PSX5Central
Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: GmanJoe on October 24, 2005, 09:34:00 AM
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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051019-5458.html
Anti-game activist Jack Thompson under investigation
10/19/2005 5:55:49 PM, by Jeremy Reimer
Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer who became infamous in 1988 for accusing Janet Reno of being a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem and a strong candidate for blackmail, has recently been making waves with his crusade against the video game industry. Earlier this year, he launched a wrongful death lawsuit against Take Two Interactive and Rockstar Games, makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, claiming that the video game was directly responsible for 18 year-old Devin Moore\'s shooting of three police officers in 2003.
Jack recently appeared on CBS\'s 60 Minutes trying to drum up support for his efforts. However, this publicity was apparently not satisfying enough for him, as he went on to try and create more outrage on his own. Attempting to emulate Jonathan Swift, he issued a "Modest Proposal" that offered a US$10,000 reward to anyone who would create a video game featuring Osaki Kim, a father whose son was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The game would feature Kim extracting brutal revenge on the video game industry itself, including beating game company executives to death, removing their heads and urinating on their brain stems.
What Jack did not expect was that the enterprising PC gaming mod community would turn around and make this mod a reality. Jack then reneged on his promise of a US$10,000 donation to the charity of the modder\'s choice, saying that his original bounty had been "satire", and therefore not a legitimate promise.
This is where Penny Arcade, the popular video game-themed online comic strip, entered the story. One of the co-creators of the strip, Mike "Gabe" Krahulik, emailed Jack Thompson and informed him that he thought his proposed US$10,000 charitable donation was pretty small in light of Penny Arcade\'s more than half a million dollars, raised as part of their "Child\'s Play" charity event. Unfortunately for Gabe, his email contained his phone number as part of the signature, and Jack took advantage of this to phone him directly. The phone call included a threat of a lawsuit if Gabe emailed him again. In response, Gabe sent a check to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in the amount of US$10,000 with the note "For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won\'t" on the bottom.
The threats then escalated. Jack then faxed a letter to the Seattle Police Department claiming that Penny Arcade was "criminally harassing" him, and urging the arrest of "this little extortion factory".
At this point, the nerds swung into action. Penny Arcade forum members wrote, edited and sent letters and faxes to the Florida Bar Association detailing Thompson\'s activities and urging the review of his license to practice law. Jack Thompson has already received a reprimand by the FBA for his antics in 1998, and according to a spokesperson, the letters and faxes have been received and forwarded to the disciplinary committee.
Already, other activists against video game violence are starting to distance themselves from Jack Thompson. Earlier this month, the National Institute on Media and the Family wrote a letter to Jack, asking him to remove the link to their organization from his web site. While Mr. Thompson\'s fifteen minutes of fame may be waning, the issue of violence in video games remains a hot topic.
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Yay! Go penny-arcade =)
This dude sounds like a complete and utter fag. I\'m glad he\'s getting this treatment.
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Go Penny Arcade! :D
Edit: Damn you Joker! You said it before me. :mad:
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Hell Yeah, Go Penny Arcade!!
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"This is old news. I\'m internet cool." -- mm
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Actually I was gonna say I read this last week, but I didn\'t want to steal mm\'s thunder
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no, i read slashdot at work and see this as it happens. not posting it on a psx2 forum a week later for jollies
:rolleyes:
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Originally posted by mm
no, i read slashdot at work and see this as it happens. not posting it on a psx2 forum a week later for jollies
:rolleyes:
:lmao: My god, you even brag about being a dork! :lmao:
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I never go to Slashdot so it\'s nice to get the offbeat news in places like this :]
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Agreed, THX, what would we talk about news wise if everyone worked like mm?
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yes, i\'m a "dork", gman.
it\'s my career, although "geek" is the preferred term for my kind.
how\'s welfare treating you?
i don\'t know bozco, stuff that happened today maybe?
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well I read slashdot everyday but to tell you the truth they aren\'t that up to date on stuff like this. More often than not I\'m seeing pretty old stuff on /.
ohh and btw GO JACK THOMPSON
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try ars-technica then, or one of the 1000 other internet news sites out there
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Originally posted by mm
yes, i\'m a "dork", gman.
it\'s my career, although "geek" is the preferred term for my kind.
how\'s welfare treating you?
i don\'t know bozco, stuff that happened today maybe?
you socially inept?
wait........
scratch that.
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you, homosexual and living in a treehut with the aborigines?
no.....couldn\'t be
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Some of the member\'s over at ctrl-alt-del took up that strip\'s challenge to make a mockery game about Tack Jhompson, and earn themselves a shiny new dollar from the author. People always underestimate nerd power.
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The one thing I noticed in the article is that Gabe put his phone number in that email on purpose. He was basically goading Thompson into a response.
