Jack Thompson (activist)

Jack Thompson

John Bruce "Jack" Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American, Miami, Florida-based attorney at law and is often cited in the media for his views on the effects of obscenity and violence in popular media. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

Education and practice

Thompson holds a BA from Denison University, and is a 1976 JD graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law. He has practiced as a medical malpractice attorney in Florida since his acceptance into The Florida Bar (formerly the Florida State Bar Association) in 1977. [1] Since the mid-70's he has been married to Patricia H. Thompson, a fellow attorney who specializes in commercial law, and they have one son. Jack is well known for his controversial views on video games.

Man in Miami

In April, 2000, Thompson became a featured writer for NewsMax.com as their "Man in Miami". In several articles for NewsMax, he made a series of allegations regarding US Attorney General Janet Reno, claiming among other things that she was suffering from various mental disorders as side effects of medication for Parkinson's disease. [2] [3]

Video game cases

Thompson is an advocate of preventing minors from accessing violent media due to what he sees as its harmful influence. In the pursuit of this, he contributed to several notable lawsuits detailed below.

Thompson has also been involved in video game activism outside the courtroom (see Activism, below.)

James v. Meow Media

In 1999 Thompson, working on behalf of parents of three girls killed in the Paducah, Kentucky school shooting by a 14-year-old student, filed a lawsuit against various entertainment entities, including video game makers, console manufacturers, movie companies, pornographic websites, and retailers. The suit was dismissed at the trial level. This dismissal was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and in 2003, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari.

Strickland v. Sony

In 2003, Devin Moore was arrested for suspicion of car theft in Alabama. While at the police station, he grabbed an officer's gun, and shot and killed both officers present as well as the dispatcher. He was found guilty of murder in 2005 and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Thompson filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of the three victims, attempting to link the incident to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Thompson was removed from the lawsuit by the judge who revoked his pro hac vice status (a temporary license to practice law in Alabama) for Thompson's pre-trial conduct. A motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied, and another lawyer on the plaintiffs' team took over the case.

Miscellaneous cases

Thompson attempted to persuade the lawyers defending Dustin Lynch, charged with the murder of JoLynn Mishne, that video games were responsible for the defendant's actions. The defending lawyers declined to employ this line of reasoning, at which point Thompson offered to defend Lynch for free. The defending lawyers did not accept Thompson's offer. Dustin's mother initially insisted that the judge appoint Thompson as her son's lawyer, but later reversed that decision after declaring "It has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer." [4]

Investigation by Florida Bar Association

In response to Thompson's behavior regarding Penny-Arcade's response to Thompson's "Modest Proposal" (see "A Modest Video Game Proposal"), 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 had already received a reprimand by the Bar for his actions in 1998, and is still under investigation from two previous complaints, both of which relate to Thompson's fight with Howard Stern. A representative of the Florida Bar Association acknowledged that they received several thousand complaints, and the letters and faxes forwarded to the disciplinary committee. However, they are not investigating Thompson on this issue at this time. [5].

Thompson has sent his own letter to the FBA, reminding the FBA that the last time he was investigated they had to pay him damages. The settlement was reported to be around US$20,000. [6] The letter a fan sent to the FBA can be read at the Penny Arcade forums.

Following his dismissal from the Strickland vs. Sony case in Alabama, the Florida Bar once again opened an investigation into Thompson's behavior, following a referral by judicial officials in Alabama. Thompson responded with a letter threatening to contact the Bar's insurance carrier over "[t]he Bar's ongoing, recidivist, tortious conduct". [7]

According to GamePolitics [8], the FBA currently has 3 investigations into Thompson: one for Blank Rome, one for the Alabama Bar Association, and one pertaining to Howard Stern.

As of 8 January 2006, Jack Thompson's website stopkill.com has been closed down and redirected to a spam site.

Thompson's website theflabar.org attacks the Florida Bar Association and others, citing ethical and moral disputes. Among other things, the site asserts that Thompson was not forcing his entertainment and religious beliefs on others, counter to the Florida Bar's perception. The final note on the website is asking anyone who views the page to rise up and oppose the Florida Bar Association.

