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Jack Thompson Rescinds Offer
Goalmaster3000 writes to tell us Joystiq.com is reporting that Jack Thompson has rescinded his offer of a $10,000 donation to charity if a video game were made to fit his model. Recently a group of GTA modders cooked up a scenario to fit the bill but apparently Thompson is claiming that his piece 'A Modest Video Game Proposal' was intended as satire that the video game community was not bright enough to grasp. Perhaps Thompson was just afraid he was going to have to sue himself? Update: 10/17 20:02 GMT by SM: It appears that the Penny Arcade crew has taken the next step by donating the promised $10,000... in Jack Thompson's name.
The fact that the guy thinks he needs to explain that his request was satire just means he didn't understand that what he got back was infact satirical. You might say he's being sassed, and doesn't even realize it.
-Jesse
Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
A lawyer lied, and people are surprised?
no one would take him up on it til november 2006. Then I'd write a simple text adventure with tons of violence. exactly as he stated...
And he'd be out 10,000 and I'd be out a week of my life.. Oh well just proof no matter what he says he can take it back with out injury... Nice to see from one of our coutntries lawyers.
With a name akin to Swift's famous "A Modest Proposal", I can believe that Thompson thought it to be satire all along. However, the bit about promising to donate to charity was uncalled for.
So a satirical response to a satirical comment gives us what...
Ah, the irony!
LINUX ONLINE POKER: Linux Poker
Well, I can see his point. Political statements are more important than people.
well, afterall, he is an idiot, you know.
I'm surprised Runs with Scissors wasn't all over this. It would be right at homem as a Postal 2 expansion pack.
abort, retry, fail?
So, he thinks we weren't bright enough to realize his "satire"? Well, at least we're bright enough to know the difference between video game violence and real-life violence. Otherwise, we'd be bunny-hopping our BMX bikes over his front yard fence and blowing him away with my machine gun.
I've been folowing this a little at Penny Arcade. He seems like a twat. Make an apology and give the money to charity you cheap bastard.
I saw the entirety of a back-and-forth e-mail conversation that a 14-year-old gamer had with this moron. It was hot on the heels of the Hot Coffee debacle, and the kid was actually very well-spoken. He brought up excellent arguments, rebutted points made by Thompson, and continued to press his original point.
Thompson kept trying to weave out of the argument, and eventually ended up calling him names, telling him to grow up because he was just a pathetic child, and other crap unbecoming of an attorney. The kid completely won the argument by not only proving that gamers were not just idiotic 14-year-old kids, but also because Thompson resorted to mere name-calling when he couldn't win his argument.
What a fucking moron.
I used to think Linux was cool -- then I turned 14.
Mox
So he was joking about paying out $10K to charity? How special, I wonder if there are any Flash game makers out there who had already started projects. They might be able to sue for the cost of their wasted time.
He is nothing but a common troll. He lives on attention. YOUR attention. Stop giving him page hits; stop giving him political capital; stop giving him the time of day.
Really, why is it necessary to point this out?
don't forget the article linked by penny-arcade as well. mr. thompson is not winning the hearts of anyone anymore...
R.I.P.
The guy spouts to be an expert in everything under the sun. But once you call him on it, you come to know he only has a superficial understanding of things. If you can imagine a slimy car salesman, that's Jack.
Someone should have made a game where you kill the CEO and the family, but they come back as zombies, and then you play as the zombies and go torture and kill the lawyer "Thomp Jackson"
$8.95/mo web hosting
I can believe a lawyer can lie... but when a lawyer renigs on donating to charity, because his 'true' intention was satire... is complete bull.
I think people need to look at his claims more, and see if we can somehow BFG his ass into donating that 10k he proposed.
"Don't Forget to Salt the Fries"
OK. I'm an idiot. I can cop to it. Somebody explain to me how that was satire. I mean, I understand how the ORIGINAL Modest Proposal was satire. But this Jack Thompson one? I don't get it. I read the proposal. All I got was a very creeped-out vibe from Thompson's glamorization of violence against those he dislikes.
I got the "O.K." reference in the main character's name. That was really clever. NOT. Seriously, though, I can't see any satire, here. Who's being satired? The people making the games? I don't have Thompson's crazy worldview; I don't see where this satire is coming from.
Help me, Slashdot. You're my only hope.
rockstar said yes and probley called to talk over the specifics of the game?
Jack Thompson, increasingly, resembles nothing more so than one of the least competent of slashdot's trolls.
...
MAN 1: I am going to kill you and rape your family!
MAN 2:
MAN 1: What, don't you know satire when you hear it? You have no sense of humor at all. Idiot.
"Jack Thompson Rescinds Offer" Should be: "Jack Thompson steals $10k from Charity"
Second note, after Jack's last little spat, pro-family groups are starting to realize that there's crazy, and then there's CRAZY. So they are distancing themselves from Jack. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid= 12259
I thought I was well read on this wack job, but when did Jack do this?
since it goes with Shit. This basically sums up Jack Thompson's entire knowledge of the video game industry he has set out to try and destroy.
No, I don't think very young people should be playing violent videogames all day, every day but it is not Jack's problem. It is not the government's problem. It is a PARENTAL problem and should be dealt with as such. Parents should take fracking responsibility for raising their children and when their children become delusional, homicidal maniacs they should CONTINUE to take responsibility since it was THEIR parenting techniques that helped little Johnny become what he is today. It takes all of 5 to 15 minutes out of your hectic day to check in on what your child is playing, watching, or reading and if he/she is constantly going over to Billy's or Sandy's house then, as a parent, you had better damn well trust that Billy's Mom and Dad are raising their child like you are raising yours so that your philosophies match (ie. so that little Johhny doesn't run over to Billy's house to play GTA: San Andreas every day because Billy's parents don't give a shit what Billy plays).
Sorry for the rant but I'm past the point of believing the crap about it takes a village to raise a child. How about it takes a concerned parent (single or plural) to raise a child. If your job takes away too much of your parenting time then perhaps you should do without the new BMW and Lexus in the driveway and spend more time with your child, less with your paycheck -- eh?
Dream as if you'll live forever.
Live as if you'll die tomorrow.
~Anonymous~
In general, this is a 'contract to the world', an offer of reward on completion. It's often called a "race across the desert", a unilateral contract with neither consideration nor quid pro quo. The first one who completes the contract gets the reward. If revoked prior to completion, you generally have no recourse. If that is not the case, there are two common ways to sue, or offer as a baseline for negotition, for failure to fulfill his end of the promise.
