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Jack Thompson Sues Microsoft
An anonymous reader writes to mention that Jack Thompson, in his latest bout of zealotry, has set his sights on Microsoft for their recent release of Halo 3. GameAlmighty has posted the letter to Bill Gates. "Here's the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3."
April fools was last month.
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
...because the low Earth orbit clutter problem just got a lot worse with all the pigs up there.
I mean, they must be, since I'm going to be rooting for Microsoft to win a lawsuit.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
I never thought I would root for Microsoft, but I hope they destroy Jack Thompson.
Who do you root for in a case like this? I mean, I don't always approve of Microsoft. And Thompson, well... ...I take it back. Go Microsoft! Wipe the floor with this punk!
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
Why does this guy feel the need to force his "morality" on everyone? What makes him right and everyone else wrong? He's likely just the biggest douchebag in the world, but I was wondering if anyone, anywhere can defend him.
I just wasted your mod points! HA!
First, the title of this article is a misnomer. He's threatening to sue. He hasn't sued yet.
How is Microsoft supposed to take drastic measures to ensure retailers don't sell its games to people under 17? I wouldn't be upset if Microsoft started a "17 means 17" program, where if they received proof of a retaler selling "M for Mature" games to people under 17, they would cut off that retailer from all shipments of Microsoft products for 6 months. But is it practical?
If it was Wal-mart, would Microsoft cut them off or give them a stern warning? When I was young and working temp gigs at Disney, I spent a few days calling video stores that had broken street date on video releases, getting a store manager on the line, then handing them over to a Disney manager to chew them out and threaten them with not getting future releases.
But one thing that was interesting was one of my co-workers told me how Costco got away with it all the time. They were such a huge retail channel for Disney videos, Disney couldn't afford to threaten Costco, so they just had to take a "grin and bear it" posture in those cases, filing a protest but unable to make threats.
I'm sure Microsoft doesn't want to see young kids getting their hands on violent games and they're not doing tobacco industry style strategy sessions on how to sell "Halo 3" to 10-year-olds. OTOH, how much can they actually do when they're not the ones actually controlling the point of sale?
Start a happiness pandemic
I think that God was trying to blast Jack Thompson with his lightning bolts and got Jerry Fallwell instead. A pity.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
I will not be happy until every last video game is banned. Video games are the cause of all of society's problems. Stop creating them, you godless hackers.
Are you threatening me?
Microsoft is like the publisher for Halo 3 right? So they have nothing to do with direct retail... This makes sense how? Wait never mind. I just realized who sent the letter.
He's a lunatic that feeds off attention.
Why give him ammunition?
And what's this nonsense?
Yeah... killer training... because pushing buttons on a controller is exactly like firing a rifle.
Seems like more grandstanding. I'd say Thompson is off his meds... but frankly, I'm not sure he was ever on them.
A Human Right
Answer: Humanity.
It'd make a good video game...
I don't seem to recall there being an actual law saying that you couldn't sell AO games to minors. Isn't it just a guideline?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?
...so who do I root for here?
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
...stick a plasma grenade up your arse!
I wouldnt, who knows where that things been.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
XXX#######
Jack Thompson's goal isn't to prevent Halo 3 sales.
It's quite clearly to get himself and Microsoft's lawyers in the same room at the same time. That much concentrated evil will surely create a gateway to hell and let through all the imps, pain elementals, and cyberdemons. Then his purpose for preventing people kids from playing Doom will become clear as his armies rampage unhindered and he begins his thousand year reign over all the nations of the earth!
The television will not be revolutionized.
Right, where to begin, first, This guy is clearly a media whore looking for the next journalist to blow, using sensationalist terms like "hyperviolent", someone get this guy a dictionary. He's probably threatening microsoft because they're big and thhey don't wnat bad press, they haven't done anything yet! It's a threat based on what may or may not happen a few months from now.
Secondly he apparently did this to bestbuy, guess what, NOT THE SAME THING! Bestbuy is a shop, microsoft is a programming company, they will not get sued for selling to under 17s cos they only sell to businesses, they don't actually retail anywhere near a decent %age of the games. It's not up to them to enforce the law on the retailers, it is the retailer's obligation, no one elses and certainly not this random lawyer.
Thirdly, why is this relevant to the public? It doesn't concern us, we should not be sent a copy of this, why has he done this? May I suggest he is advertising this n order to further his reputations and to try and pre-empt microsoft in anything they do in their media campaign?
Finally, who is he to be sueing anyone, it doesn't affect him remotely, the nearest he's got to violence from video gmaes is videos of video games played in order to illustrate how just his cause is not giving the full picture at all.
I feel i could have written this better, but I'm in a rush (as all 16 year olds are), just illegaly downloaded Halo from the pirate bay and can't wait to see that cool real gore!
