for that.  You're really helping.

I was really looking forward to the day that I can look on a games shelf and see some actually valuable intellectual material, but I guess you've decided that's not happening.

Sincerely,

Gregg Dolberg

P.S.  Do feel free to threaten me now.

[schild]

Typo in there.

[Llava]

Probably.  I didn't review it too much, I knew that in the event he even opened the mail he'd read the first couple sentences and, best case scenario, write something vicious back.  The catharsis was in writing it.  Still.  What's the typo?

[schild]

Sure, the people in the game industry like making money.

It's probably unnoticeable to most. But the correct usage in this sentence is "gaming industry."

Sure, people in the gaming industry like making money. Or:

Sure, the people in the video game industry like making money (Videogaming, video games, and electronic entertainment were/are also acceptable).

Ideally:

Sure, folks in the gaming industry enjoy making money as much as your parasitic bitch-ass.

[Samwise]

Did you try to email him from a gmail or other free mail account?  I was able to email him from a gmail account once and got the "not a subscriber" bounce thereafter, but I've heard anecdotal evidence of him being contactable, so maybe he just blocked the gmail domain.

[Ironwood]

A good letter.

A total waste to send it to such a useless cocksucker.

[Samwise]

I keep hoping that someday a mainstream newspaper will do an article on Jack Thompson's complete douchery.  You know, publish one of the reasonable letters that people send him along with his typical "I PK JOO" response.  Every time I see Thompson in print anywhere other than a gaming site, they omit mention that he's a raving lunatic.

[Merusk]

Your response will be something along the lines of, "You useless twit, your brain is so game-addled you can't even think straight.  I have no time to waste on the likes of you, any further e-mails will be considered harassment and I will sue you."

I've seen better-written letters that didn't fall into the trap of calling him or even implying that he was a 'cockmunch' get that treatment, you'll get no better with your thinly-veiled insults.  He's absolutly insane, and if anyone would act rationaly instead of like a 15 year-old raging against the machine when they were forced into TV appearences with him that might be seen.  However, gamers are terribly insecure because of exactly what you point out, Llava, and so they are easily baited into acting like idiots and losing the public PR game.

[Ironwood]

Um.  It's not just gamers.  ANY large area of interest has the same problems.  Which is why the bigger ones usually appoint a spokesperson.

Ask PETA members what they think and you'll get fucked up nonsense.  Ask the PETA spokesman and you'll get more sense that you then have to decode into fucked up nonsense.

Edited to add :  My Point ?  I would say to this guy 'Shut the fuck up you Cunt'.  Raph might say 'That's not quite correct', or 'I don't think you understand the issues' or, more likely 'games are patterns of behaviour.'

[Shockeye]

Sure, the people in the game industry like making money.

It's probably unnoticeable to most. But the correct usage in this sentence is "gaming industry."

Sure, people in the gaming industry like making money. Or:

Sure, the people in the video game industry like making money (Videogaming, video games, and electronic entertainment were/are also acceptable).

Ideally:

Sure, folks in the gaming industry enjoy making money as much as your parasitic bitch-ass.

I would go with video game industry because gaming industry makes me think of Vegas.

Vegas, baby.

[ahoythematey]

Llava, I must confess I think it's a lot of bullshit to say Grand Theft Auto is an irresponsible game and damaging the industry, and especially to infer that the game was made out of spite and sold to kids as revenge against the crusty politicians of the past.  DMA made the sandbox-style of game very popular in the industry, and the only irresponsibility involved is the parents and the recent lunacy regarding Hot Coffee.  As it stands, the game was made by adults for adults.  Some days I want to be mario, some days I want to be Tommy Vercetti.

[schild]

GTA damages the industry simply because of bad taste.

That's all there is too it. The game may have achieved a lot in the gaming world, but it's bad fucking taste. I don't care about the racial (ist) overtones, the humans killing humans, or the correlation to actual places and events. The premise is poor. Gang warfare of any sort does not help the status of the industry. At the very least, when movies are made about this sort of thing they try to teach/depict/educate in some way. SOME WAY. GTA does not. It just wants you to live the life of a gangster. If that's how you choose to roleplay/escape/whatever fine, but it doesn't make it ok.

I mean that's what this is all about right? A game with a shoddy premise and zero moral value that happened to make the sandbox interesting (when really it's just an action roleplaying games with linearity removed) does not make it a cornerstone of the industry. If I were a game developer, I'd distance myself as far the fuck away from Rockstar as I could. At least Postal was funny. It knew not to take itself seriously. GTA does and it doesn't even make an attempt to say that NOTHING IN THE GAME IS OK. Screw them for that. They fucked themselves and put them in this industry. Rockstar is hurting the entire gaming industry. They are singularly the ones to blame. Doom made waves when it came out but Carmack and Co. took a step back and kept doing what they knew how to do. Rockstar just plays it like an asshole. When you're selling millions of copies you can't afford to do that. They are hurting the industry in the exact same way Jack Thompson is making lawyers look like insane douchebags.