First, if you complete the contract first and give sufficient notification of such, and it is prior to his unilateral revocation, you can argue that he breached the contract. As the first person across the line, you are typically entitled to the reward. Breach of that may entitle you to estop the contract. In other words, entitlement to fulfillment of his promise.
Second, if you say that you relied on his contract and had sufficient reason to believe that the contract would be fulfilled (i.e. there is precedent for this type of contract, e.g. auctions for services to be rendered; or it would be unreasonable economic policy to not enforce payment because your reliance on his statement was reasonable and it would be poor form to permit his type of statement when it incurs your type of economically inefficient reliance), you might be able to sue for your costs, your lost opportunity, or his benefit.
Tycho called this one already. When Penny Arcade's last Jack Thompson comic came out Tycho wrote the following:
- 14
"Of course, he's not serious. Machination is too glorified a word for what he's doing. Ruse would make it seem debonair. He's essentially holding money hostage from charity, and if someone did make it, even as a joke, he would say that it didn't conform to his "design." This sort of thing is usually called a shell-game."
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
A lawyer offering to give money to charity? Who could fall for that?! ;- )
You can't take the sky from me...
>>Thompson resorted to mere name-calling when he couldn't win his argument.
>>
>>What a fucking moron.
Did anyone else find these two lines amusing due to their immediate proximity?
I'm over here on the other side of the Atlantic, so perhaps that's why I haven't heard of this Jack Thompson fellow. Who exactly is he, and why should I care what he has to say?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
I dont think I understand the witch hunt lately with regards to violence/nudity in video games. Lets say that violence in video games is designed to mimic real life (which IMO it's not), is that saying that we should not accept real life?, or expose our kids to it?.
A 17 year old can goto the middle east and take someone's head off in real life but can't do it in a video game?. 13 year olds (and younger prolly) are having sex, but they can't buy a game with a pixelated breast in it?. Perhaps we should censor classic paintings depicting naked breasts with 18+ ratings, and make you show ID to buy the newspaper?.
Lets face it, real life is NOT sunshine and roses, lets not force video games to try to be either....
(see subject)
Indeed, those who resort to insults during debates are most likely in the wrong. It's one of those things we see time and time again. One such example could very well be this instance of Jack Thompson debating a 14-year-old child. Another notable example is that of the KOffice developer who resorted to insulting a long time KDE and KOffice user during a discussion of the future of the KOffice project.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
The emails sent from the 14 year old, can be found here: http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299 There is also a great wikipedia article ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorn ey) ) that relates his history, and well, exploits.
Oh, it wasn't that at all? Well, you know if someone had fucking LINKED THE ORIGINAL THING THAT JACK WROTE then I would have known that. Goddamn.
I found this description of the original hoo-hah:
You're welcome.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
A lot of geeks who become wealthy spend enormous sums of cash on fulfilling their long-held geek fantasies.
With that in mind, I haven't seen any commissioning games that meet their own specifications. I would think that it would be the ultimate geek dream come true and that the added bonus of being able to resell it to the masses with zero risk (because you would have spent the money on developing the game anyway) would be enough to convince someone that it is a good idea.
You wouldn't be faced with making it palatable to everyone, and could focus on the gameplay that suits you.
Jack Thompson, at a press conference with Cubics professor Gene Ray today, is quoted as saying "Gleeko flarny blutnot spoing. Scam bananna mongo charves. The Jews ate my T-Shirt! Gah!" Jack Thompson-- Real Life Troll
I was hoping he was rescinding his other offer.
Just wait, one of these days we will hear about Jack living threw his fantasy game. Except like the Columbine kids, he won't get past his first step in his plan before he blows his own brains out. and just for fun Capitalization is the difference between "Helping your uncle Jack off a hoarse" and "Helping your uncle jack off a horse."
this guy is a nutcase. ask anyone who has known him personally (like my dad). you guys are just feeding him. he eats this stuff up.
as great as it is to see penny arcade bothering the sad old dirtbag, he would be much more provoked if no one gave a crap what he said. everyone knows he's an idiot, so lets let this old man die lonely and ignored
-- lol pwned
If he can actually do that. I mean, he's made the offer, you make this game I give $10,000 to charity. I kind of wonder if he actually has the legal ability to just go "ha ha only kidding" at this point and back out.
I mean, the feeble "it's satire... really" identifier in the title doesn't change the fact that what follows is several pages of Mr. Thompson very personally fantasizing about violently killing his enemies. And I think the feeble attempts to pretend he was writing satire would mean even less from a legal perspective. Is "gotcha... it was just a joke!" a recognized defense in contract law?
I mean, I am not a lawyer, but then, Jack Thompson appears to only be a lawyer in the most superficial sense. So I would be very curious to see whether Thompson has stumbled into some kind of self-constructed legal trap by putting the offer to donate to charity into his work of "satire". If you post a public notice promising to donate $10,000 to charity if someone does thing X, are you in any way committing to this? Like, those public notices saying "$1000 reward for information leading to the capture of the kidnapper of Media Heartthrob". Are those public notices legally binding to the person who put them up? If so, I'd be very, very interested to see what happens if that group of GTA modders, or the people working on the sprite flash game, actually complete something. Since both of those games entered production before Thompson issued his retraction, is there any chance they could go to court and try to claim Thompson's offer legally binding or his retraction legally invalid?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
The mod does not fit the bill at all - other than the fact there is a lot of violence involved. The mod is only "Defemation of Character", as advertised; it has little do with Thomspon's scenario.
Gaming companies need to seriously address the issues Thompson brings up. I find particularly pursuasive his analogy to cigarette advertisements as well as the real world examples that have been coming up for the last seven years or so.
"...he claims his earlier proposal was merely intended as satire, to "highlight the patent hypocrisy and recklessness exhibited by the video game industry's willingness to target cops, women, homosexuals, and other groups with some of their violent games.""
Someone should point out to this guy examples such as Quake 3 Arena where the developers have included likenesses of themselves in the game as characters to be obliterated. I'm sure some finger-in-ear LAA-LAA-LAAAAing would ensue.