Seriously, every time you think he can't *possibly* lower the bar on stupidity any further he goes and outdoes himself. Sure, he's proven himself to be totally ignorant of his pet hate time and time again but surely even HE ought to realise the producers of games probably don't get much say in the way retailers operate. Still, the world would be a much drearier place without nutters like him around for the rest of us to laugh at.
I seriously hope that idiot goes through with this. It'll be amusing to watch Microsoft counter-sue idiot into oblivion.
Isn't there a law about threatening a lawsuit? Could this finally be the last straw that causes idiot to be disbarred entirely? Not that he couldn't still hire another idiot to act as his attorney, but I suspect it'll become more expensive for idiot to continue threatening companies in this manner.
... because really, they're just distributing a video game. This attack on gaming is stupid, just like many other laws trying to prevent social activities. It's a futuristic combat game, there is nothing REAL about any of it. The supposedly realistic world the game takes place in is a complete fictional fabrication. Unless Jack thinks Microsoft has a fucking time machine and knows that this is the true future. :-)
... cause that's like real. Or how about violence in film? That is a depiction of real people, handling pseudo-weapons that are designed to look like real weapons, and through the use of special effects, depict the actual killing of people in as much graphic detail as possible (cause it looks cooler). He really needs to stop acting like a fucking crusader for the war on video games. I am under the impression that there is no "moral majority" backing any of his actions, and the generation of adults who grew up playing video games will just want Mr. Thompson to shut up.
Why doesn't he focus his effort on banning violence from news reports
And if he brings up the recent VT shootings, from what I understand of Cho's background, that he didn't play video games.
Can someone please throw a cream pie at Thompson, like ASAP? Someone already nailed BillyG with a pie, someone needs to get Jack.
He just kicked the 800-pound gorilla in the nuts.
This is so wonderful. This story just made my day.
You are still innocent until proven guilty. What's changed is what they do to innocent people. - notnAP, #26891325
... Laywer Jack Thompson was killed in a tragic incident at his home a few minutes ago, early reports seem to indicate assassination by means of a thrown chair. The state of the scene have led police to believe a large ape like creature is to blame, local Zoo's have been contacted.
"I may be full of crap about this game, and I may be wrong, and that's fine." -Jack Thompson
greatest troll that ever lived
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
A truly wonderful occurrence as a mentally lacking persona is taking a hulking giant head on. Only that, he is no david.
and this is a chance for microsoft to clean up some of the bad karma that they have accrued over the last 25-30 years.
Read radical news here
As a parent I wish to let someone have the responsibility of bringing up my kids right, I am tired or trying to stop them doing things that they shouldn't...
I am going to buy Halo 3 for my own enjoyment, and I want Jack Thomson to personally come to my house here in PA and keep them out of the room so they don't see the graphic violence as I take the convenant and flood once more... You go Jack, I assume because your self righteous head is so far up your own self righteous ass, that you won't even need me to pay you...
I love you Jack, you are my hero, I hereby grant you all of my parental responsibility, since you are so much better at it than me. I urge parents on slashdot to do the same.
The man is an idiot, I bet the guy who reads Bill's mail got a good laugh. Jack Thomson should NOT breed.
I'm Australian. So unless you've got a thing for over-zealous, insane lawyers (or fat, dirty legal entities with rights similar to an individual), I'd suggest your girlfriend. Wait-
Hopscotch - an online comic.
Can we please return parental control back to parents? I was under the impression that Thompson et al preach traditional values and the "reinstitution" of family. If you really want to feed the lawyers, please ask the courts to force families to be responsible for raising their kids, not to take the responsability away from it. Thank you.
Note to self: get a sig.
Not that I would be against a law to state that it is illegal for someone to sell mature video games to kids, but come on a violent video game is way less dangerous then drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol. 99.9% of kids can play violent video games and not be any way affected by them. And those that are affect usually have other contributing factors that make it so. There is no way Microsoft could assure that there game is never sold to children. Look at all the before mentioned products, they still get sold to kids all the time even though its illegal by law. Jack Thompson is fighting the wrong people. He needs to be helping parents learn how to be parents. Most young kids don't have the money to buy a 50 - 60 dollar game. Let alone a several hundred dollar console.
I can't figure out whether I want the media to just ignore the guy, or to put a camera on him 24/7. He always seems on the brink of doing something so incredibly awesomely stupid that it will permanently ruin him. One of my favorite things about Jack Thompson is that he ALWAYS references his past accomplishments. "I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers---". Instead of firing off pointless lawsuits, that only attempt to bully game makers and retailers, why don't you set up an infrastructure to INFORM non-gamer parents what games are acceptable to buy for your kids. If you are going to attack microsoft, you obviously have the time and money.
