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Thompson Declines PAX Debate, Blames Penny Arcade
GamePolitics is reporting that Jack Thompson, who was invited to debate at this year's Penny Arcade Expo is now blaming the PA gents because he turned down the debate. Essentially, PAX organizers were aiming to keep the debate a secret until the event actually happened. When Thompson declined the invitation, he did so in a public forum, revealing their intentions. He now claims that he turned it down because PAX wanted to use the event as a publicity stunt ... somehow. From Jack's letter to GP: "What GamePolitics or others need to do is get to the bottom of why they really wanted to announce the debate one hour before it occurs. Now THAT would cause a stampede that would not allow them to have passes in the hands of those who want to go. I'm surprised, Dennis, frankly, that you have so naively taking this dodge. I believe what happened is that they thought I would never accept the debate offer, and they planned to use that for p.r. purposes."
Would be like inviting GW to a moveon meetup. It'll never happen.
Worried that PA would receive publicity over this incident, Jack Thompson provided... er.. free publicity.
" I believe what happened is that they thought I would never accept the debate offer, and they planned to use that for p.r. purposes."
And then you didn't. And now they will. GG Jack!
Well shoot... isn't the whole point of a PUBLIC debate to get, I don't know, PUBLICITY?
"I believe what happened is that they thought I would never accept the debate offer"
Since you didn't, the world will never know...
So typically, if PAX wanted to use him as a publicity stunt, wouldn't they make his invite, oh, I don't know... public??
Nice try Jack.
If I were attempting to make as unbiased an environment as possible for such a debate, as held at a games expo, keeping it secret would be the first idea coming to mind. Announcing months before hand is just asked people passionately for/against Thompson to buy up tickets and otherwise destroy the levelheadedness of the crowds. Waiting until the last minute is perfectly understandable.
Unless you're Jack Thompson apparently.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
The guy is a nutjob (oh damn, I just got sued) but even a total assclown (gah, restraining order!) knows he shouldn't enter a place where everyone there wouldn't mind if he disappeared of the face of the Earth! (No that's not a threat.. Jeez!)
He obviously brought it to media attention because any attention is good attention. The guy has to be the center of controversy whenever possible. (He's a closet gamer, don't let him fool you. He only started throwing lawsuits when Rockstar released GTAIII on PS2 as a temporary exclusive. He only had an X-box, and the rest is history)
This never was going to happen. Great idea, real chance to get some fun debate, but never would have happened. One way or another, Thompson would have refused because it wasn't a battle on his terms. He knows, this, as did Gabe/Tycho most likely.
Plus, given the amount of literal death threats given to Thompson, I think that the PA guys did the right thing.
I assume there are a few reasons PAX wanted to hold off the announcement.
The first reason would be security, Jack Thompson is a "polarizing" individual, to put it mildly. It would only take one crazy gamer to take any kind of shot at Thompson to make him a martyr. Making the announcement onsite would allow the PAX crew to avoid anyone planning in advance to engage Thompson either with hostility or protest.
Secondly, this would be the huge surprise for the audience. PAX has made it sort of a staple to have some kind of surprise for the show.
Thirdly, pick a smaller reason, but with Jack any reason could balloon overnight. Between now and PAX Jack could go further off the deep end with some of his crusages. Perhaps he would decide to sue PA for something outside the scope of his PAX committments. In either case, PAX would lose the ability to quietly remove Jack.
Any of the three would be enough for me to want to keep Jack on a short lease. However, this could still happen, but I would expect PAX to have greater security at the actual venue.
I'm sure this will be redundant by the time I actually finish it and get it posted, but Penny Arcade needs to call Jackie on this right now. "Okay, Mister Thomson. We'll allow publicity before the event. We'll do our best to provide adequate security for the debate. See you at PAX."
If there's one set of online comic writers whose fans will listen to them when they call for moderation, it's Tycho and Gabe. Anyone going to PAX is going to be well aware of how much furor any pie-in-the-face attempt is going to create, and none of them will want to provide more fuel for the anti-gaming fire.
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
You can tell he's a skilled litigator by the way he manages to look less professional than two dudes who draw a webcomic featuring dirty jokes about video games.
/syle
Is it just me, or does the sight of Jack Thompson accusing others of PR stunts set one all a-giggle?
This man can't be serious.
So you can laugh all you want to...
PA gave him a chance to talk directly to this "evil" generation he seems to hate so much. SO if he truely wants to help people wouldn't be speak to this generation and attempt to get us away fromt hese evil games we play?
The guy could rationally talk and get on the front page of every game site in 1 switch shocking hour or so. Yet instead he declined and proves he doesn't care what we do, just cares for the money and/or fame.