Activism

Jack Thompson has a set of arguments and phrases that he often reinforces in public speeches.

Thompson describes video games with violent or competitive content as "murder simulators" and "sexual simulators".^{[citation needed]}

Thompson asserts that young persons accused of violent crimes have "trained" or "rehearsed" their actions using "murder simulators".^{[citation needed]}

Thompson asserts that video games are used by the military to desensitize and remove the inhibition to kill.^{[citation needed]} (A few commercial off-the-shelf computer games do serve military purposes.[9] Marine Doom and Full Spectrum Warrior were created specifically as training tools, and America's Army was created as a recruitment tool.)

Thompson frequently refers to medical studies that he says scientifically prove that there is a link between violent media and aggressive behavior.^{[citation needed]}

Thompson states that games with adult content are developed for and marketed to children.^{[citation needed]}

Thompson says that before (violent) video games "[k]ids took guns to school for 200 years in this country [the United States] without turning them on one another" [10].^{[citation needed]}

Thompson identifies himself as a Christian and frequently quotes the Bible to justify his actions. One such example is name-calling, which according to him the Bible allows if the name is truthful.^{[citation needed]} In an interview with the Sun-Sentinel, Thompson linked his views on religion and video games[11]:

"The Bible doesn't promote killing innocent people," Thompson said. "Grand Theft Auto does."

Thompson frequently makes use of character references, such as when he likened ESA head Doug Lowenstein to Joseph Goebbels, Hitler, and Saddam Hussein.^[12]

Thompson has stated that companies like Rockstar Games work together with the Entertainment Software Association to release violent and/or sexual content to underage buyers.

Thompson also blames violence on Islam, expressing his opinion that the Qur'an "promotes the killing of innocent people" and "infidels", who he says the Qur'an identifies as Christians and Jews.^{[citation needed]}

These views are conveyed in the legal cases above, and in his personal activism below.

Video games

Over the course of his activism against violent and sexual content in video games, Thompson has singled out several specific titles. Most notable are any violent games from publisher Take-Two Interactive, specifically the Grand Theft Auto series. Thompson has admitted that he has never played a video game before, and does not plan to, saying "They are a sin against God and I have no intention of being a sinner".^{[citation needed]}

Attacks on Douglas Lowenstein

^ In one of a series of "video game violence" interviews by CBS, he compared Douglas Lowenstein of the Entertainment Software Association to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels (this response has since been edited^[13]), in reference to Lowenstein's alleged role as "spin doctor" for the video game industry. Months thereafter, Thompson instead wrote an open letter comparing Lowenstein to Adolf Hitler, comparing Lowenstein's knowledge of the US Constitution to Hitler's apparent ignorance of Napoleon's failed attack on Moscow.^{[citation needed]} In a June 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Thompson implied that Lowenstein was worse than Saddam Hussein.^{[citation needed]} Come July 2005, Thompson released the aforementioned open letter, simultaneously praising Hillary Clinton's call for federal game legislation and targeting Lowenstein, asking for his resignation [14].

Communications with Gamers

Thompson has often communicated with members of the video gaming community about his views. He may debate with gamers, or try to just make or prove a point. Gamers have also initiated communication with him as well. Much of this happens electronically, via e-mail or talk forums on gaming-related sites. Thompson often uses Biblical quotes in order to support his views.

Grand Theft Auto

Hot Coffee

In July 2005, Patrick Wildenborg, a modder, discovered a sexual mini-game within Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Players could not normally access it in the game, but could through applying a third-party hack, dubbed "Hot Coffee". Rockstar was held accountable by the ESRB because the content was shipped as a part of the game, albeit not a readily accessible part. As a result of Thompson's (and other activists) public outcries, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) reviewed the game again and changed the game's rating from "Mature" (M), for ages 17 and above, to "Adults Only" (AO), ages 18 and above. Rockstar subsequently released a patch disabling the mini-game in the PC version, and a new "Mature" rated console version with the mini-game removed has been released to stores.