It's the same argument that has been used against gun manufacturers. Look, you shouldn't sue the manufacturer for providing a product that is used to hurt others -- n.b., in the case of video games, there is no 'hurt' involved. Sue the god damn person that SOLD the product, if you need to sue anyone. Better yet, Jack Thompson should just forget about halo 3, and do us all a favor: STOP EXISTING. The responsibility is not the one who made it, but it is the one who gave/sold it to the offending party. I'm sick of morons.
This article takes a whole new meaning if you are from Australia. Its kind of like saying Mick Dundee is sueing MS. (BTW - Australian Jack lives here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0860233/
The quote (bah, I didn't RTFA) says nothing about age.
Just let him do it, and then when he sues, Microsoft can just tell him that they didn't sell to anyone under 17" of height. Or cm, or mm, or lbs, or you get the idea.
Because as we all know, the louder people yell and scream, ALONE -- the stupider they look.
Just ignore him and let him do whatever he wants -- it's almost a non-issue.
On a related note, if you are a parent whose child is buying things without your knowledge that you wouldn't approve of well.... you suck ass as a parent. Go shoot yourself now.
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
Whom.
-- Jack O'Neill (two L's)
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
How do I know?
* The writing style is juvenile, and though Thompson may be a fool, he is a lawyer, which means he knows how to write official-looking documents, and that was too casual for even a professional memo.
* Who the hell has ever heard of GameAlmighty? Attention whores like Thompson don't CC legal threats to unheard-of small gaming blogs with about a hundred readers. They CC it to NBC or something.
* Who the hell has ever heard of GameAlmighty? Claiming to have received a letter from Jack Thompson is an extremely effective way to get hits.
* Thompson already sent a letter to Bill Gates, about Counter-Strike. If he was going to send a letter about Halo 3, it would likely go to Steve Jobs.
* Again with the writing style. It just feels very, very wrong. Can we get a literature/psychology professor/professional to analyze these?
I know I'm going to get modded down for this, but I'll be the one laughing. Or maybe you will, and I'll be laughing at myself. I could be wrong.
There's an old saying that says pretty much whatever you want it to.
At what point in time did it become the company's responsibility to enforce the law? Shouldn't JT be going after the Justice Deparment or Police Departments or something like that? If a law is not being enforced it's the law enforcement entity's problem.
Of course, if it isn't a law and it's just an industry accepted practice, shouldn't the industry that is committing the offence be held accountable? Why hold MS responsible is Walmart sells something in a way they shouldn't?
Can someone please explain this without using the word chewbacca?
Please crush Jack Thompson in a very public way. Show the world how mistaken he is, and make him a laughingstock.
For this, I would change my position and buy an XBox.
Thank you.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
... perhaps it's time Jack Thompson had his own icon.
It could look like that Marge Squirrel from that episode of The Simpsons when Marge was all upity against Itch and Scratchy.
Just a thought.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the ESRB's rating system have no legal ground at all? Therefore it's not illegal for stores to sell to u-18s....depends on store policy.
He's a lunatic that feeds off attention.
Why give him ammunition?
Because the news media is SUPPOSED to EXPOSE such abuses of power - to give us warning. Then we can dodge, and mobilize opposition, etc.
Keeping silent about such abuses perpetuates them. Talking about them gives their opposition more intelligence (in the military sense) for organizing against them, and lets them know that action is needed.
The most powerful propaganda technique is to selectively not report. The media already does this with entirely too many things that they want put over on the population. (Ever notice how they don't tell you about a lot of tyrannical laws until they day they go into effect, rather than warning you when they're in the legislature (when you could do something about it), or up for executive signature (when you might have a slight chance to abort it)?)
For once we've got a petty tyrant who's knotting THEIR shorts, too. So let's not play into his hands by trying to get the media to shut up and let him perpetrate his evil unimpeded.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
it would be one case I would hope Microsoft wins. Seriously, Jack Thompson is a blithering idiot. I find it quite funny that there are many games out there far more violent than the ones he chooses to single out, yet it is like he is oblivious, Oh wait, that's right... he is!
What really amazes me is the man hasn't gone after the Wii(at least to my knowledge). Come on, a game like Red Steel should be a big fat target for this guy. Not to mention Metroid Prime 3, which is a game that is making some buzz. You would think the controls used in these games would seriously disturb him, those Wiimotes are more like guns than any 360 or PS controller could ever be!
... sue him first.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
good luck with that jack.
and by 'good luck' I mean, 'I hope you die in a fire'
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
It's yet to be seen, though, if the 800 pound gorilla even noticed the kick. I'm thinking pleather bean bag chairs vs a lightly tossed baby sneaker.
Actually, MS's games division are really nice guys. At some point, MS basically decided to open a console division, and did so by throwing money at the most passionate game dorks they could find, then giving them space to do what they wanted to do. Because the division is reasonably young, and the older executives largely keep their hands off of it, it's not plagued by the infighting that the rest of MS is.