I like muppets.
...not of word of this can be found on Penny Arcade's site. This tells volumes about the real media whore in this story, i.e Thompson.
I always found PA to be upright about things and there again. Besides these guys are involved in more than just games thru the likes of their annual toy drive.
I was going to set up a FREE BRICKS booth at PAX. but I guess that's down the crapper now
Yes, he's playing directly into their plans! He knew PA would expect him to decline the offer, and thus he declined. He knew they would expect him to make a hystrionic claim that PA was once again conspiring against him, and thus he did. The goal is to make PA think that they completely understand Thompson and can predict his every move. Thompson will continue to play into this belief until they invite him to a private chat at their home to discuss the issues of violence in media. Again, exactly as they will be expecting, Thompson will suggest a game of his own to "break the ice". Two cups of tea, one spiked with iocane powder, which is tasteless, odorless, dissolves instantly in water, and is one of the deadlier poisons known to man. The PA crew must pick a cup and both drink from it, while Thompson drinks from the other. Then while they debate which to drink from, Thompson plays his card and does the unexpected -- he cries "what's that?!" and points, and while they aren't looking, he switches the cups. As they drink, he cackles and reveals his nefarious scheme!
Except before it is revealed who will fall victim to the poison, ninjas attack and behead all three of them. The last one to leave steals the Pac-Man watch.
At least, that's what the comic I drew while I was high said.
The enemies of Democracy are
The problem with Jack's response is that he is turning down a perfect opportunity to defend his position on video games because supposedly Penny Arcade wants to use it as a "publicity stunt". Now doesnt it sound like him "calling out" Penny Arcade on their evil tactics is just that? My advice Jack, is when deciding when and how to make yourself known dont go for the situations that make yourself look like a brazen coward. So far you are 0-3, Im kinda looking forward to actually hearing you debate, if its even possible for you to "man up" enough to do it.
Thompson could use a large helping of public humiliation. I wonder what Penny Arcade had in mind, if anything at all. I wish that fool would go crawl back to the rock he was hatched under. Some one should disbar him for anything that they can get him disbarred for.
I'm actually slightly grateful to Jack Thompson. Someone competent could easily convince the majority of people that games like GTA are a bad influence on children. Thompson, on the other hand, is a walking PR disaster- he alienates people with even shreds of intelligence. He manages to consistently lose cases that even Darl McBride could win in court. Not to mention all the publicity he gives Rockstar...
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
Whoever at PA who thought this up is a pure marketing gennius. For the cost of a long distance call to a lunatic they managed to garner huge amounts of free publicity. No matter what crazy old jack did they would garner publicity. Pure genius.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
because he still owes Gabe, Tycho, and Child's Play $10K. Cheapskate or coward, you decide!
You may all go to Hell and I will go to Texas - Davy Crockett
Look, he doesn't trust Penny Arcade. Since they stad for everything he's against, why should he?
Penny Arcade wanted to control all publicity. They wanted everything on their terms. They did not allow Thompson any flexibility. Didn't they consider that Jack might have wanted something out of it as well?
Would it really have killed Pennny Arcade to have announced this debate in advance? Is their security so hopeless that they can't protect a fairly anonymous guy from a crowd of middle class hobbyists? Why not let Jack accept the alleged security risk? While they may have lost out on the big splash of making it a big surprise, they would have still had an excellent item. It seems like a better compromise than what they ended up with.
He has a point, that's a pretty greasy thing for PA to do. They're using it for publicity, nothing more.
Imagine, Jack Thompson, surrounded by gamers and geeks, trying to kill him, zombie-style...
I'm surprised nobody's figured it out yet - the whole character of "Jack Thompson" is a Penny Arcade publicity stunt. The "John Smith" style name and the bitingly satirical parody of "think of the children" paranoia should have been enough to make everyone suspicious, but even if that wasn't enough, the whole scam should have been obvious after they hired that ranting homeless guy to play "Jack" on TV. I guess all you have to do is dress a crazy guy up in a suit and the news media figures he must deserve a microphone too.
Is that he'd get proven wrong in an open debate. Security can be handled, and that shouldn't be his concern. Either he's prepared and willing to deal with an open debate where he his opinions have to stand on their merits against the arguments of people (who know what they're talking about), or he's not and he's afraid that he'll get his ass handed to him. I figure that he knew that he'd get destroyed in a debate, but also feared that the PA guys would make the announcement that he bailed. So, rather than let them do something like that, he decided to try to play it up like he had to bail because the whole situation wasn't right. Too bad that he's really not smart or cunning enough to pull off a plan like that.
Regards, Ian
but I'm pretty sure you get a Cunning Stunt Bonus for it.
