Welcome to Gaia! ::

Now, I've been an avid gamer since the Nintendo days. I started whooping my parents at Mario when I was but 3 years old. It's been a way for me to get away from reality when I'm angry, sad, or when I'm so happy that I just -NEED- to blow up things. Which is why I'm a bit peeved when someone starts to attack my pass-time of choice, and that mans name is Jack Thompson.

Recently, this man has been on many TV stations talking about the evils of video gaming. His main argument is that violent video games need to be kept out of the hands of children. Apperently Mr. Thompson doesn't that that pretty little 'M' in the corner of the games are mean children can't buy them. I'm 19 and I couldn't buy the Expansion pack to Halo 2 because I didn't have any photo ID. Pretty good system we've got, I think. The only kicker? Games still get into children's hands. Why? It's either a much older friend buying the game for them, or Parents buying the game for them. The latter either says 2 things: The parents think that their child is mature enough to handle the fake blood and guts of Video games, or they are ignorant to the ratings and buy it for their child simply to shut them up. So what is Mr. Thompson's problem? Personally, I think he wants to see the eradication of -ALL- violence in video gaming, if not the end of video gaming PERIOD.

And, as you would expect, My fellow gamers have risen up against him in protest. The leaders of the fight against Jack Thompson are Gabe and Tycho (Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins), of 'Penny Arcade' Fame. (www.penny-arcade.com) This spat started after Mr. Thompson took it upon himself to issue a 'Modest Proposal.' He offered to give $10,000 to the charity of Paul Eibeler's, The president of Take Two Interactive, choice if someone would make a video game of his design. I'm not entirely sure what the plot was, but it included a Executive of 'Take This' games to kill his wife, and go around beating kids who work in video game stores to death and urinating on their brains. In an attempt to show him up, a few people tried to take him up on his offer. When Mr. Thompson heard about this, he said his claim was simply 'Satire' and didn't intend to pay out the $10,000. In response to his refusal to pay, Gabe and Tycho responded by donating $10,000 to The Entertainment Software Association Foundation (http://www.theesa.com/foundation/index.php), The charity they though Mr. Eibeler would have donated the money to. Gabe and Tycho even donated it in Jack Thompson's name, writing 'For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won't'

This spurred quite a reaction from Mr. Thompson, as you might imagine. He went so far as to send a fax to the Seattle PD in an attempt to get Gabe and Tycho arrested for being a 'little extortion factory'. Neither Gabe nor Tycho have been arrested, and this all still continues.

Ok, now to the point of this thread. Do you believe that what Jack Thompson is doing is right? Why doesn't he just relize that it might be the parents fault for not keeping their eyes on their kid, and not allowing them to play these 'cop-killing simulators'. If he manages to get all this through, what is to stop him from pushing for -ALL- violent video games to be outlawed?

Related Links:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10-17#2838
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135979.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136318.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorney)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/106779.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/gamepolitics/

Man, this thing is being hashed out all over the web. This is not a debate guild. Do you personally have a problem with Jack Thompson? I have actually seen three threads on Gaia talking about this.

I'm just suggesting that maybe this isn't a life issue.

I have heard about this before, but not in this much detail. I hate to be nit-picky, but as Thomas Neo Anderson was getting at: what is your life issue with this? Is it simply the fact that someone out there wants to get rid of the video games you enjoy and use to escape form your problems with?

On to what you are talking about! I can fully agree that it is up to the parent(s)/guardian(s) to be responsibile for what their kids do and watch and play. I actually saw a show about children, teens, and young adults who are addicted to video games. I don;t like to watch day time talk shows *cough*exceptformontellwilliams*cough*, but I found myself watching on called Jenny while I was waiting to be interviewed for a job. I was drawn to the show not just becuase of the subject, but becuase the host, Jenny, really impressed me with her approach to it.

I was thinking "Oh, great . . . Another adult against gaming." In fact, she didn't try to rally parents to get their kids to stop playing all together. Instead, she encouraged parents to let their kids play them since they are ment for fun, yet be responsibile about what they kids are allowed to play and do make them go outside everynow and then. I was pleasantly suprised that this 50-something year old woman who has probbaly never played a video game in her life was trying to be the balance inbetween. She even offered some very good ways for parents to deal with what their kids play and watch. Such as:

1) Move the tv and/or gaming counsle to a more public area like a living room instead of keeping it in the bedroom. Kids that have their tvs and games in their rooms tend to stay up much later causing sleep loss and can better hide what they watch and play. This way, parents can better regulate what and when they play.

2) Be responsibile. Check what gam,es they have and/or are playing on a regular basis. Parnets may not understand the game itself, but they should look for themes they don;t want their kids playing or watching. Such as extreme violence, sex/nudity, drug and alcohol uses and references, and so on.

3) Treat "game time" just like you would outside play time or family time. Have your kids learn when it is okay and not okay to play games. Enforce rules for game time just like you would with anything else. EX: If their homework is not done, then they can't play video games. There are devices out there parents can buy that lock onto an outlet or the to the game unit so their game time is limited.

The list goes on and has tons of things for parents to do that they should normally be doing anyways and are easy to do. It is weird how most of these things parents already do in other aspects of the child's life but not in this one.

I'm sorry if I got way off track with what you were intending to say sweatdrop . . . I lost my train of rant, lol.

I think M-rated games should be treated the same as R-rated movies. I must admit it bothers me that games like Grand Theft Auto and Doom get all this free publicity (and it is publicity) just because they are violent. I'm not saying that these are bad games, I actually rather like Doom, but its curious that games like Myst, Fire Emblem, and indeed even Final Fantasy are all but ignored by the news. On the other hand I must ask the question of whether I actually want to see these games on the news...

I can relate this into being a life issue for myself, because my father is an ignorant moron, very much like Jack Thompson. Not only is my dad cheering this guy on, but he blindly believes everything Jack Thompson says, anywhere, no matter how wrong he is, and he just goes along with it without looking up the facts.

Now, my mother, she is extremely religious, but thankfully has half a brain to not listen to this Jack Thompson retard. My mother is the only reason that my siblings's video games haven't been completely removed from the house. Now, I'm 21, and I've never bought any violent games for my siblings, and nor do I plan to, but I have to say it's getting irritating to have my father accuse me of that on a somewhat regular basis. My MOTHER did buy them Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City, but all my siblings are intelligent enough - and she KNOWS that - to know that it's only a game.

Then there's my father hounding me whenever he hears anything new about Jack Thompson, that he can't believe I wanted to work for such a "disgusting industry" (my major used to be animation, I wanted to use it for gaming). Doesn't matter how many articles I send him, pointing out that Jack's wrong, or how many articles I send him, showing that Jack Thompson's no more than a hateful bigot. I guess in the end this just comes down to another thing my dad hates me for, simply because I'm not a good American and a Republican like HE is.

Ah well. So that's how this is a life issue in my life, anyways.

Ah, yea I've heard about this lots. All my friends read penny arcade so I've heard about those goings on, as well as most of my guy friends (who I'm good friends with) are all gamers. They've even gotten me into games as such.
I, along with all my friends, disagree with what this guy is doing. It's up to parents/guardians to make sure that kids aren't playing games that aren't appropriate for them. I think the system we have now is fine, maybe some more limits and such would be helpful too when it comes to buying games, but I put all the blame on the parents/guardians. They should be doing a better job watching what their kids are playing.