Referee Recommends Disbarment For Jack Thompson

spielermacher writes "GamePolitics is reporting that Jack Thompson — the lawyer every gamer loves to hate — has apparently lost his court case and is facing disbarment. The Referee in the case has gone beyond the Florida Bar's request for a 10-year disbarment and is recommending a lifetime ban. From the Final Report issued by the court: '... the Respondent has demonstrated a pattern of conduct to strike out harshly, extensively, repeatedly and willfully to simply try to bring as much difficulty, distraction and anguish to those he considers in opposition to his causes. He does not proceed within the guidelines of appropriate professional behavior ...' All I can say is that it's about time."

Comments

Free Speech?

[gillbates]

While I can understand why we should not censor what someone else creates, a game doesn't really qualify as speech. Sure, it might make a political point, but no one buys video games because of the political angle. If they did, the hottest games on the market would be titles like: "Run for Senator 2008," and "Executive Power: Iran Nuclear Diplomacy," and "Capitol Gang: Election 2008".

Games are meant for fun, not political statements. Instead of trying to cast game censorship into the mold of free speech rights, we would do better simply to establish the rational basis for freedom of creativity, and the "pursuit of happiness". It is less dishonest and has a greater overall positive impact on those with a freedom-vs-security mindset.