I'll be the first to agree that children shouldn't be playing violent video games, but that's why there is the rating system to begin with. As long as the stores don't sell the games they shouldn't to minors, then the video game industry has done their job.
Once a game leaves a store, parents are responsible. Don't blame the industry if you buy little Tommy Crackdown and he ends up thinking that killing is great fun.
Jack, the debate has been done to death and there is nothing your wacky little self can do about it. Video games are the future of the media world and nothing will stop them from dominating the market.
If the government wants to keep the bad games out of the hands of the children, then start a program to inform the parents about the rating system. The problem lies with the parents of these children and not with the industry.
For less information about this video, hit the non-existent Web site, Moralkombatmovie.com or their MySpace page.
[Updated: Ready the party favors kids, because our favorite wacky lawyer could possibly lose his license to practice law. Jack Thompson has been recommended for review by the Florida Supreme Court after 5 accounts of professional misconduct. What does this mean for all us gamers?
It means that Jack could be facing possible disciplinary action and disbarment, which also means no more lawsuits for Jack against video game companies. Imagine a world without wacky Jackie and his silly e-mails to public officials. No more giant posters in the court rooms and no more personal messages from Jack claiming “I told you so” every time a kid shoots someone.
I think I might actually miss the old guy. Wait, no I won’t.
But Jack isn’t going to take this lying down. When GamePolitics.com asked Jack for an official response, he responded:
A referee is appointed and we have a trial. The Supreme Court reviews it later. The trial isn’t going to happen, however. I have sued The Bar in Circuit Court. It’s in far more trouble than I am.
[Via GamePolitics.com and video from 99Lives.org]]
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21 comments + 95764 views
I met Jack Thompson.
Shouldn't the name be MORAL Kombat? because that's the name at the end of the trailer.
isn't it called Moral Kombat?
no fucking way....no way. they tied 9/11, columbine, and ODDWORLD? in this horseshit?!
well... never mind.
Dear Jacko,
You kind of suck at life. You make me very angry by being an attention whore. You have no actual basis for any of your arguments, and you draw from isolated incidents that are the exception and not the rule. FPS's don't teach you how to shoot a gun, flight simulators do not teach you enough to fly a plane. Obviously, you have never shot a gun, flown a plane, or played a video game, or you would not have said that. It would be appreciated if you would find another country to spout your attention seeking bullshit to, because few other countries would be as lenient as we have. If you would, GTFO.
Your friend,
~Kinjiro
P.S.
DIE
i was thinking the same thing velcro man.
he's just an ambulance chaser going after the untapped market of video games.
I fixed the errors. Sorry for the confusion guys.
Booooo
Methinks Jacko needs a history book if he thinks the past 20 years have been the only point in time violence has been a "virtue".
Also Wtf for oddworld being in the clip
i guess drinking alien beer and farting is ruining america these days.
Oddworld is a violent video game related to the attacks on 9/11?
And here I thought you just possessed farts...
I'm not worried, this thing loses credablitiy when they mention cain and abel and the only people who are talking is a bunch of old white wasp-y men and one token black young girl. (all the token people rolled into one)
The only people who are gonna see this thing are the people who already agree with it, no one else.
also I think the whole oddworld thing is a stab at torture and pagenism, what with the shock therpy and moon worshipping
Tying it to Columbine isn't new, but 9-11? What the fuck? I heard that one of the terrorist who did that act actually had a copy of MS Flight Simulator or something like that, but the accuracy of that info I heard of somewhere is a little vague.
This damn movie is just playing off of anti-game technophobia and appealing an audience of morons to get attention through shock value. My advice don't watch and advise others to follow suit.
@Kinjiro
You started off good with your comment but ended it with P.S. DIE? Jack has a real habit of finding every reason he can to prove we are violent, aggressive, and/or kill-happy people and something like that would just give him more reason to think that he's doing the right thing and continue onwards. Just a thought.
But more than likely JT will not see this, but you never know.
I found the Oddworld clips a little weird too, considering the video game is all about environmental issues and such. The game, I find is actual a great influence on gamers and speaks volumes about respect of other people, the environment and such.