----- sXe
IANAL (neither is Mr. Thompson), but couldn't his promise to pay $10k to charity be construed as a unilateral contract that he is now in breach of?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilateral_contract (scroll down for definition of Unilateral contract)
See, that responsibility is important and all, but the nuclear family is a relic of the past age. If the parents you mention fail to be concerned enough, we as the metaphorical village get stuck with the sociopathic loser for the next 30-60 years. Their responsibility becomes our responsibility.
Also keep in mind that nothing in American society comes close to the "it takes a village" philosophy. Our society is still nuclear-family at its core, and will not be changing any time soon.
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
what an asshole
judges should sentence him to pro bono work for life
cheap bastard
Didn't he mention a specific charity? I can't donate ten thousand, but I'd be willing to toss a couple of bucks in its direction. Has anybody set up a Gamers' vs. Jack Thompson's donations page yet just to really rub it in a little?
whoosh....
if by "jack thompson" you mean "penny arcade"... http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10- 17#2834
for a minute there, i lost myself...
(Yet again no standards of editing at Slashdot...)
See the latest news posting on penny-arcade... they just donated 10k to a charity in Jack's name! Penny Arcade News
I clicked back from Gabe's VGCats link (with a posting of Jack's contact info) to find Tycho had just put up a post saying they donated 10k to the Entertainment Software Foundation in Jack Thompson's name.
No sig for you!!
I'll grant that, no problem. But can someone describe for me the "narrative context" in Postal 2 which justified such actions? Or even Manhunt , which, god help me, I actually paid money for and played all the way through.
(If you never played Manhunt, the idea is that you're a convict secretly rented out to a snuff film producer to take part in a game so shocking and post-modern that it was considered a classic of short story literature in 1947. You get extra points for exterminating your hunters in as gruesome and vicious a manner as posible.)
So to recap, no love lost for Jack Thompson, but Tycho should be a little more honest when it comes to the really disgusting games out there.
Tycho and Gabe just made the donation on Jack's behalf. See the 3rd post down.
I think you're looking at this the wrong way...nothing is better for gamers than having some rediculous clown leading the charge against gaming. He presents the entire anti-gaming movement as a bunch of hateful zealots. The more he froths at the mouth, the more unpalatable he and his positions become to non-gamers.
Slashdotters seem to think video games have no effect on people. Thompson sees them as horrible killer-trainers. Personally, I fall somewhere in between.
I love playing Halo. It's exciting and fun, and the "violence" is pretty mild. I have played Unreal Tournament and GTA (older versions), but gave them up because to me, they were too sadistic. They didn't make me want to kill people, but they made me a little more inclined to be a jerk.
It's the same with TV. If I watch a show like "The Shield" or some pissy reality show where everybody hates each other, I get a little bit into that angry, "screw you" mentality.
Think about your personality and attitude. Me, I'm very laid back, because my dad is laid back. I like goofy jokes because my dad does, and my friends growing up did too. (I also watched Monty Python.) I can see how these influences shaped the way I am.
Most of us spend several hours a day using some kind of media - music, TV, internet, video games, etc. Just like the people we're around, these virtual friends DO shape our mentality, somewhat.
I will never be a homocidal maniac, regardless of what I watch or play. But I do know that seeing examples of people who laugh, who love and forgive each other - whether those are real people or on TV - makes it easier for me to do the same. Exposing myself to hours of anger and selfishness makes me likely to replay those thoughts and words. Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean that everything is equally good for me.
Does anybody else see that?
but his "thoughts on Islam" are right on...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10- 12
Gabe was talking to Jack via email, suggesting a charity which would have liked to received the money, which Gabe is active in promoting. It is backed by gamers, but isn't pushing videogames (any more than other toys) upon children.
Jack noted that Gabe's phone number was in his email, and took it upon himself to call Gabe and personally chew him out and threaten Gabe.
Gabe & Tycho of Penny-Arcade have made a donation to who they think Paul Eibler would have picked: The ESF.
From their site:
It was only a matter of time until a mod team took Jack Thompson's disgusting revenge fantasy and made it flesh - and, just as I suggested, it was deemed insufficient.
Thompson now claims that his repellent suggestion was "satire," and we must conclude that his financial offer was also satire, some new breed of satire apparently that I'm sure is just hilarious to people in need.
You know what, Jack? We're going to be the men you're not. You said that your insulting, illusory ten thousand dollars would go to the charity of Paul Eibler's choice. We've got a good guess that he'd direct your nonexistant largesse toward The Entertainment Software Foundation, a body that has raised over six point seven million dollars over the last eight years. We've just made the donation you never would, and never meant to. Ten thousand dollars' worth. And we made it in your name.
By rescinding the offer in 2005, he likely escapes, the key line being:
Quoth TFA:
Yeah, I read that and couldn't believe it. That's insane. That's incredible. Just for that, I'm going make it a point to donate to Child's Play this year.
PA just earned the maddest props they could have possibly earned. Wow.
And now, for a sig that's a complete copout.
From today's CNN:
Wow, look how the crime rate has absolutely skyrocketed as violence in games has increased. Someone send these figures to Jack so he can use them in his jihad.
...and did it in his name, according to the newspost at the bottom if this page.
So Jack Thompson is a Warrior of God now? Glad to see he's attacking something as significant as video games, and not tackling war or poverty or anything silly like that. Yeesh.
I produce electronic music and write little games. Have a look.
All he is trying to do is get publishers to show some kind of accountability. Granted, all of the problems aren't the publishers fault. They can't be blamed for stores like EB or Software Etc selling mature games to 10 year old kids.
I see a two fold approach to appeasing Mr Thompson, and a similar model already exists:
The rating system itself can be mandated by a body similar to the MPAA. Get a group of 7 - 13 people onto a committee. Set some ground rules (no one from the industry, all members have to be a parent, reasons must be given for a specific rating, etc). It can work and it doesn't stop the content from being produced. It just mildly regulates it.
It might be worth noting that the good people at Penny Arcade have already made up for Thompson's retraction, and donated $10,000 to charity in Thompson's Name. He he. Gotta love those PA kids.
Here's the quote from the PA site: "You know what, Jack? We're going to be the men you're not. You said that your insulting, illusory ten thousand dollars would go to the charity of Paul Eibler's choice. We've got a good guess that he'd direct your nonexistant largesse toward The Entertainment Software Association Foundation, a body that has raised over six point seven million dollars over the last eight years. We've just made the donation you never would, and never meant to. Ten thousand dollars' worth. And we made it in your name.
