Our friend, Jack Thompson does it again. He’s in the gaming news this week for a few more escapades.

First, he sent out an idea for a video game. He calls it “A Modest Video Game Proposal.” He said he will give $10000 to the charity of Paul Eibeler’sPaul Eibeler is the chairman of Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of GTA: San Andreas. We all know that Jack Thompson adores the Grand Theft Auto series. choice. Of course, this caused a ruckus among the gaming community, but they wasted no time and a text adventure and mod for GTA:SA based on Thompson’s proposal popped up within days, as well as making some snarky comments about how he probably thinks he’s a modern day Jonathan Swift.

Anyway, the best of the week comes in the form of a pwning by Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family, an organization that, like Jack Thompson, is quite anti-violent video games. Dr. Walsh sent an open letter to several notable figuresFrom the article:

EDITOR’S NOTE: cc’s listed on the letter include Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum; the governor and attorney general of Minnesota, Bill Gates, the CEO’s of Target and Best Buy, Pat Vance of the ESRB, Doug Lowenstein of the ESA, as well as several other Minnesota political figures.

in which he states that Jack Thompson’s commentary has had a negative influence as we try to educate the public on this important issue and he asks him to cease using the Institute’s or my name in any way that would give the impression that we support your efforts.

Jack Thompson then wastes no time in making himself look like a raving lunatic with the writing skill of an enraged adolescent in response to Dr. Walsh’s claims.

But the most hilarious (and sad) part is the response to the GTA:SA mod mentioned earlier. Near the end of his letter, he writes:

God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him.

Excuse me?

Let us look at the history of Jack Thompson vs. video games. In the past year or two that I’ve been following all of this gaming news, his name has popped up constantly.

First are his ridiculous claims, which are misinformed at best and outright lies at worst. For instance, he made claims about Bully and 25 to Life before they were even finished development. He claimed that Killer 7 had full-blown sex scenes, citing an IGN review, which turned out to be exaggerated. In an interview with Chatterbox Game Show, he claimed that Electronic Arts and Will Wright were collaborating with the porn industry.

Next, let’s look at his ad hominemAd hominem is a logical fallacy that involves attacking the person that you’re arguing against. tactics. He compares Doug Lowenstein, President of the Entertainment Software Association, to Hitler, Joseph Goebbels (Nazi propagandist), and Saddam Hussein. He also says that Lowenstein never met a pixilated prostitute he didn’t like. Quite honestly, I’m surprised that Lowenstein hasn’t sued Thompson for libel yet.

But no, Lowenstein isn’t his only punching bag. He hates gamers too. There are plenty of reasonable gamers out there who can write and point out the fallacies of Thompson’s arguments. There are also many who have written to him to say that while they agree with Thompson on many points, they don’t believe he’s approaching the problem the right way. There are game journalists who try to get an interview with the man.

What do they get for writing a lengthy, well constructed argument, vote of support, or request for more information? Insults. And, if I may add, poorly written insults at that. Not only does the man have an unhealthy hatred for gamers, but it seems that he has some kind of speech impediment, only it affects his writing.

Common responses to gamers include:

• they’re mentally ill
• they’re mentally deficient
• they’re brain damaged
• they’re on drugs
• they have Tourette’s Syndrome
• threatening to sue

Mike Krahulik, from Penny Arcade, after contacting Thompson regarding his $10000 deal, received a series of nasty phone calls which involved some Jack Thompson screaming. He notes: What a violent man.

Scott Ramsoomair of VG Cats received an e-mail from Jack Thompson. Of course, the following series of e-mails includes some hilarious e-mails from Ramsoomair and some equally hilarious but poorly written and juvenile responses from Thompson. At the end of it all, Thompson threatens Ramsoomair for starting the correspondence.

In another instance, a fourteen year old writes a lengthy e-mail to our friend, Jack Thompson. Thompson responds in the usual manner. Fourteen year old writes much better than hotshot lawyer.

A writer from Aelon writes to Thompson . Thompson responds with the usual. Aelon writer writes lengthy argument. Thompson ignores it and calls gamers with ideas the newest oxymoron. What a hilarious guy, that Jack Thompson is.

And one last reference to a writer whose boss was threatened by Thompson over a threatening AIM buddy icon. Letters from Thompson include getting the site name wrong, demanding the icon be removed, and once the icon was removed, claimed it was an admission of guilt. The humourous drawing was borne out of that incident.

So what exactly am I trying to get at with all of this refrencing and exposition? Well:

1. Jack Thompson is a raving lunatic who is completely oblivious to any attempt at reason.
2. Jack Thompson hates gamers and likens them to mental retards and criminals. All of them.
3. Jack Thompson claims he is a Christian and is on a mission from God.

Basically, Jack Thompson has, in one fell swoop, insulted my intelligence as a gamer and my faith as a believer in Christ. He refuses to see that gamers are humans who have a firmer grasp at the issue than he does. He fuels animosity towards Christians in the gaming community. He furthers the stereotype of Christians as those Harry Potter burning, homosexual hating, ultra-right-wing, hatemongering, fundamentalist morons.

In fact, on his site, he quotes some scripture and makes lots of Christiany references, asking for prayer, and ending off with a good old God Bless. In his response to Dr. Walsh’s letter, he mentions that as a Christian he thought that Dr. Walsh should have, as written in the New Testament, come to him privately to talk with him about it.

Perhaps, but Jack Thompson is about as Christian as George W. Bush. It’s not a good day if you’re claiming that God is giving you missions, especially when they concern fighting video games with lies and insults or invading other countries.

And so I say, I am a Christian and I do not support Jack Thompson’s efforts.

And to Mr. Thompson, I ask that you cease using God or His peoples’ name in any way that would give the impression that we support your efforts.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 16th, 2005 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.