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I know California-bashing is the past-time of resentful red-staters and yokels, but this is neither the only nor the first such anti-violent-videogame legislation to come down the pike. Here is a helpful map and article.

I think videogames should be protected as speech. The trouble is, speech isn't really protected as speech, either. The distribution of sexually-explicit materials is controlled and restricted throughout the country, as are original derivative (not an oxymoron) works that are held to violate rather strict intellectual property standards(e.g., mash-ups, fan fiction, etc.) This particularly true for minors, to which this legislation is targeted. I'll be more impressed by gamers who are also willing to advocate for the revocation of obscenity statutes and to advocate for the legal, unrestricted sale of pornography to minors. Since most aren't, the outrage about this issue seems a little hypocritical.

New York?

Kansas?

New York again?

Indiana?

I find it very odd to see this Gamepolitics article on Slashdot. Why of all articles was this one submitted to Slashdot? Normally, Gamepolitics articles are very well written and insightful, but this article is one of worst on the entire site. Practically all others such as this one are more interesting.

Damn you submitter for portraying one of my favorite sites in a bad light!

Just to offer a quick correction (and sorry if someone covered this in the comments and I missed it), but the law hasn't actually passed yet. The state senate and state assembly each voted on separate bills, and only the assembly's classifies the crime as a felony. (That's the one the governor is rooting for.) They'll need to figure out how to compromise on this before the legislative session ends in June.

I have written a bit about this, so if you are interested, please feel free to see this link for a general summary of why bills of this kind keep getting overturned, this link for a brief note on the wording of this bill in particular. Game Politics has the most in-depth ongoing coverage of related developments, though.

One of the many groups that are apart of the new Copyright Alliance is the Entertainment Software Association(Basically, the Video Game Industry)

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/05/28/video-game-publ ishers-join-new-copyright-alliance/

This is an actual direct quote from Thompson's complaint, including all 72 periods.
...[72 '.' in total]...Not!
LIES, that wasn't 72 '.'s! With that kind of quote omission you are no better then Jack "Massacre Chaser" Thompson!

CALLER: What I really think is an issue is video violence, video gaming. I will guarantee you, I'll bet my last dollar in my pocket, that this shooter will be found to have been a compulsive video gamer, and when people are living that kind of lifestyle -- and college students do this a lot.

RUSH: (sigh) Let's say you're right. Not every video gamer goes out and murders 33 people on the college campus though. There's more to this than that. We can find all kinds of societal problems and ills, but the fact of the matter is that whatever you would look at as a bad influence -- video games as you mentioned -- it may desensitize people, but it doesn't turn everybody into mass murderers.

I know it's natural that everybody wants to throw their theories into this, and perhaps come up with perhaps a unique explanation or to understand, and I think it's natural, because people have a tough time accepting a relatively simple explanation for something of this scale. But how many people are playing video games out there? How many millions of people play video games, and how many millions of people have guns?

If you start blaming the video games, you may as well demand video game control because it's the same thing when you start trying to blame guns for this. You have here a sick individual, an evil individual who committed a random act. But if you want to start blaming the video games, this guy was this or that, weeeeell, then you've gotta maybe talk about banning them because that's the same tack that's taken with guns. You got one guy who used a gun that's it. You're falling prey to the same way the Drive-Bys propagandize, and that's, "Well, we need gun control! We gotta get guns out of the hands of people."

According to this it was Alabama not Florida.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051122-5613 .html

In Florida they are still working on it. Though, I don't think his status is still good standing.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/02/03/jack-thompson-f aces-florida-bar-disciplinary-hearing/

"you still had to kill yourself in the disintegration chamber"

Only if you don't posess the cheat codes, dude. I wonder will his first virtual town hall meeting be interrupted by flying penii or be attended by this constituent.

According to this link cited in the article, it's not that "violent" games would only be "accessible" to customers over 30, it's that retailers would be required "to check I.D. for buyers" who wanted to browse that section and "who appear to be 30 or under." It's more like the policy of checking IDs when serving alcohol than the nonsense the article and summary suggest.

Incidentally, if they were accurate, it would (comically) mean that someone could run for and win a seat in the House of Representatives and sponsor laws re video game violence before they could browse the proposed section at game stores.

It's apparently too much to expect that when a story is submitted by an editor, he check the primary sources linked in the cited article to support what's obviously an improbable assertion (and in this case, a flatly incorrect one).

From the text of bill:

S 391-Q. SALE OF CERTAIN VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS PROHIBITED. 1. NO PERSON, PARTNERSHIP OR CORPORATION SHALL SELL OR RENT OR OFFER TO SELL OR RENT TO ANY PERSON UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS ANY VIDEO GAME THAT HAS A MATURE OR VIOLENT RATING.... SALE OR RENTAL OF ANY VIDEO GAME ... [as described] TO AN INDIVIDUAL WHO DEMONSTRATES, THROUGH [some sort of ID ]... AT LEAST EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE. SUCH IDENTIFICATION NEED NOT BE REQUIRED OF ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO REASONABLY APPEARS TO BE AT LEAST THIRTY YEARS OF AGE,...

I had to go to here to figure that out, not even the linked blog article made it clear. A lot of us RTfA and still had the wrong idea.

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/01/18/sony-online-gam epolitics-jack-thompson-help-in-search-for-missing -gamer/

The right wing noise machines? Conservative fascists? Erm, hello, like 90% of the politicans lined up with laws and threats of prosecution against us are left wing "liberals." Last I checked, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh, Leland Yee, Rod Blagojevich, Kathleen Blanco, Roy Burrell, Jennifer Granholm, Phil Kellam, Rocky Delgadillo, Julia Boseman, Eliott Spitzer, and countless others were all Democrats. Click around on the legislation tracker map at Game Politcs, and look how many Ds pop up behind people's names, and then tell me again how this is all the fault of conservative "cretins." Or if you're too lazy to look, here's a little secret: Neither the Republicans or Democrats give a damn about your rights.