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
Forgot the attribution on TFA quote: Advanced Media Network.
I had actually started on a flash version after I read his original offer, but got caught up with other work over the weekend. I think most people realized that he was trying to present the offer as satire, but even still, if you say you are going to give money to charity and then rescind that offer, well, that's just cruel. If he had truly wanted to make his point, he could have done it without dangling the money in the face of charity.
Ah, well. Here's the extremely simplistic engine that I started with:
Jack Thompson flash game
Restatement of Contracts section 90 (2): A charitable subscription or a marriage settlement is binding without proof that the promise induced action or forbearance.
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
jackpeace@comcast.net
August 5, 2005
Patricia Vance
source: http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php
Make sure to write any letters or make any calls in the same civil manner as he himself has shown others.
Make extra sure.
No, I think that's the wrong reference. We'd be riding our bikes around and looking at boobies:
- 18&res=l
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2002-10
You cant stop it. In the 70s or so, it was comic books that they blamed. In the 80s, it was music and hair-metal that got the blame. In the 90s, it was Television and MTV and etc, and now its video games. People in America seem to have a common problem, for the most part. They can't realize that they are the ones causing their own problems.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10- 17
Read the comment made by Tycho at 12:04pm. Penny Arcade donated $10,000 to the Entertainment Software Association. All of it in the name of Jack Thompson. I am left speechless...
looks like like spam to me
The folks at Penny Arcade have gone and donated the $10,000 that Jack promised, and they donated it in his name.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/
Now *that* is class.
-Z
http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299
Enjoy it. I know I did.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Mon, October 17 2005 - 12:04 PM
by: Tycho
It was only a matter of time until a mod team took Jack Thompson's disgusting revenge fantasy and made it flesh - and, just as I suggested, it was deemed insufficient.
Thompson now claims that his repellent suggestion was "satire," and we must conclude that his financial offer was also satire, some new breed of satire apparently that I'm sure is just hilarious to people in need.
You know what, Jack? We're going to be the men you're not. You said that your insulting, illusory ten thousand dollars would go to the charity of Paul Eibeler's choice. We've got a good guess that he'd direct your nonexistant largesse toward The Entertainment Software Association Foundation, a body that has raised over six point seven million dollars over the last eight years. We've just made the donation you never would, and never meant to. Ten thousand dollars' worth. And we made it in your name.
(CW)TB
...this Jack Thompson fellow. And I say this as a games programmer, although not one who's ever worked on a violent game of any sort. Anyway.
When all this fuss kicked off over the last few weeks, I read a bit of what he has to say. And to be honest, reading what he says to people in private correspondance (and to an extent in his public statements) you get the impression that he's a rabid loon. Then on Penny Arcade, I spotted a link to an audio interview some guys did with him. I downloaded and had a listen. And to give the man some credit, he comes across much better in person. I'm much less surprised that he gets the attention he does, having listened to him - he comes across as a slightly opinionated but earnest and frank concerned guy, worried about the effect games have on kids and teenagers. At least, he does initially.
After a while though, when he's gone past the fairly logical point of discussing M-rated game sales to minors with someone who agrees with him, he starts getting a bit out there. EA in cahoots with the porn industry, deliberately aiming for them to make porno skins for The Sims? Please. Thing is, because he *seems* reasonable, people who don't know too much about games probably think he *is* reasonable. And in small doses, for short periods of time, he probably is. But disagree too much, scratch the surface of his arguments, and things suddenly get a lot stranger...
Game dev and music blog
He needs to be practicing law in Iraq. By Allah, all the jailed foreign-insurgents could use a good lawyer like him.
Give him a one-way ticket to Iraq. Just mail him his clothes.
His proposal was as follows:
Here is what was made:
All those bogus charity sites are really just satirical homages to Red Cross!
Hate to reply to myself, but I went looking for an email address and while there isn't one directly on his website, the whois listing gives the address "greytop@comcast.net", which doesn't bounce. I'll post the conversation if I get a reply.
From that text: While Hellfish seems awfully creative, I don't know if they qualify as a video game "company" and they don't seem to be "selling" the module (and as an even more minor point, it's not 2006).
Heh.
It may have something to do with the book he's releasing next month. He's a sad sack of crap that plays on the ignorance of politically-correct nutjobs. Granted, he does it very well, but he's still a sad sack of crap. I would hate to think that this post might entice someone to actually put money in his sad sack of crap's pocket, but it's a fact that should be brought to your collective attention.
I had the first out-loud laugh of the day when I saw that Amazon's "Customers viewing this book also viewed" feature returned a single entry for his book: Advanced Sex : 101 Positions and Techniques, for the Sexually Adventurous by Randi Foxx
I forgot to fill my phone tank this morning! How am I supposed to call home now? :(
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Long story short : Can you tell a company that you're not going to pay them for working on something AFTER they finish building it?
If a man shows little mental capacity... and he is called out... and the man continues to spout drivel until he is blue in the face...
you are allowed to insult him, just to let everyone know when to stop listening/reading. It's crude, and rude, but a socially effective way of notifying everyone of when to go read something worthwhile to regrow those lost brain cells.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
Jack strikes me as an extremely fearful man. It could be argued that most of what he does is driven by fear. He's afraid of gamers. He's afraid of the world. So he became a lawyer so that he could feel powerful. And look at his responses to e-mails. He obviously feels threatened by VGCATS and Penny Arcade, and he has a fight/flight reaction (He tends to choose fight). Its obvious to me that these violent, threatening responses that he makes are caused by FEAR.
He pictures the gamers of the world as these horrible violent people that might shoot him or his family at any time, and so he wants to stop it. He imagines that we're all violent and that video games made us this way. He's afraid, so he strikes out. Like a cornered dog.
But what he doesnt seem to get is that, yeah, there are violent people, and yeah there are gamers, and yeah there are a few gamers that are also violent, but they are the VAST MINORITY. Most gamers are peaceful! It's like saying "HEY, all these murderers had something in common. They ate sandwiches. Sandwiches make you murder!"
Someone should draw him a venn diagram...
If what you say is right, then perhaps we should all heap attention on him for this, a relatively minor and stupid stunt. Were we to ignore him, he might think he needs to do more to get the attention he craves. Who knows? Next time he might find some similarly narrow-minded politicians also looking for attention to prop up a sagging career (or ego), and something might actually happen.