+++ATH0
Gem from Tycho:
All I want is to put a video camera in a room with Jack Thompson, John Dvorak, Bob Cringely, and George W. Bush, and see which one makes the most amount of sense.
Jack "video games will rape your kids" Thompson
John "I support John McCain because he likes Steve Ballmer" Dvorak
Robert "self-proclaimed sex-symbol dorkus" Cringely
George W. "God put sand on this earth so we could nuke it into glass" Bush
Tough call...
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
The guys so much of a pussy that he won't support his position in a public forum.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
On their terms? "Their terms" basically were, 1) Keep this secret until 1 hour before the debate and 2) let us handling marketing. Not exactly a gag order there.
Flexibility? This is not an 20-year binding contract, its a contract asking Jack Thompson not to blab about the debate beforehand.
The guy has been demonizing video games for almost a DECADE. The guy has been featured on nearly every major U.S. news network from CNN to Fox News. This is not some "fairly anonymous guy". Anyone who watches/reads about the news has at least heard of this guy at least once. You have to be pretty ignorant to have not heard of him by this point, especially if you're posting in the video games section of a news site.
Doesn't take much imagination. Watch the last scene of Shaun of the Dead.
Maybe it's a secret publicity stunt!
"Hey.. those nice Romans want me to come down to the collesium to talk about Christianity. Sounds like a rousing and obviously level headed forum for debate, don't you think?"
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Always gotta pull politics in with some off-hand swipe at Bush. I'm SO sorry you hate him so much it keeps you up at night.
PLEASE go somewhere else with your tripe. I, for one, am tired of hearing it from both sides.
I don't know why Slashdot seems to be such a home for comedian wannabes.
Honestly, that's a darned good point. I loathe myself for saying this, but I agree with his decision to turn down the invitation. It wouldn't have mattered how well he argued his point (not that I think he could have), he would have been utterly eviscerated on that stage by the audience. It was a lose-lose situation and he was wise to decline it.
That said, coming up with BS reasons for such a decline was not a great idea. I mean, I RTFA, and after reading his email I kinda had the feeling he might have had a few too many bloody mary's before writing it. Hell's Angels? "I'm surprised, Dennis, frankly, that you have so naively taking this dodge."? He had to know this email would get published - I would think he might try proof-reading it.
The real problem though I don't think is Jack Thompson. He's a waste of our time, a lost cause. He's fanatical, and you can't change that. The problem is that the political world and the American people as a whole haven't figured this out yet. We need to work on educating them, rather than simply humiliating the frontman (which at this point has gotten far too easy). I think Penny Arcade would be awesome to suggest another debate - this time in the Senate. I think it's a fantastic idea to get some people who know about games to talk with him about it in a forum, but let's do it in a place that could actually matter, instead of just preaching to the crowd at PAX. Go get'em boys!!
It seems to have escaped your attention, but the current president happens to be Bush. When taking a well-merited swipe at politicians, there is no more appropriate target than the president. And that, whether you like it or not, is Bush.
Just because you happen to like that guy is your problem. And the fact that he's the president is his problem. As president, he'll take whatever criticism he gets for his actions, whether you like it or not.
No, privately declining is a good idea. Or even publically declining at the start.
Accepting and then running and whining in public because the PA, apparently, have legit security concerns about the appearance and didn't want it public is just stupid.
He was going to fact a hostile audience no matter what, people who 'support' him, if such people exist in actuality, are not going to purchase tickets to PAX just to see him. He could either face a group of gamers who had no idea he was about to show up, or he could face hostile gamers very opposed to him, which could, indeed, have some nutjobs.
Considering that Jack's whole reality is based around the theory that games can make people dangerous lunatics, it's sorta hard to understand why he'd be willing to show up in front of gamers with advanced warning. I'm not entirely sure that would be a good idea, and I think he's full of crap, but there is a lot of hatred for him, and there are a lot of irrational people out there. There might only be one in one hundred thousand deranged lunatic gamers out there, but they'd almost certainly be in the audience if this was announced publically.
I'm really left with three options, in decreasing probability:
1) He never intended to debate, and thus picked some random reason to back out. If PA was going to announce it, he would have exited because he didn't want them to do so.
2) He was hoping he would be attacked, or met with some sort of protest and protesters that would leave him unable to actually debate, and he could then point at it and say how horrible video games and gamers are, and PA foiled his plans by not actually telling anyone, and he then realized he might actually have to debate someone.
3) He doesn't actually believe the crap he's spewing, and thinks that video games are completely harmless.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Oh, and he never proofreads anything. His dribbles are always filled with odd typos and random punctuation and all sorts of crazy-looking unprofessional things.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
I'd buy that game...