According to an article at GamePolitics.com, Thompson has apparently announced his intention to run for Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge in Miami in 2008.

My, what a busy fellow.

I expect the next move in his cunning plan, after 2008, is to get his name officially changed to "Jack Dredd".

Unfortunately, you did miss something. Jack Thompson was present, along with T2 employees, when the judge was viewing the game. The judge watched about 2 hours of different parts of the game, accessed through cheat codes provided by the T2 employees.

The "you don't even know what it was you saw" comment was in regards to the cheat codes. Jack Thompson is complaining that the judge didn't view the game in its entirety, played through from beginning to end.

Gamepolitics.com has full coverage of the case.
http://www.gamepolitics.com/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/bully-case-docu ment-dump/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/breaking-jack-t hompson-reacts-to-court-defeat-in-bully-case/
http://www.destructoid.com/today-in-court-the-bull y-verdict-blow-by-blow

Cheers,
Jim

Unfortunately, you did miss something. Jack Thompson was present, along with T2 employees, when the judge was viewing the game. The judge watched about 2 hours of different parts of the game, accessed through cheat codes provided by the T2 employees.

The "you don't even know what it was you saw" comment was in regards to the cheat codes. Jack Thompson is complaining that the judge didn't view the game in its entirety, played through from beginning to end.

Gamepolitics.com has full coverage of the case.
http://www.gamepolitics.com/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/bully-case-docu ment-dump/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/breaking-jack-t hompson-reacts-to-court-defeat-in-bully-case/
http://www.destructoid.com/today-in-court-the-bull y-verdict-blow-by-blow

Cheers,
Jim

Unfortunately, you did miss something. Jack Thompson was present, along with T2 employees, when the judge was viewing the game. The judge watched about 2 hours of different parts of the game, accessed through cheat codes provided by the T2 employees.

The "you don't even know what it was you saw" comment was in regards to the cheat codes. Jack Thompson is complaining that the judge didn't view the game in its entirety, played through from beginning to end.

Gamepolitics.com has full coverage of the case.
http://www.gamepolitics.com/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/bully-case-docu ment-dump/
http://gamepolitics.com/2006/10/13/breaking-jack-t hompson-reacts-to-court-defeat-in-bully-case/
http://www.destructoid.com/today-in-court-the-bull y-verdict-blow-by-blow

Cheers,
Jim

Because I would consider the following actions to be continuing "his campaign against Bully."

But considering his other past antics & actions, I am not surprised at all by the contradictory statements he makes.

Because I would consider the following actions to be continuing "his campaign against Bully."

But considering his other past antics & actions, I am not surprised at all by the contradictory statements he makes.

"Other witnessed testified that Delbert Posey crushed Cody's fingers with a pair of pliers and held a hay hook to his groin. Cody told the court that on the night before the murders his father tried to make him have sex with his stepmother and burned him with a heated metal rod when he refused."

Interesting piece at http://gamepolitics.com/2006/09/26/youthful-killer s-lawyer-doesnt-buy-gta-made-me-do-it-defense/ about the case.

Thompson already tried to make Cody Posey's defender put the blame on GTA. But he did not go for the "GTA made him do it" defense, but went for the physical and sexual abuse Cory suffered from.

Quote:
Other witnesses testified that Delbert Posey crushed Cody's fingers with a pair of pliers and held a hay hook to his groin. Cody told the court that on the night before the murders his father tried to make him have sex with his stepmother and burned him with a heated metal rod when he refused.

Nevermind, it is the games!!!1!

Alright, I'm confused now... I've just read the amicus from game politics and there Jack thompson is referred to as John Thompson... Is there something I've missed in English class? http://www.gamepolitics.com/images/JT-amicus-louis iana.doc In any case, I was overjoyed to hear about this ruling, it seems more people are waking up to his sillyness, and refuse to take him seriously.

While I'm not certain why they are still shackled to LJ (especially after how far they've locked down commenting on there), they most certainly DO have an actual site: gamepolitics.com

http://www.gamepolitics.com/

But yes, the use of Livejournal is a bit tacky.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/forums/showthread.php? t=463

There's the discussion on the GP Forums there.

Let the author of this article know what you think about this. He runs Game Politics.com and has asked for opinions on his actions (yesterday's news post).

Personally, I prefer the answer, "Find a new guild."

With just a little effort, you can find game bloggers writing about real issues, rather than just hyping the next big release. The next generation of game journalism isn't going to show up on the newsstand or in your mailbox. It's already on the web. Stop complaining about EGM and its ilk and surf some game sites already! Click on some ads while you're there, because the best way to improve game journalism is to support hard-working game bloggers who are trying to make a living at it.

For some examples, check out Video Game Media Watch and follow some links. Or just read Terra Nova or Game Politics or GamesBlog or any of about a dozen other good blogs I could mention. You'll feel better about the State of Game Journalism.

Jack Thompson may be lying -- or so says the office of Governor Jeb Bush. this article at Advanced Media details the whole story, and they have backup from sources: GamePolitics.com, here at Inquirer, and here at Joystiq. Someone is lying... could be Bush's people, could be Thompson.

There are actually sites that collect Jack Thompson's mad rantings, Like http://www.jackthompson.org/.

Also he posts occasionally on (the excellent site)http://www.gamepolitics.com/, which always turns out to be fun.