If you don't pay attention to a 2-year old when he's doing something good or neutral, you're setting yourself up for a 2-year old doing bad in order to get attention. Likewise, if you don't pay attention to a lawyer when he's doing something relatively banal that makes him look worse than his targets, you're setting yourself up for the 2-year old version of a cranky ignored lawyer.
I'd say don't harass him, because that feeds his "footsoldier of God" self-image ("I'm ticking off the violent heathens, so I must be doing something right"). Just correct mistakes where they're made and do good, and he'll take care of making himself look bad. (And regardless of whether their motives were to humiliate the guy or benefit a charity, the HF guys were doing good, if they thought 10k was heading to a charity as a result of what they were doing.)
I was hoping for a much needed donation to the Human Fund.
I would just like to say Penny-Arcade For The Win! Nothing quite pisses someone off than doing the job they promised to do. Jack is acting like he's on a religious crusade... As in most religious crusades I hope he ends up committing (political) suicide.
I'm honestly not sure if he means that he did commit to donate the money, or that he did give reasons why he won't. I'm also not clear on why he says that he hasn't been contacted WRT which charity to pay, then says that the terms of the proposal weren't met (and therefore implies he won't pay until they have been).
I've been working on a Topics In Analysis problem sheet for most of the day. I spent a decent chunk of the remainder discovering that in a couple of weeks I have 5 supervisions inside of 3 days (each of which requires about 20 hours of hardcore work beforehand just to avoid pissing off the supervisor). I'm quite tired and moderately stressed. And taking the piss out of idiots like this makes me feel that all the brainhoning is somehow worthwhile...
For the love of God, please learn to spell "ridiculous"!!!
Write to your members of Congress, inform them that you vote and you actively follow the issues that are important to you, and then tell them that if they associate with Jack Thompson, you will vote against them when they are next up for re-election. It might be helpful to include links to Jack's initial offer, and the open letter ending his association with NIMF.
= 12259
Initial offer and game description:
http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883
NIMF letter:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid
Be polite, be civil, and be sure to include your full, real name, and your full, real address. Ask for a reply. You'll probably get one.
Believe it or not, members of Congress pay close attention to these things. They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on staff and supplies for constituent relations. I know it's cool to think that only big corporations get things done in Washington, but it's not true. When enough people speak up, they can move the government.
You can be sure that those who agree with Jack are writing letters once a week. Only by matching or beating that can we fight back.
Here's a good site to get started, for free. Find your representative and senators and write today!
http://www3.capwiz.com/y/dbq/officials/
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
What are the odds that after hearing that the guys at PA (major props to them) stepped up to fill in for his welching, and in HIS name, that he makes more legal threats. Something lame like "using his name without permission" or something.
I actually feel sorry for this idiot.
First, he now has on record a blantant proof of his lyingsarcastic paper.
Secondly, if he honestly believes that playing violent video games makes violent people. He's gotten a pretty good concept of his personal hell when thousands of indivual gamers emailed death threats to him.
I mean if I believed that pseudo-psychology on video games influence then received thousands of death threats, I'd have trouble sleeping at night.
pleasant dreams, poor jack
Yes, clearly that is the case...oh wait a second, what the hell does "promissory estoppel" mean?
/.'ers it's all in here glorious detail!
7 /promissory_estoppel.html
Well, dear
http://facstaff.gallaudet.edu/marshall.wick/bus44
On a personal note, I learned something today. Thanks Ari!
Breach of a verbal contract
hey, people have lost more on a weaker stance
Are you now or have you ever been top ranked in Quake Arena?
Me? Nah, I'm just a regular game player. Never been top-ranked in any game. Never really competed, either, except for a few LAN parties and one LAN competition (Gibfest here in Memphis.)
Why do you ask??
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Holy crap, this needs to be published in bold letters somewhere.
This is one of my biggest internet-peeves! It's like comments I saw on yesterday's Wired article that the Altamont Pass windmills kill birds and that some conservationists now oppose the windfarm.
A widely-repeated comment on the article could be paraphrased as "Wow, you just can't please environmentalists. First they want wind power, and now they want no wind power." Never mind that the word "environmentalists" encompasses so many people, from tree-camping hippy nutbags to pro-nuclear folks, that you can't successfully aggregate their opinions like that.
Just because the prevailing posts on slashdot seem to be advocating contradictory philosophies doesn't mean the individuals themselves are contradictory. It just means that the folks who are angry enough to post on various issues aren't necessary the same that are worked up enough to post on others.
As it is, I support GPS tracking for all golf balls, so I can figure out which one of my neighbors is hitting the damn things into my backyard.
isn't Jack Thompson a famous orstraylian actor? (He seems to alway portray a very Aussie Australian in his Australian films)
I don't think that games turn people into killers. In fact, I enjoy Unreal Tournament 2004, WoW, etc, which obviously involve "killing" to reach your goal. But I do support the parent posting's observations...
I think that in their rush to defend an anything-goes mentality, other posters in this thread overlook obvious connections:
1. Olympic and all world-class athletes use visualization as a part of their training. They imagine themselves doing their sport in as vivid a detail as they can. For example, a weight lifter imagines walking up to the weights, feeling the bar, gripping it, heaving it upwards, etc, etc. They imagine the perfect performance again and again, and it helps to shape their reactions to achieve it.
Your brain does not know the difference between real and imagined. That's why you can get angry "just thinking about that jerk that cut you off this morning". Obviously, higher-level functions allow us to reason and realize "it's just a memory/game" but our instincts and reflexes may not be so lucky.
2. Read Blink and see how what we view affects how we act. In particular, the experiment where people were primed (unknowingly) to be either rude or polite and how unbelievably strong the effect was. The experimenters expected noticable but minor differences and found HUGE differences in reaction that astonished them.
In light of that, someone who spends HOURS trying to grief others and demolish them (or get steamrolled themselves) in vicious ways will, as the parent comment says, definitely be more likely to be jerks. Or worse. And that's the difference, say between sports and video games: you cannot demolish 20 opposing basketball teams in a long night of playing. You can easily do this in video games, including some of my favorites.
Again, I'm not going to kill someone because I play violent games. But please don't ignore obvious and deep issues to say that video games (or porn, or whatever) have nothing to do with anything. (Read Blink's description of gender and racial biases that are very unconscious but can be accurately measured and can be affected by our experiences and then think about how games or porn present various different classes/professions/races/genders and imagine how being "primed" in this way would affect attitudes and interactions, even if they never were consciously accepted and acted upon in open ways.)