Proves how uninformed they really are.
Penny Arcade had this up like a month ago
Video Games are the new Rock N' Roll it's just something that parents can blame to make for their shitty parenting skills.
But without video games training players to be pilots, Pacific Air Flight 121 would have crashed !!
I think Destructoid should join Kotaku in refusing to say JT's name at all. Either go with the **** ******** approach, or do the more entertaining letter rearrangement approach. I mean, what good can Phantom Jocks do?
lol im going to watch this and laugh at Jack Thompsons face.
GTA is 3rd person not 1st get your facts straight
( postel, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines are the only 2 1st person shooter games that reward you for killing cops but they both share something and that is they suck as an game )
Lol @ Oddworld. That's SO violent and life changing. Same with WoW! Hahaha. God, I hate Jack Thompson. Why can't he just give up? I mean if video games were ever banned does he realize every gamer would pretty much go ballistic and obliterate him? Haha, really though. This has been getting out of hand for awhile now. It's reached a whole new level of annoying.
I agree Necros. I refuse to write about the guy.
I was under the impression that this movie was going to be looking at both sides of the argument. Naturally, this means Jack Thompson will have something to say, but I didn't think he was really part of the "team" bringing this documentary out.
Oh.......thats it jack im Tired of this bullshit, prepare for an onsluaght of time consuming, but well written and good natured letters explaining why you are right for caring but wrong for blaming the wrong things, so maybe next time champ, maybe next time.
That's fucking disgusting.
@Angelsdontburn
You Couldn't be more right. The day somebody steps in and successfully puts a ban on games. JT dies within the week. by none other than some idiot gamer thus proving his point and putting the nail in our coffin
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/02/03/jack-thompson-faces-florida-bar-disciplinary-hearing/
they might revoke his law license =D im so happy guy lets rejoice but the bad thing is we cant do anything about his documentary even thoguh it creates states of fear wow the only down side that comes from freedom of speech and expresion assholes like jack can say what they want and last time i checked an airplane wasnt piloted using a keyboard
The problem with not using his name, or using substitutes for his name (my personal favorite is "Hampton J. Sock" by the way) is that when people do Google searches for "Jack Thompson" they'll be more likely to only find stuff from the Dark Side, rather than what is posted about him here, on the Light Side.
On the topic of the video, this isn't really ALL about Jack Thompson. I mean, we've got other nutcases involved in this one too, like David Walsh, Dave Grossman, and the aforementioned Joe Lieberman.
I think this was the most telling quote from the whole thing:
"This type of issue is... politically, a- a win-win type of issue. Um, it's the issue of where you're protecting the children."
She's basically admitting that the whole reason for this mess is that it's politically expedient and profitable, though that probably wasn't her intention. Intentional or not, however, she is absolutely correct.
There's a difference between protecting our children and out-and-out censorship.
We have something else to protect here, too: The Constitution. The same document that allows windbags like Jack Thompson to declare war on video games and threaten all who oppose him.
As a devout Christian, Mr. Thompson should stop pretending as if video games invented violence when his religion has been at the center of nearly every major conflict of the last 2000 years.
lolz, obviously no one would be able to shoot a gun or fly a plane without FPS and flight simulators. .
Jack shows great distinction by being so outspoken while simultaneously clamping his hands over his ears. The breakdown of the family as a group in our society is the ultimate cause of socially dysfunctional children who are adults in training. No legislation will ever fix that, but could potentially ruin things for game enthusiasts.
Psh. Just kidding. Truth is . . .
The parents are victims. The children are victims. Video games aren't a scapegoat, they're the devil, you can tell because he always takes such pleasurable forms. And you know . . . I told'em. I said, "Sure, piloting a learjet is fun and all, but why open pandora's box?" I just hope that those muslims find a good lawyer for their class action suit. Flight simulator owes them big-time. Because you are what you pretend to be.
(Just for the record I didn't create that "pretending" quote, I heard it in this eye-opening video set to a hauning piano background.)
