Jack Thompson is A Moron

Now anyone who has a remote interest in video games has heard the name Jack Thompson. For those not in the know Mr. Thompson is a Florida lawyer who has taken it upon himself to become the champion against video game violence, now I can see where he is coming from on some things but there's a problem. Mr. Thompson is wholly un-informed on what he is talking about. Now I consider myself a stable human being. I am also a gamer. I have been playing video games since my childhood and I have yet to go on a killing spree. Now games nowdays are a whole lot more realistic than they were when I was growing up but the base concepts are the same. What Mr. Thompson fails to realize is that its not the industry's responsibility to ensure that their product is played by its intended audience. When Rockstar releases Grand Theft Auto IV with a Mature rating, they are telling you this game is meant to be played by adults. Now I will agree that game stores need to be more responsible when selling the games, as it is possible for someone who is not 18 to walk in and buy a copy of GTA IV. But if said child purchases the game and brings it home and plays it, is it not also the responsibility of the parent or guardian to be aware of what is being played by their child? This is the point that Mr. Thompson misses. Recently any act of violence that occurs, Mr. Thompson has been right there to blame video games. Take the Virginia Tech shootings for example, moments after the tragedy Mr. Thompson was front and center saying that the person that did this must be a video gamer because only video gamers are capable of such things. He even blamed Bill Gates because Microsoft has an association with the game "Counter-Strike". (Microsoft's only relation is as a publisher for the Xbox version, they had nothing to do with making the game), now when it was reveled that the VT shooter hadn't been interested in violent video games since high school, Mr. Thompson dismissed it saying that you just don't forget what the games have taught you. Thompson's crusade against the game Bully is another example of him just not knowing what he is talking about, He led a crusade to have the game banned before even knowing any of the actual game content he based his crusade on the title alone. If a game is called Bully it must be about being a bully and therefore must be bad. As it turned out the character you play is the one being bullied and not the other way around. He also sparked an outrage when he learned that you could kiss another boy in the game claiming it was teaching our kids to be gay. But again he was misinformed as you have to physically seek it out the action for it to take place.

For a great breakdown of how off target he can be check ou this link that breaksdown and interview he did shortly after the Virginia Tech shooting http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/feature-dissecting-jacks-lies-252914.php
For the record Jack attempted to file suit against this site for what he claimed where attacks against him. Who knows maybe Mr. Thompson will stumble across my little blog (being read by all of one or two people LOL) and try to sue me...LOL

Now as I said before I consider myself a well adjusted adult, I can sit and play GTA IV for a few hours, realize its a game, and then go back to my normal life, which I do have. (another famous claim by Jack is that any adult who wants to sit and play Grand Theft Auto needs to go out and get a life) People who commit heinous acts of violence are not well adjusted normal people. There is something wrong with anyone who is capable of such acts to begin with. While they may enjoy violent games, The games do not create the violence its already there to begin with.

It was recently announced that a Florida judge is recommending that Jack Thompson be found Guilty on 27 of 31 counts of misconduct. Hopefully he will be disbarred and will no longer be able to stick his nose into anything and everything remotely concerned with video game violence.