So telling people to harass someone is "informative" and a good way of proving our point(s)?
Given what we know about his replies already, lets not drag ourselves to his level. The egomaniac craves attention, and guess what examples of the things those "evil gamers who oppose me do" he is going to bring up next? And we already know that he doesn't want to have a civil debate or discussion, so why even bother talking to a brick wall?
He also has been on a losing streak lately, and now you have to add more fuel and "creditability" to his fire. He may be nuts, but encouraging people to harass him just makes us look bad. Even more so when we are reduced to his level of "acting civil."
Seriously slashdot, enough with the spamming/calling/Ddosing of people we don't like; please grow up and be more mature about dealing with things like this. I don't have a problem with informative emails(i.e. non-emotional and informative complaining about company X's defective product or really restrictive DRM), but this one is really asking people not to be civil with the intent to hammer him. Stuff like this and intentionally Ddosing sites(i.e. needing to check the RIAA's site several times, "just to make sure it is still up")make no real progress with the issue at hand.
if you want to help Jack Thompson in any fashion, including prayer, please contact him at 1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111, Coral Gables, Florida, or phone him at 305-666-4366. From his site.
I've got 101 mod points and you can't have them!
I think we ought to use Mr. Thompson for own ends. Seeing as he is so keen to sue people, maybe we should sign his email address up with every major spammer across the world and see how he reacts. I bet he'd have his legal dogs of war on their asses by the end of the week, maybe if we got really lucky the spammer and JT would use all their energies trying to eradicate each other leaving the rest of the world in peace. Oops, I hope JT doesn't decide to sue me for writing this!
You're welcome, Scott. :)
...you are correct. The mod that was created does not represent the game that Mr. Thompson actually described to be built.
However, Jack Thompson's reaction is the most telling part of this. As I understand it, instead of doing as you have done, and logically pointing out the flaws in the comparisonbetween his design specs and what was created; he is backpedalling and
saying that his original proposal was meant to be satire. Thereby giving tacit
acceptance that the mod created indeed does live up to his goal.
i.e. He could have just as easily said: "Sorry, that doesn't live up to the game
idea I outlined earlier"
By not saying that, he undermines his own arguement, by giving the impression that
he was BSing all along.
Jack "The Throwin' Samoan" Thompson: of the NFL's Cincinatti Bengals!
:)
(He was the only personnage of that nomenclature, so I put him up as evidence thereof, hehe!)
That... & WKRP, Cincinatti
*
APK
P.S.=> "Just Like You" -> Three Days Grace, Especially the first 2 verses, lol... apk
JT needs to seriously fucking die.
I believe the mod in question is a GTA mod, so Rockstar should get together with the modders and host the mod on their servers. Make the mod downloadable in exchange for a charitable donation. Tens of thousands of gamers would no doubt donate hundreds of thousands of dollars downloading the thing. The charity wins and Rockstar gets a single piece of good publicity (as they are pretty much the "worst offender" when it comes to violent games).
Cool art gallery, if you're into that sort of thing.
Sounds like they did accept through performance. Although I can't read the link (since it's dead), the blurb indicates that the GTA modders met his specifications. Once they accept through performance he cannot withdraw the offer.
In response to the other poster, neither is it a promise of a donation. This would be a promise of a donation if he had said "I'm giving $10,000 to charity" with no conditions. He on the other hand said "Make this game, and I'll give this money to charity." That is a bilateral contract -- both sides have duties to perform under the contract. By making the game the modders have accepted his contract and fulfilled their obligations under the contract. They seem entitled to their $10,000.
However, being entitled something to and collecting it are entirely different matters.
I'm just curious why no one has contacted his Bar association. From what I'm reading in these various transcripts, if they are indeed accurate, he is violating several of their ethical guidelines, particularly with his threats. In the very least, several complaints made against him to the Bar would require a review of his actions and the reflections they are making on the legal profession in his jurisdiction.
He would be taken quite a bit less seriously if his teeth were removed and he was no longer able to legally practice law.
From the Florida Board of Bar Examiners website:
"The primary purpose of the bar examination is to ensure that all who are ultimately admitted have demonstrated minimum technical competence. In order to be admitted in Florida, an applicant must have proof of good moral character and must successfully complete the Florida Bar Examination."
In the admission requirements are then the following items:
"What is disqualifying conduct?
Pursuant to Rule 3-11 a record manifesting a deficiency in the honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, or reliability may constitute a basis for denial of admission. Any of the following may be considered by the Board to be a basis for further inquiry before recommending admission:
* Unlawful conduct
* Academic misconduct
* Making or procuring any false or misleading statement or omission of relevant information, including any false or misleading statement or omission on the Bar Application, or any amendment, or in any testimony or sworn statement submitted to the Board.
* Misconduct in employment
* Acts involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation
* Abuse of legal process
* Financial irresponsibility
* Neglect of professional obligations
* Violation of an order of a court
* Evidence of mental or emotional instability
* Evidence of drug or alcohol dependency
* Denial of admission to the bar in another jurisdiction on character and fitness grounds
* Disciplinary action by a lawyer disciplinary agency or other professional disciplinary agency of any jurisdiction
* Any other conduct which reflects adversely upon the character and fitness of the applicant
Additional details about the Florida Bar, the exam, and how to file complaints can be found at http://www.floridabar.org/
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
jackpeace@comcast.net
Hmm.. 666 for a phone number. Sounds like a real homo.
If this guy wants to play with fire, I suggest somebody put up a site to publish all of Jack's threats and verbal abuse (plus nonsense) and see if he gets institutionalized.
Hit this site to read about him calling Janet Reno a lesbian, trying to ban a 2 Live Crew album, attempting to get the creator of an anti-Thompson buddy icon arrested after the creator took the icon offline, and other fun stuff.
Does anyone else find it ironic that such an outspoken opponent of violence in the media is so vicious in real life?
I produce electronic music and write little games. Have a look.
First Maureen O'Gara, now this... "and these are the days of our lives". Some people obviously have too much time on their hands...
