Timewaster's Guide Archive
Games => Video Games => Topic started by: Fellfrosch on October 17, 2005, 04:59:06 PM
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So for those who don't follow video game news, freaky wing-nut anti-game crusader Jack Thompson made a challenge to video game developers a few days ago: if they would make a game based on his hyper-violent criteria (in which the targets were all developers and retailers of video games), he would donate $10,000 to the charity picked by Paul Eibeler, head of Rockstar Entertainment. There has been a lot of fallout, inlcuding a harsh letter from the National Institute on Media and the Family, which completely disowned him for being a lunatic.
So today some modders came out with the game he asked for and as expected he refused to pay--not because they were only modders, or because the game didn't meet his criteria, but because the challenge was "satire" and the offer of charity money not meant to be taken seriously. So Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade have picked the charity they think Eibeler would choose, and donated $10,000 to it in Jack Thompson's name.
That frickin' ROCKS.
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bwahahahaha
That guy's a wank.
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Yet another reason that Penny Arcade is awesome. Oh yeah, and that people condemning video games have no right to seize the moral high ground.
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Oh man. That is just perfect. As tycho puts it, 'you lose'.
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My favorite Thompson moment is when the National Institute on Media and the Family wrote the letter telling him to stop saying they support him and he freaked out and said that this was all a conspiracy against him instituted by Target and Walmart and is thus suing them.
I have to add what the PA guys did was really classy, they're not stooping to his level and showing who the mature participant of this crazy debacle is.
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Oh come on spriggan. We're talking about a man who, in a email exchange with the VG Cats creator, threatened to sue him because Scott said, 'You emailed me this form letter, and I'd like to know why'. Jack emailed him back saying, 'drop this now, or I'll sue'. Just because he waves vaporware lawsuits around doesn't mean he ever does sue.
The mans gone in the head. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_%28attorney%29) article - his career is mind boggling.
Just so you know, I find it delightful that there is not even a whisper of this sort of thing in Britain, except for an occasional attempt by the tabloids to sir up controversey.
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Oh I know he's sue happy, I've seen the VG cats thing before, I just find it funny that it's now all a conspiracy against him.
At least he has Squidi on his side.
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Well now he's faxed a rather weak letter to the Seattle PD asking them to arrest the employees of PA claiming that they have begun a criminal harrasment campaign. He blames their campaign on his 60 minutes interview and then fills the letter with all sorts of unrealated information about Rockstar Games and how they are really cop killers. I honestly think he's become unhinged because his arguments and writings have been barely cohearent for a long time.
Oh and apparently PA is an extortion factory... though Im unclear on what they are "extorting" precisely.
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mmm... Eric smells a restraining order in the works.
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except PA has a record of him Harrasing them... he called personally just to yell and scream...
Matter of fact they should file a restraining order...
Itd be nice.
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uhm... that's what I meant.
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oh, thought you meant him and not them...
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I'm just waiting for him to actually file court papers against someone like PA, you know they'll counter sue and end up winning.
Oddly enough the Seattle PD, according to Gamespot, has said they haven't gotten any faxes or requests from Thompson about arresting the PA guys.
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Well now Thompson is getting the Feds involved claiming that Gabe linking to the Florida bar association's website is an act of criminal harassment since Gabe knew PA's fanbase would click on it and send letters/e-mails.
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uhm... isn't that a part of the normal political process? If they're harassing him, he's been harassing a much larger group of people for a much longer time.
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Do not try to understand The Jack Thompson SE, for he is beyond human comprehension.
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Yeah, but, I also have ninja monkey comprehension. He still stymies me.
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Well the Stattle Police have decided there's nothing worth investigateing in the PA/Thompson fiascio.
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"Our preliminary review of the document has led us to believe that it is most likely a civil matter," police spokeswoman Deborah Brown said, "but we have forwarded it to the chief of our criminal investigations bureau to make sure that it is correct."
Unless the chief of that bureau finds some criminal activity that wasn't apparent upon first examination of the complaint, this part of the ongoing dispute between Thompson and Penny Arcade is resolved.
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136737.html
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that is just a funny story. thoroughly enjoyed on this end.
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/6139347.html
Harr.
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I'm glad he's finally recognizing that his reputation is starting to damage his ability to work. His cause, which I think has some very good points to it, will be much better served by somebody temperate and civil.
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also, someone not retarded.
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From Fark today:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/665/665357p1.html
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i don't think it is supposed to be jack thompson, but this is a funny thing i found today. I have been playing the new "path of neo" game that came out for ps2 and there is a scene where you are fighting a bunch of agent smiths. Well, you get to this room (using the key maker) and it seems to be some government auditorium and the speaker is talking about video game violence and how it is bad and stuff. then the smiths pour in the room and do that hand-to-the-chest-to-take-over-their-body move on him. I thought it was pretty funny.
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That's very funny, and I'm sure that's supposed to be Thompson. That makes me laugh.
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A very interesting point of view, tangentially related to Thompson, about how violent games might actually be hurting the game industry.
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...what is?
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The link that I forgot to post. Dang, now I have to find it again.