Even after all that, I don't believe for a minute that any crimes can be blamed on GTA. I don't think children should be playing it and I blame parents solely for children playing it. Having worked in gaming retail for a Long Time, I know for a fact very few of these get sold without the parents consent. Every store in my EB district actively told parents Not to buy it for their kids. Of course some did, but I lived in Prince Georges County (Grand Theft Auto: Capitol City is only a year away, it has to be, they'd be insane not to make it) where parents aren't what you would say the most....safe-haveny about what their children are doing. Rockstar can't be blamed for that, but they will be. And deserve to be. For bad taste.

[ahoythematey]

It's a goddamn video game.  The primary purpose is not narrative or theme, but interaction.  If the player wants to play the role of a gangster, a secret agent, a double-e breasted japanese martial artist, or even a turtle-killing plumber, then it's no fucking deal if there is a message or not as long as you can translate a feeling of playing that "fantasy" out.  If you want to talk about games made in poor taste, talk about garbage like The Guy's Game.

[schild]

It's a goddamn video game.  The primary purpose is not narrative or theme, but interaction.  If the player wants to play the role of a gangster, a secret agent, a double-e breasted japanese martial artist, or even a turtle-killing plumber, then it's no fucking deal if there is a message or not as long as you can translate a feeling of playing that "fantasy" out.  If you want to talk about games made in poor taste, talk about garbage like The Guy's Game.

I think you missed the point. Completely. By a long shot.

The Guy Game is not about killing <insert racial slur for...anybody here>. GTA is. Really, that's all it's about - all things considered. Sure, there's a bland story, sure it's done interesting things for the whole emergent gameplay bullshit being tossed around by the hype machine, but really it's just racially driven gang warfare. All of them are - though Vice City was more just...well, Miami is special. The fact that people want to interact that way is poor taste and it's even poorer taste to make that game. I hate to say "be more creative" but then, their next release is The Warriors. When Rockstar makes a game about Double-E Breasted Martial Aritsts killing stereotypical japanese men, come too me. Until then, I'll be watching the extreme media martyr them.

[Sky]

I disagree with what schild says.

GTA is one of the best game franchises in existence. The utter lack of political correctness is refreshing. It's a game for adults, and was labelled as such, even before hot coffee.

Stop being such a tit. You want to see racial violence, the USA is the wrong place to look, buck (try Europe or Africa, where actual genocide has been attempted in the last few years). It's too bad you couldn't get past the setting, it really wasn't a very racist game at all. Besides, when did you become an authority on good taste?

[schild]

GTA is one of the best game franchises in existence. The utter lack of political correctness is refreshing. It's a game for adults, and was labelled as such, even before hot coffee.

Postal is a good example of a lack of political correctness. GTA is cashing in on the ghetto culture. Don't feel bad, it's positively brilliant. Had I thought of it I would have also. I would have put Versace's houseboat in Vice City. I would have put a Suge Knight boss fight in San Andreas.

Stop being such a tit. You want to see racial violence, the USA is the wrong place to look, buck (try Europe or Africa, where actual genocide has been attempted in the last few years). It's too bad you couldn't get past the setting, it really wasn't a very racist game at all. Besides, when did you become an authority on good taste?

Yea, I know the whole "Kill all Haitians" thing was really just playing nice. Please don't try to preach to a Jew about racial violence. That's just insane. I can tell you though, GTA is a excellent item to illustrate the worst of what America has to offer. Sure, there's no genocide in America. And honestly - stopping genocide would make for an interesting political game. Hopefully it'll be in Civ IV. Unfortunately performing it is not. And I never said I was an authority on good taste, but I'm pretty damn good at pointing out the bad. And if you mean to tell me that GTA (PARTICULARLY San Andreas and the aforementioned Haitian bit) isn't EXTREMELY racist, you're nuts. Exploiting the dark corners of man is a profitable venture.

[Evangolis]

Hey, don't talk down about America, we're plenty good at genocide.  We did the natives real fine here.  Mind you, the same can be said for most places Europeans went.  Of course, Europeans have no monopoly on it, I really can't think of any culture that hasn't engaged in the odd bit of ethnic cleansing now and again.  Indeed, stopping genocide could be an interesting challenge.  But Jack Thompson wouldn't help promote it.

I could dig a Suge Knight boss fight.  Hell, I bet Suge Knight could dig it.  Of course, Suge is talking about wanting to be a coach in the NFL now.  Now there is an interesting game idea to add new gameplay options to the sports genre.  Sortof like if Rockstar did Madden.