Oh and BTW, VIDEO GAMES FTW!!! DID YOU HEAR? VIDEO GAMES ARE THE MOST POPULAR MEDIUM OF THE 21ST CENTURY!!! We had some stiff competition from newsprint, movie theatres, radio, television, music, ventrilloquism, and the internet, BUT WE WON!!!!!!! Go Crazy!
*Cocks rifle*
Someone please remind, what video game did Hitler play to make him such a crazy bastard? Or Jack the Ripper? There were killers before video games. Killers are attracted to video games, but video games don't make killers. It does make jerks out of little kids online.
Did anyone else catch just how lame and retarded that "Electronic Games: Is there a Dark Side?" poster at 00:43 was? I think it's the best indicator of how dumb and biased this documentary really is, along with the ridiculous hijacking of Oddworld. It's inclusion is also an indication of poor production values. I mean, there are thousands, if not millions of pieces of media that would be suitable for exposing violence in games, and that poster isn't high on the list.
Also, somebody seriously needs to disbar Jack Thompson.
I hate talk about this because there is nothing to talk about.The gaming industry has a rating system so it is the parents responsibilty.
and the 9/11 comparasin(spelling) was shit.
did we ever mention the part about where your supposed to be the good guy help people in need and take town evil that has stricken your house,city, or planet. these games dont reward cop killers, they get them shot
we could have another boston incedent to the factor of 10!
thanks to video games, if you put a gun in my hand i'd probably foot myself in the foot when low on ammo, in an attempt to reload.
I just want to say that not saying Jack's name is silly. **** is silly.....he who must not be named...that's Voldemort, and if can see anything you realize that by not saying the name you give the person power because you're going out of your way not to say it...like you fear it. Jack Thompson...there. Say it, don't fear it. Jack Thompson. He's just a man. By trying to take away his name you just give it more power.
John Bruce Thompson. Ha, I said his true name. I have the power now.
Anyone else notice that every game this clip shows a picture of came out long after 9-11 or columbine? Yet they still blame postal 2, which by the way nobody would have ever heard of if it was for liebman and jack in the first place, for shitty parenting. Sometimes i think jack doesn't even believe what he says. Hes obviously just out for attention because any idiot would know that companies like running with scissors would be out of buisiness if it wasn't for all the negative publicity hes brought to them. Iv been playing violent games for years and the only murder im responsible for is the mass slaughter of ants that wont stay out of my damn house.
This whole film is a biased POS, all they talk about is there stupid opinions, and ignore the other side of the story, a documentary is supposed to show facts and teach something. This is not a documentary, this is a bunch of 60-year old virgins bitching about video games being evil because they are attention whores. That reminds me of gay.
Reading over my post it seemed like i was bashing RWS and i just wanted to clear up that i wasnt, i was just saying alot of there publicity is due to the controversy
This is just fucking sad. Good 'ol Jackie boy had to bring in the whole "Flight Simulator 9/11" theory... this is pathetic. Not only are his ideas complete bullshit, but now he has to claim that FLIGHT SIMULATOR is to blame for Sept. 11th... this is when you know you've failed. Not just as a lawyer, but as a human being.
It kills me that they could tie 9/11 to Oddworld.
I cant believe they used a clip from Myst 3. MYST! That has got to be the most non-violent video game out there. This guy doesn't just want to ban violent video games, he wants to ban ALL video games. And hell, while we're at it, lets ban movies since they're riddled with violence and crude humor. But why stop there, let's ban TV as well, since there's as much violence and crude humor there as in movies. Also, lets ban almost all books,especially fiction since Reading David Copperfield might make my child run away. You know, screw it, lets ban all forms of art. Better yet, let's ban emotion. THERE, that'll solve the problem. BAN ALL EMOTION!
I ask all who read this, if we ban violent video games, where will it end? VG's will only be the begining. I think it's time to bring big brother down a notch. The government has niether the responsibility, nor the fucking RIGHT, to decide what MY child is exposed to. Last I checked, that's the PARRENTS job.
WARNING: THE SURGEON GENERAL HAS DETERMIND THAT LAWS BANNING VIDEO GAMES MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR FREEDOM.
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