On July 25, 2005, the US House of Representatives voted 355 to 21 to support a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) inquiry into Take Two and Rockstar Games, to determine if they intentionally deceived the ESRB in order to get an M rating instead of AO, as most retailers refuse to carry AO rated games. [15] Take Two has confirmed that the FTC has begun the investigation. [16]

On August 3, 2005, Thompson alleged that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City had a similar sex minigame, also unlockable through a third-party code. He said that the game involved a normally non-nude sex scene when the player enters a strip club. The code, Thompson said, allowed for full frontal nudity and sexual activity of an extremely vulgar nature.^{[citation needed]} However, third parties failed to find this alleged game. Thompson also sent a letter to the ESRB saying GamePolitics, a gaming news website, told him about the code; the maintainer of the site clarified that the scenes in question were not hidden and were part of the game's main story arc[17]

On November 15, 2005, Thompson said that the FTC had sent him a letter stating that "Take-Two continues to aggressively market M games to kids." He did not provide a copy of the letter.[18]

Jacksboro shooting

On November 8, 2005, a student at Campbell County Comprehensive High School in Jacksboro, Tennessee was arrested after the shooting of three school employees, including the principal, who managed to wrestle the .22 from the attacker. An assistant principal later died at the hospital, and the others were treated in intensive care. No students were hurt other than the shooter, whose hand was grazed by a bullet during the struggle. [19] Thompson proclaimed the incident to be video game-related before police suggested a motive for the killing. [20] On November 9, 2005 he sent out a press release [21] saying he had spoken to relatives of the suspect, and that they had confirmed that the suspect, Ken Bartley, Jr., was a player of Grand Theft Auto, and that Bartley "did not go to school with the intent to kill", but "When pushed by fear, the game’s rehearsal function becomes the young brain's 'default setting.'"

As of March 9, 2006, there is no further reports from news or police indicating Games were involved in the shooting. Thompson has also not made any statements regarding it since his press release.

Liberty City Stories parody

On September 13, 2005, Thompson accused Rockstar Games of implying that he was a sexual pervert. Rockstar's website for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories [22] had a parody of Thompson, where a character named "JT", representing a group called Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety [23], a fictional activist group, seeks to ban the Internet. Thompson said the emails from "jt@citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org" imply that he "likes to surf the Internet for pictures depicting deviant sex acts by teenage girls." The parody email in question stated that "JT" wanted to find information about "teenage girls water sports" for his niece, who is a "keen water skier and state wide sailor", but what he found was "not for the faint hearted", and encouraged people to join his society to have the internet "turned off". There is also a radio clip on the website where a man named "Jack" is found naked in a boy's bedroom. Thompson said these attacks are the same the pornography industry used in 1989 when his complaint resulted in an FCC fine.[24]

As with Bully, Thompson has requested that Troy King (Alabama's Attorney General) file a lawsuit declaring GTA: Liberty City Stories a "nuisance" since it is a "cop-killing game" that is allegedly^{[citation needed]} advertised during daytime TV aimed at children. He has not specified which programs the ads were seen in.^{[citation needed]} A successful nuisance injunction would see GTA:LCS pulled from store shelves in Alabama. [25] King's office confirmed it was investigating the request, but did not comment on whether it would be taking any action. [26]

Other GTA-related incidents

Thompson has "called on California law enforcement personnel [to] seize GTA games." [27] Although Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, had signed into law a bill requiring "ultra-violent" video games to be labeled with an "18" sticker, the law was blocked by a judge.

On January 16, 2006, Thompson announced in a letter to Take-Two that if copies of "The Warriors, Manhunt, and all versions of the Grand Theft Auto games" were not recalled from retailers by five o’clock p.m., Tuesday, January 17 2006, he would initiate legal proceedings against Take-Two for the beating of two homeless men and death of one other in Florida, who were attacked by assailants wielding baseball bats. Thompson argued that the attackers were imitating Take-Two games, although some critics pointed to similarities to A Clockwork Orange rather than Grand Theft Auto. Others, including several homeless rights associations, blame society at large for treating the homeless as second-class citizens.[28]

As of 5:00 p.m. EST January 17 2006, Thompson's specified deadline, there has been no official follow-up or response from either Take-Two or Thompson.

