Jack Thompson's very own video game!

[goKi]

Suprised noone has posted this yet. Seems he's at it again, trying to see if a video game company will make an extremely violent game that targets themselves, although, rather than pay for the development cost of the game, he'll donate a measly $10,000 to charity. Fuck, it would be awesome if a developer made this game, but released a 'hot coffee' style official patch for it that involved the brutal torture and murder of Jack Thompson. Just wait until he donates the money first. But in reality, noone is going to spend several million developing a game, for a $10,000 donation to charity. :\

http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883

Attorney Proposes Violent Game

October 10, 2005

by: Matt Saunderson

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 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.

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.

source: Jack Thompson

[me2]

...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.

This game is going to be hilarious.

[Lutraphobiac]

I guess he thinks that video game developers don't want to make the game because it might incite violence towards them through "desensitivization", which is an idiotic point to begin with.

It's a win - win stituation for him. He creates press for his stupid views, and the game companies can't make the game because it would be a terrible financial decision. Unfortunately people might not see this and think that he is clever and made a brilliant point.

Yea Gabe from Penny-Arcade made a pretty funny post about this subject.

[Cloral]

If he has that much money to piss away, he should donate it to charity anyway - and the fact that he is using this trick to ensure he doesn't have to shows what a selfish ass he is.

My email sig had my phone number in it. Jack actually just called and screamed at me for a couple minutes. He said if I email him again I will “regret it”. What a violent man.

[Grasshopper]

I don't even think his intentions were to follow through. I think more or less, hes writing that to give the gaming industry a sarcastic slap in the face. And to flaunt his power. Hey look how ironic this letter is. The game doesn't get made because the industry knows it's the truth, and it makes him look better. The game does get made and the industry ends up poking fun of itself, and it makes him look better. Just as Lutraphobiac stated earlier.

Whats worse in my opinion is this letter obviously is an extreme representation of how he feels about the gaming industry in general. I know its far fetched, but it had to come from somewhere. And I think it comes from how he feels already. Every person who gets killed, is someone he thinks is at fault. He blames the developers, he blames the publishers, he blames retailers, he blames the sales associate, and he blames the gamers. Not once in the whole letter does he pin blame on the parents, or himself. They aren't the blame. Its not like they go out and buy the most violent game their kid wants despite the sales associate advising against it.

What bugs me the most is just the way he goes about it. What about movies? Are those just as influential? Any responsible adult should knows that the games they are creating, or the movie they are producing aren't to be viewed by younger audience if its too violent. Its just somehow getting into the kids hands anyway. In my opinion, if he wants to influence anybody, he needs to stop flexing his political muscle and come at this from a different view. Stop threatening people, and stop blaming others. I could easily blame him because he isn't trying hard enough.

I don't play the game he's referring to, and I don't like the game he's referring. And I most certainly aren't saleing it to people under age. This isn't my problem. If the parents buy if for them, who are we to blame?

Sorry for the long post. Here is something to laugh at.

[MottZilla]

Also it's ridiculus to think that a video game is a "murder simulator". The playing of the game with a controller is far from the act in the real world of killing someone. In a game, you kill with the push of a button. In real life, you pump the shotgun, pull back the slide, switch off the safety, you load the magizine or cartridges, and you finally point that gun and pull the trigger. Or what's even harder, you actually grab that bat, or knife and beat or stab them.

People that believe video games are more at fault than anything else are likely at fault themselves. Video games didn't invent violence nor are they combined more violent than real life. Besides, movies for the longest time have been more inspirational of violence than anything else, except for history itself.

[AlexMax]

Jack Thompson realizes that nobody is paying attention to him except for the hardcore gamers themselves. His steam ran out after the media aborted him after his ridiculous Sims 2 accusations. Now he's just clamoring for attention.

Ignore him. He'll eventually self destruct in a fireball of his own absurdity.

[Darth Marsden]

Wonder what he'll do next? Beat someone with a golf club and claim Vice City made him do it? He's running out of ideas, and we all know it.

I would like to see that game, although I suspect it's more likely to emerge as a film. A Punisher sequel, anyone? (Yes, I actually liked that film)

[Warlock]

Yeah, you gotta wonder what kind of sick mind this guy has to come up with this.. I draw the line at urinating on murdered children, thank you.

[AtmaWeapon]

When you visit his very own website or the more informative wikipedia entry you see this guy has a pretty consistent history of making it in the news for doing something controversial. See also: Michael Moore, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Michael Jackson, and several other public figures that are irrelevant until they do something crazy.

Of course, he baited a hook and now the media and gaming community are running with it.

My opinion has been and always will be that some individuals are more sensitive to depictions of violence than others. There is no question that some people commit crimes that copycat films, music, video games, books, and any other form of literature they have been exposed to. These people are defective units and represent an extremely small minority of the American public. It doesn't make the crime go away, but I hardly consider the 5 or 6 GTA copycat crimes that have been publicized out of several million people who play a game a strong correlation between the game and increased criminal activity.

How many kids watched Superman and jumped off of roofs in an attempt to fly? Not enough to stop making Superman. How many kids killed each other mimicing fights from shows such as Power Rangers? I know of at least one case, but that was not enough to cancel the show. There has to be a strong correlation between cause and effect, and the ratio of crimes to sales just doesn't imply a strong relationship.