I originally wanted the Xbox to fail miserably in the market, lest the beast from redmond do to consoles what they did to operating systems. But, by and large, the games division has been run by a bunch of stand-up guys doing good stuff. And I'm not just saying that because I've met them, but also from what they've done. You have to admit, the Xbox 360 is no MSN.
The ______ Agenda
Why hasn't someone started one against J.T. for wasting the court's time and the public's money on frivolous suits? With this guy's case record, he shouldn't be allowed near a court room again.
No, it would read: That's the dumbest fucking letter I've read since I've been at Microsoft. Regards, Bill Gates.
JEG / SYD / AU
Agreed.
Jack is the biggest joke in the game industry already but he also costs people millions in litigation for his causes. You remember that old line "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" it's become "it's all fun and game until someone litigates" and Thompson has proven he's willing to do that.
Hell just when you think Thompson might give the public a break for a month, he comes out again such as this.
Suddenly, "This is the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard while I have been with Microsoft!" was heard outside Billg's office...
I am tired of Mr. Thompson's flawed argument that anyone effectively "trained" on any violent video game anywhere. Firing a rifle/pistol/whatever in a video game is nothing like firing its real-life equivalent. For starters, breathing comes into play, as well as the weight of the weapon and the motion of the trigger finger. A video game controller allows you to separate all these things from the motion of the crosshairs. Your thumb and pinky move separately rather nicely, the controller itself is fairly light weight, and when you breathe, the joystick doesn't move. Nobody can train for firing a real, live gun by shooting at elites and grunts with illuminated pixels!
This is like goatse vs tubgirl.
I love when people are so evangelical about games being violent. The world is violent, turn on the news. Why not sue the government to stop dropping bombs. Those images of people with their brains blown out all over the ground hurts kids.. and guess what, that's someone's dad, brother, son. Its not a set of bytes on your pc.
He's a member of the old guard of lawyers, the fast-talking, slam-dunking moralizers. He doesn't care about the facts, facts have a godless liberal bias. It was proven that Cho Seung-Hui did NOT play any video games, much less trained on them- but that didn't stop Ol'Jack from jumping in the minute the first VT student's body hit the floor to claim that he was a GTA maniac.
The worst part is that he actually got airtime to say this complete fabricatio`on national television
So sad...
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
This guy is a lawyer, how can he get away with threatening legal action if they allow a sale to "anyone" that is under 17. I am pretty sure there are a few places that Microsoft sells software that does not have a law restricting the sale of a game in that age group. I could understand if it was just a nutcase without legal training, but this is a nutcase that has passed the bar. You think he would understand that as a lawyer he is not allowed to threaten the wrath of law for retribution against legal acts that he personally disagrees with.
I really had to concentrate.
I still have to concentrate. Keeping a journal helps (I use TiddlyWiki). By creating regularly a journal, you can do a summary of what you have accomplished, and you can map out what you want to do.
It comes down to planning. Start with a plan, then concentrate on the separate steps of the plan.
It is a little bit like repeating a mantra. Sometimes working on a project gets boring, or you desperately need to understand something, or design something, repeat to yourself the end goal of your target.
Also, try to stop thinking about the mountain of work that lies ahead of you. If you have a large project, thinking about the amount of work that needs to be done can very easy demotivate you. When that happens, concentrate on the small thing that you need to accomplish NOW.
I started my project in August last year. I started with a kind of plan. I had the following goals :
By creating a plan, and always concentrate on my end goal, I was able to start this project, and write pages of upfront documentation before implementing each part of the digital library.
By the end of November, most of this library was complete, in December I started designing my architecture, and the ISA was ready by Januari.
Do not get distracted by possible optimisations. Once I got together my ISA and implementation architecture, I had to go ahead with building a real system from the libraries I designed, even when there where some small, non-critical errors in it. Keeping a journal can help here, too. Write about your possible changes in it, so that you have a reference, but let them alone until your system works.
One has to keep oneself in line with the desired goal. For some people this comes natural (although I tend to assign to such people a lack of imagination), for others, especially with a vivid imagination, this is not so easy. I presume it comes down to conditioning.
I was also tired of myself, of not being able to do something that I really wanted, or at least start something and really go through with it, until it was finished, and note merely barely working.
Do not forget to take rest, but take a rest which clears your head. For that I have my garden, and I like to read, but not difficult things (this should only be done in the context of your project). It should relax your brain from the concentration that you need to focus on your project.
The above list is just a summary of the things that I have done. I think it comes down to : concentrate on your plans, concentrate on your goals, file away things that are not relevant to what you want to do.
And I think one more important aspect : be prepared from the onset to say to yourself that you will not be sorry dumping all the rest of your ideas, at the advantage of the one thing that you would like to work on.
/. needs a "fuckyoujackthompson" tag.