In February, 2006 Thompson alleged that the "Nut Case" gang in Oakland, California had "trained on Grand Theft Auto III to do carjackings and murders."[29] The primary shooter of the gang was on trial for a rampage of murders and thefts dating from 2002 to 2003, mostly targeting illegal immigrants and fellow drug dealers. The gang members had admitted to police that they played GTA III and "would act out what they'd done when they grew bored with the game."[30]

Thompson has attempted to link Grand Theft Auto to a cop-killer and an alleged "suicide by cop". (see Jacob Robida murders below)

The Sims 2

On July 22, 2005, after the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas case was settled, Thompson attacked The Sims 2, saying that the game "is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse", due to the availability of a mod that removes the censorship fields from all characters when they are nude. Thompson suggested that this allows pedophiles to see computer-rendered nude children^[31], "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse." (Only adult characters can engage in relationships in the game, sexual or otherwise, and all sexual encounters between characters are handled in a comedic fashion and are not explicitly seen by the player. However, with the modification installed, children can be viewed naked.) In another instance, Thompson alleged that "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise, contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." He accused Electronic Arts (EA) and Maxis of cooperating with the mod community to "peddle vile smut to minors."

However, even with the "blur" removed, The Sims 2 contains no such details; the characters have no visible reproductive organs or pubic hair whatsoever, similar to children's dolls, and female models lack both nipples and areolae.^{[citation needed]} Thompson further accused EA and Will Wright of supporting adult custom content specifically^{[citation needed]}. Will Wright has historically supported all user-created game content universally on the principle of endorsing personal creativity, innovation, and personalization^{[citation needed]}, but has not singled out adult modifications. Although there are user-created content packages available on the Internet many would consider adult material, they are neither created nor specifically endorsed by Maxis or EA.

In an Internet radio show interview that aired at ChatterBox Game Show, Thompson retracted his previous statements about "pubic hair" and other details. However, he defended his position on The Sims 2 and expressed his opinion that, because EA does not protect its copyright by stopping the mod community from making adult-oriented changes to the game, they "lose their right to defend their copyright."^{[citation needed]} This doctrine where intellectual property rights must be defended to prevent them from being lost, however, is only applicable to trademark law, not copyrights.

Bully

During the first week of August 2005, Thompson publicly protested Rockstar's yet to be released video game Bully. As part of the protest, he recruited two school buses of children to join him ^[32]. Thompson emailed Bill Gates, stating that he has 54 days to stop the release of Bully on the Xbox, insinuating a threat of legal action. After this 54 day period Jack Thompson took no action and has not commented on the incident since. He also filed a complaint against various retailers in Dade County, Florida, in the Florida state court, August 2005 [33], seeking to have "Bully" declared a "public nuisance" and kept off the shelves. After the defendants filed a motion to dismiss, Thompson voluntarily dropped the case.

Killer7

On August 5, 2005, Thompson sent an e-mail to Patricia Vance, president of the ESRB, accusing them of being too lenient on the game Killer7. He cited an IGN review ^[34] and said:

"...profanity, sex and bloodshed are commonplace… We can’t stress it enough: kids should not play Killer7. Not just because there’s an M on the box, but because for once that M really means something. There’s much more than blood and guts in the game. Everything from the design of puzzles to the subject matter is designed for older players and it's really that simple...And there are cinematics that feature full-blown sex sequences...Killer7’s adult themes, which encapsulate extremely violent, profane and sexual situations, as well as a wide range of issues from terrorism to the sale of children, make the M on the box really mean something^[35]."

Despite the objections of many gamers that the Killer7 fully-clothed sexual scene contains content no worse than in a PG-13 movie, Thompson urged Vance to contact retailers and ask them to pull the game from shelves, adding that, unlike the Hot Coffee incident, this was a case of where full-blown sex was easily accessible but that the ESRB "chose to put an 'M' rather than an 'AO' rating on it." He accused the ESRB of being involved in "a criminal conspiracy to distribute sexual material harmful to minors in violation of criminal statutes" and called for the dismantlement of the ESRB.