Here's the thing, though, the title of his little satire should have tipped everyone off: it is modeled after (Gulliver's Travels author) Thomas Swift's "A Modest Proposal", which is itself a pretty well known satire of the English treatment of the Irish people. Come on, folks, if we're going to keep up with the assholes and hustlers, we need to be up on our literature and history, not just technology. In closing, though, this guy is a grade-A asshole. And that's not being sarcastic.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson/
Things are good
I actually didn't follow this. What do you mean by the link to Unicef?
"Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
I'm looking for a longtime friend of mine that I lost contact with... wanna know if you're him. If so... you'll know me as an ex-fish... holla back @917-306-0811. Let me know how you are.. the fam and everything... L8tr
Is anybody noticing a correlation between this guy and Derek Smart? I can see it now...
JACK THOMPSON'S LAWSUIT COMMANDER 3000AD...
I wonder how he would react to "William Shakespeare's: First Kill All the Lawyers".
He/she is making a reference to the unicef smurf villiage bombing commercial.
The quote I found was: if any video game company will create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006 like the following... (source - I didn't see it on Jack's website)
So, no boxes needed, no nationwide distribution. "Any video game company" sounds pretty broad - maybe you need to be incorporated, but I'm sure my LLC would qualify. Manufacturing would be tough for an electronically-distributed game. Distribution is easy via http. "Selling" might be a problem - I wonder if "donations accepted" or "payment due in 10 years" is acceptable.
Mr. "dgatwood",
Your reference to my tombstone is a clear, and actionable threat of death. Please remove it from the website "www.slashpoint.com" at once or I will pursue legal action and criminal charges against you, the owners of the website, and John Carmack.
Jack Thompson
cc
New York State Attorney's Office
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Interpol
God
Freedom: "I won't!"
Its quiet simple exactly what we need to do here.
Anyone who has EVer spoken with this person, and tried to have a rational conversation with him, should all gather up their material into a packet that can be sent to your friendly neighborhood congressmen, with the simple message that Not only is this guy off his rocker, but he's more violent than the games he's out to squash. (Calling the 14-year old names? Gee isnt he trying to stop a game called Bully?)
I wonder what Mr. Thompson thinks of America's Army. Good wholesome educational material to get enlisted into our military forces? Or another murder-simulator? He's trying to legislate morality and is attempting to pin the blame on someone other than the people who should rightly be held accountable for youth violence. It's up to the parents, it's always up to the parents, and Jack needs to get a clue about our community before attacking it.
~~ Everyone run! All has been found out!
"Quick, hit the estop!"
Most places call that the "Big Red Button", although the Jargon file appears to prefer the term "Big Red Switch".
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Or rather, it should have. I so wanted to kill whoever wrote the ending.
I love that game. The beginning is truly awesome. The middle levels are just incredible. Up until the very end, it's a great game.
Then it becomes totally suck, like they ran out of time and just threw together the ending from some old Doom levels they had lying around.
Seriously, incredible game until the very end. And frankly, if any game trained me to be a sniper, by god it's FarCry.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Read carefully. The mod could be perfect but he won't donate a penny until he hears from Paul Eibeler. Paul, hopefully, is smart enough not to send Jack anything he can use, as in this type of PR war anything written and sent is fair game as ammunition.
It's a technicality. Lawyers are great at that stuff.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Jack Thompson in person sounds like someone's uncle. Now, raise your hand if you have at least one crazy uncle....
While I think it was not fair of him to offer a donation for what he later called satire Jack Thompson made it semi clear that it was in fact a satire. While the violence was over the top his suggestion wasnt. However if you paid attention in high school or college you may have heard of a work know as "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. One of the early and most well known satires about Swift suggesting that Ireland suffering from Famine and poverty should eat and sell their children for food. Note the title of Jack Thompsons proposal "A Modest Video Game Proposal." For the record I am not siding with Jack Thompson but I'm not the smartest man in the world but when he claimed his work was ment to be satire I put 2 and 2 together so I would hope someone else has. Also I would bet the someone here may have already pointed this out but with upwards of 300 posts I'm not going sift through them all. Look it up or read it here. Its short and sadistically funny. http://www.english.upenn.edu/~jlynch/Courses/95c/T exts/modest.html
Thank God gamers are only murdering mound hounds and not Terrorists ;P
For those of you intent on making JT's game, but who don't have an avenue for "releasing and distributing," make an ISO of a CD or DVD with your game on it and head down to Lulu.com - a sort of CafePress for books and CDs - where they will gladly print on demand as people order your game. To be really thorough, you can make yourself a "company" by heading down to the local county clerk and registering for a DBA.
Not affiliated with lulu; they just seem to be convenient for this sort of thing.
I seriously think that man is pathologically violent.
He would probably get a high score on Dr. Hare's checklists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hare).
I think this is basically one of the reasons he's so opposed to games.
Being obviously prone to violence himself, he will likely transpose those character traits(as we all seem to do automatically with our own) upon the rest of humanity.
In a society, where everybody is as easy to aggrevate as Mr. Thompson, a violent videogame might indeed help encourage violent behaviour.
Assuming he does not understand that not everybody shares his inflamable nature, it would be quite logical to fear anything resembling violence.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
"It is unlikely that a publisher would publish it, and more unlikely that any retailers would carry it."
First of all, Take Two _is_ a publisher, so they could easily do that without needing anyone's approval. In fact, if I was the CEO, I'd actually do that and call it something like "Jack Thompson's Murder Simulator" just to make a point. Heck, one up him at that. Say half the profits will go to a charity, to match Jack's generous offer.
The deadline is a bit unrealistic, though. Games take more time than that to make nowadays. They could make it a cheap expansion pack to an existing game, though. E.g., to Postal 2.
As for the retailers, there was no shortage of retailers who carried other games whose _only_ advertised merit was, basically, "hey looky, we can have even more blood and gore than the previous one." Starting with, say, the old "Soldier Of Fortune" which, for whatever other merits it may have had, was advertised _only_ as "yay, now you can see more realistic carnage, complete with detailed bloody textures."
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
Doesn't he remind you of the Timecube guy? *ducks*
Not to mention that the lowlife is also a liar.
This is my third post in this thread, but since this is near the top:
- The violence was over the top - not that this is special since games normally have a single person or unit take on massive armies anyway.
- He claimed that games unfairly target police officers, but these are generally the exception rather than the rule (and these games are pretty explicit by the fact that you are playing a criminal - the police are considered vaild targets since they are trying to stop yoou.)
- Reports say that one version of the satire had a comment added, where a security guard shot the protagonist before he could do any damage. Alternativly, you could accept my modification where the character beats himself up for creating such a violent game.