I like where this went ultimately. We need more of this.
-Dan
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Originally posted by mm
yes, i\'m a "dork", gman.
it\'s my career, although "geek" is the preferred term for my kind.
how\'s welfare treating you?
i don\'t know bozco, stuff that happened today maybe?
Not everyone surfs as much and as long as you do. We have lives. We can\'t go to /. or the thousand other internet sites you go to. Perhaps you ~are~ socially inept.
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yeah, for the 8 hours i\'m at work waiting for a server or router to burp, i\'m socially inept.
do you even have a job?
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I say yay for Penny Arcade. I haven\'t been to their site in a while but I think I\'ll pay it a visit.
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HAHAHAHAAHA damn thats funny as hell :laughing:
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Originally posted by mm
yeah, for the 8 hours i\'m at work waiting for a server or router to burp, i\'m socially inept.
do you even have a job?
I noticed that everytime we have these little spats, you seem to reply only a few minutes after me. Do you sit there refreshing your screen? Do you leave your computer even for 2 hours? This is not healty for you. Not that I really care.
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actually, i get an email when a thread i graced my presence with has a response.
it even has a link to the thread in it
looks like i took 20 minutes to respond this time, i\'m slacking
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Crikey, you\'re like a turd that won\'t flush. Put me on your ignore list! I don\'t care if you need attention!
And you actually have an email sent to you for this? Now that\'s just silly.
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:gman:
Seriuolsy bro you need to goto college and join the debate team you teh suck at it...
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ignore?
why would i do that, this is amusing to me.
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Originally posted by mm
try ars-technica then, or one of the 1000 other internet news sites out there
indeed that is what I do, hence the comment on slashdot often posting old news.
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Originally posted by mm
ignore?
why would i do that, this is amusing to me.
I figured. You do live a lonely life. I mean...you get an email to notify that someone replied in a thread! :lmao: It must suck to be you! :lmao:
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I used to get emails when someone replied. Back in the old days, the feature was F\'ed up so whenever someone replies in a thread from 2001-2002, I believe, you\'ll get an email if you were registered at the time. Atleast I do.
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from where you\'re posting, gman
you got nothing to laugh it
you must be the janitor there
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Not even I do the email thing with my posts...and my post belong in some kind of PS2Central hall of fame.
signed
Greatest Poster Of All Time
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I should keep tally of how many posts it takes to turn a thread 180°.
3 replies...
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Really, it only takes 2, so long as one is mm and one is gman.
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it takes 3 licks to get to the center of a tootsie rolls pop.
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Originally posted by mm
yeah, for the 8 hours i\'m at work waiting for a server or router to burp, i\'m socially inept.
do you even have a job?
Suddenly, in one post, I understand all that is mm.
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Originally posted by MPTheory
Suddenly, in one post, I understand all that is mm.
:lmao:
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you got work to do, janitor
get off the public computer terminals and mop that floor
:rofl:
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mm, You have MAIL! :lmao:
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thanks, love the attention
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This is seriously funny! So everytime someone posts here, you get an email? BWAHAHAHAHAH! :lmao:
YOU HAVE MAIL! :p
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well, guess what
(https://psx5central.com/community/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv298%2Fmonderick%2Fgman.jpg&hash=4128275ba99d71f13e9524517ff06f713349f5da)
you did too, funny man
shall i make it permanent?
/blatant abuse of powers
:)
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BWAHAHAHA! Oh You bastard! :lmao:
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touche\'
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Which one of you is the bish in your relationship?
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Originally posted by Samwise
Which one of you is the bish in your relationship?
You. Now bend over, bitch. :p
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hey, it beats arguing with soully
i feel guilty after beating him around
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So you don\'t feel guilty about me? A fellow Steelers fan? A Spadafora fan (too bad about him)?
Bastard.
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Spadafora turned into a crackhead, although he was a damn fine fighter
perhaps 6 months in the pokey will straighten him out.
although he should have never gave up his title to move up in weight class.
dumb mistake to get greedy
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This was fun to read.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=61752
Lost his license to practice in Alabama. It\'s a start, at least. :p
In the ruling, Judge Moore stated that Thompson\'s behaviour in court "suggests that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state." Moore added that he was referring the case to the Disciplinary Commission of the Alabama Bar in order that "appropriate action" could be taken.
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Serves the bastard right.....prick. They should make a game where you beat the shit out of him.
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They did. But he didn\'t pay the $10,000 he promised.
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Yeah, yeah, another necropost, but I\'m not starting a new thread for this (http://play-girlz.com/bona-fide-gaming-nazis/). I can\'t believe that Jack (or some other anti-gaming lunatic) hasn\'t jumped all over this one.