But I don't think any game holds a candle to Jack Thompson himself.  This is a parasitic slime bucket who makes his living off of creating fear and exploiting the tragedies of regular human beings, victims and victimizers alike.  Their horrors and suffering are just grist for his sick mill.

[Sairon]

I fucking hate movies in that they always has to preach and teach you. In a way it's deceiving when 100% of all movies with drugs shows how drugs are bad, I bet a lot of good music has come from drugs, and probably some other good things as well. I'm not saying drugs are good, but I'm pretty tired of anti drug in my movies by now, I don't need to be educated. A good example is Requiem for a Dream, the most overrated pos ever created, and it's freaking 49 on imdbs best movies ever.

Someone should make a movie about a guy who one day tries out some drugs, gets into the drug industry and starts making some cash. Then while high he kills of some random dude on the streets and gets away with it. The random dude happend to be married to a super hot chick which our main character gets togheter with. He lurs her into drugs as well and shortly after he becomes a famous raper making millions of dollars. The movie ends with them living happily ever after. I wouldn't even be suprised if you could base that story on someones real life story.

Anyway, I don't think GTA is hurting the industry. Sure there's a lot of talk about how GTA ruins young peoples mind, but I don't think they will get anywhere with it. After all it was pretty much the same for movies in the past, there's some pretty distasteful stuff that has been created.

Yay for more entertainment without the preaching!

[schild]

Way to make the Denis Leary argument.

GTA is hurting the industry because Rockstar handles it badly. GTA is hurting the industry because it's sold by its racism, maybe not to you - but to someone. GTA is hurting the industry because it's a fucking big red target that can't be defended.

But really I shouldn't be responding because you said "I bet a lot of good music has come from drugs" And a lot of good musicians were killed by drugs - as were many of their fans. Just because you don't need to be educated doesn't mean there isn't an 18 year old out there with the mind of a 12 year old. More importantly, what good has GTA done for the industry? Well, emergent gameplay is the answer. But it didn't need the GTA setting. And 99% of the people that bought the game? They don't give two shits about how innovative the gameplay was. They probably don't even use the word "gameplay" when discussing a game.

Everyone is free to show me how it's helping the industry though. See, here's the thing - I am looking forward to Bully and I enjoyed Red Dead Revolver - but GTA is a thorn in my side.

[Sairon]

I'm not saying drugs are good, that wasn't my argument, I'm saying that something good has probably come from drugs. That bad things that comes from it I already know, because as I said you get pumped with it 24/7 through movies.

I'm not super informed when it comes to the details of how rockstar is handling their issues with GTA, I would guess that probably a lot of parents who are watching the discussion will keep it away from their children. Will they keep them away from games in general? probably not. And as they say, no PR is bad PR. I guess you'd say hiphop is hurting the music industry as well. In fact I'm guessing rockstar is only trying to mimic the hiphop gangstah culture. People have killed after reading books, watching movies, listening to music and there's always been debates like this. I guess time will tell if Jack Thompson will achive something of importance on this matter, I'm guessing he won't.

EDIT:fixed a bad typo

[schild]

Real quick, lemme clarify this:

The PR for Rockstar has been great. That same PR makes the game industry look like a bunch of unfeeling dickheads.

Also, the good does not outweigh the bad in music and movies. One of my alltime guilty pleasures is "Drugs are Good" by NoFX. Read into that however you want.

Of course Rockstar is trying to mimic hiphop gangsta culture. Well not mimic, but profit off of it, the entire culture has proven they're willing to buy sweaters with disney characters on it for $200 and Zegna shirts they'll never wear because eurotrash clothes just ain't cut right for our build. Not to mention the countless overpriced brands put out by everyone from lil' romeo to puff daddy.

Jack Thompson has achieved a lot. He's made people look like dickheads. Sure, he's a dickhead but he has the title lawyer. Game Developer isn't exactly prestigious outside of the gaming community. It'll be a few years before lead designers get the fame and respectability of directors, actors and musicians. And to top it off, guess what else isn't helping? The hiphop culture inspired Video Game Awards.

Basically, everyone is shitting in everyone elses cereal and the entire industry is hurt by it. Hot Coffee was a mistake, plain and simple. And if anything should have been rated AO it should have been gameshark for allowing that shit to be accessed. If it can't be accessed off the shelf, it shouldn't be rated.

[Samwise]

More on Gabe's conversations with Jack.

[schild]

More on Gabe's conversations with Jack.

I'm more interested in the fucking gameindustry article at the bottom.

Edit: That they managed to slashdot. or penny arcade. or whatever.

[Samwise]

The appropriate term is "wang".