- The so called "satire" against video games hardly has its intended effect. In fact, it backfires since it describing most of the violent "anti-violent video game" critics.
- Even if it is satire, it is not written as such: "
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." It doesn't take a genius to recognise that this is a challenge rather than satire. Hell, it doesn't even take an Anonymous Coward.
- Even if it is satire, you don't make a satirical claim that you will donate "$10 000" to charity. On the other hand, you can make a satirical claim that you will donate "$10 000 000 000 000 000" to charity.
The full-text of the letter is at http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=9201&cb =0.1497723&cb=0.8835369
I have heard of "A Modest Proposal" but haven't read it. In any case, the original modest proposal is valid satire as it draws a conclusion that wouldn't work in the real workld.
However, Jack Thompson's proposal "A Modest Video Game Proposal." is valid for a game, as it is a work of fiction. In fact, on a "realistic" difficulty setting, it would be just like any other game as the character gets shot dead before any damage can be done - hardly a satire at all.
This modest proposal is trying to make fun of fiction because it is fiction. This is no different than making a satire of a satire - it just doesn't work.
BTW, there's more than enough comments allegedly from Jack Thompson (known as Thompsonisms, in the same way that dumb quotes are Quaylisms.) Take one look at these comments, and take one look at this so called satire. If you consider this to be satire to bring down video games, then I hope that the devil can skate should this tactic prove successful.
Putting 2 and 2 together results in one of the following conclusions:
- Jack Thompson can't write satire properly.
- Jack Thompson is making a sature about the violent anti-"violent video game" lobbiests.
- Jack Thompson will reneg on the promise to donate to charity in the event that such a game gets created to the letter.
- That Jack Thompson forgot about the fact that sec
PennyArcade donated to the ESA, which is a lobbying group, not a charity.
That's bullshit.
For the only down link http://hellfish.gtajunkies.com.nyud.net:8090/Story .html
The hellfish team is currently looking for a dedicated server, as they served two terabytes in a day and that made their host go kaput. They're asking recommendations be sent to their email: hellfishproductions [atthe] gmail (dot)] com
[Oct. 19th, 2005|11:32 am]
With so many people dying of cancer, aids, or other diseases that desperately need funding to find cures Why would he even joke about that? With so many people, reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina... How tactless is that? With so many women and children homeless and fighting for their lives everyday... How could he promise and then not deliver.
There are about 10,000 charities who could have desperately used that money. And GAMERS were kind enough to take him up on his very public, very serious offer so that a lucky charity will have more funding. They put time into it to meet his specifications and now he is backpedalling faster than a politician.
What kind of sick, twisted LUNATIC raises the hopes of people who need that money? Honestly... He needs Bush's publicity and speech writers. Cuz then he wouldnt have made that mistake. He hurt his cause more than he ever helped it by doing this.
Thank you Penny Arcade for coming through where Jack Thompson could not. Would not.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/docs/check.jpg
Jack Tompson touched my junk liberally. he strapped me in to his lawyermobile and he couldnt keep his offensive hands off of me. he was performing many red flag touches. i couldnt believe what the fuck was going on. i told Jack Tompson the city would not approve of a loudmouth gadfly touching an underage kid for free.
can you believe it? Jack Tompson did all this. he picked me off the street, strapped my arms and legs down in the lawyermobile's passenger seat, and just wouldn't stop fondling my cock'n'balls.
they definately were red flag touches. the goddamn referee he had in the back seat kept on raising up this red flag every time he touched my junk but did Jack Tompson care? NO WAY! he just kept on doing it. I couldn't believe what the fuck was going on, indeed. I pleaded with Jack Tompson but to no avail. I told him the city would not approve of such a crazy nutjob touching an underage kid like me (at the time I was 13) without at least compensating me for the trauma and the use of my body as his own personal plaything.
this got to him, worrying about his image. he continued to fondle me, all the while ignoring the referee's red flags. then he drove the lawyermobile to my house and ejected the seat i was in! it was amazing. but surprisingly, after I woke up the next morning, my bank account had $150k in it!!! Can you believe it??????
The obvious answer is the one I chose. Fiction. The main reason is my own personal experience.
.243 5-shot bolt action with a 4.5x32 scope, a P.R. of China made 7.62x39mm SKS, a .40 cal F-N Model Fourty-Nine, and just sold a .45 Ruger. If I want to kill something, I can do it fast, effectively, and with extreme predjudice. Yet, I don't care to hunt. I want to become an even better shot, and I like to target practice. Thats all. If anyone had the means, it'd probably be me.
I live in NE Oklahoma. My nearest neighbor is a little over a mile away, and my family owns 900 acres of land. We have deer, turkeys, coyotes, and someone found some wild pigs on an adjacent piece of land a week ago. Plenty of chances to kill things.
I've played FPS's since I got a shareware version of Wolfenstein 3D WAY back in the day, and that was all. It was just fun! I of course graduated to Doom, Quake, UT, and have played Halo some also. I just like to play those kinds of games.
I currently own a Howa
When the idiots shot Rachael Scott (the girl shot for defending her Faith in Columbine), they came under a microscope. They were avid players of Quake-type games, listened to bands like Ram(m?)stein, and spoke German as well. At that time, I was 17, played those games, spoke German (exchange students were teaching me.. school firends) and I kind of listened to Rammstein, until I learned enough to translate what they were saying. Sick sick people.
Does that make me a potential killer? Not any more than sitting in McDonalds makes you a hamburger. And playing Halo doesn't make you a sniper either. I have a friend who is an honerably discharged certified sniper for the USMC (was on the crew to clean up faluja after the city was captured) and he's helping me improve. There is no way on earth you can account for the wind, angle, trajectory, ect in a game. Yeah, you can do a physics model, but nature is still unpredictable. If you don't believe me, watch an OK tornado in May. Violence in video games doesn't kill people. Stupid people kill people. I don't even hunt much less shoot people. Plus, a game isn't going to make you get out your broken shell extractor for your SKS and fix it, or clean your Glock 17C before you can fire again, or replace a wornout spring in your clip on your Ruger.
Oh yeah, and JT is a moron.
Have you considered starting your own news site, Barry? Indeed, considering that you're such an expert on all matters you should easily be able to create and run such a website, no? At least it would have proper links, wouldn't it, Barry?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.