The Warriors

Thompson spoke out against Rockstar Toronto's 2005 title, The Warriors, a video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox gaming systems, based on the movie of the same name. He said that it should be rated "Adults Only" by the ESRB or he will do it himself, despite the fact that the movie the game is based on received an R-Rating from the MPAA (an R-Rating is the equivalent to an M-Rated game, as AO is to NC-17). He has described The Warriors as being a "murder simulator" and that "it should not be sold to anyone under 18, or anyone for that matter." The ESRB chose to ignore Thompson, giving The Warriors an M rating. [36]

The Warriors was also the game involved in a sting operation allegedly run by Jack Thompson against Best Buy (see NIMF below).

25 to Life

Following the announcement that Eidos, publisher of 25 To Life were sending the game to gold master in January, 2006, Thompson immediately sent out a letter demanding that California's Attorney General declare the game a public nuisance, and pledged to go on the air encouraging all police officers in California to seize and destroy copies of the game. Public nuisances under California's Civil Code are allowed to be abated after a court injunction, but if property is seized or destroyed, owners are allowed to recover the costs of the property. Thompson would need to argue before a judge that the game is a nuisance as it sits on the shelves, as once it's bought and taken into people's homes to play it becomes a private matter. [37]

Thompson also asserted that Eidos had an agreement with Utah's Attorney General to not release the game, and said that the AG was "madder than a wet hen, and all this is going to hit the fan..." [38] However, Eidos had only promised to delay the game's release until after the Christmas buying season, which it did. Utah's AG also said he didn't plan any legal action against Eidos, and hoped retailers such as Wal-Mart would choose not to stock the game but acknowledged that was a "corporate, free-market decision." [39] [40]

Postal

Thompson sent a letter to the Russian ambassador to the US, following a knife-attack in a Moscow synagogue by a man who read anti-Semitic literature and reportedly played Postal. Thompson urged the ambassador to contact him for assistance in blocking Running With Scissors, who created Postal, from distributing the game Postal² over the internet. [41]

Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desi noted that neither Postal nor Postal² have knives as weapons, although the Postal² add-on, Apocalypse Weekend, does have a boomerang machete. [42] RWS also released a press release denouncing the attack, saying "Despite our renegade image, we have ALWAYS maintained that violence belongs in video games, NOT on the streets" and "Violent behavior and mental illness are complex issues and trivializing them with baseless anti-game invective helps no one." [43]

Thompson responded by calling Desi a "sociopath" who provided "Jew-haters" with their very own "murder simulator" and called Postal² "open season on Jews." [44] He then challenged Desi to a public debate on the issue, and suggested that "Maybe the great philantropists, Penny Arcade, will put up the money to defray the costs. How about it, tough guy?" [45] Mike Jaret, RWS' "marketing moyle", pointed out that he was the only Jew present in the game, although his character is not identified as Jewish. [46] [47] Thompson followed up by saying that Postal² "is a game that targets people because of their minority status" and proceeded to say "Why am I not surprised that all you white bread crackers here at GamePolitics don't have a problem with that?" [48]

As with his many other debate challenges, Thompson said that if Desi wouldn't debate him, he was a "coward". [49] Thompson had also challenged Florida "game lawyer" Tom Buscaglia to a debate, which Buscaglia accepted, but Thompson later withdrew the offer, saying "I don’t do debates with people who lie about what I do." [50]

Thompson has attempted to link Postal² to an attack on a gay bar. (see Jacob Robida Murders below)

Halo

In the Washington Sniper case, Thompson was the first to suggest that video games may have been the source of the sniper's skills, although police never made any link between the two. Dateline NBC reported that Malvo "trained" extensively on the Xbox game Halo. He also stated that there was an option within the game entitled "God mode" or "Sniper mode" (although there is a sniper rifle available, Halo does not have a "God mode" like most other first person shooters). From that report, Thompson argued that "the games both broke down his inhibition to kill and gave him incredible shooting skills" and he believes that "Microsoft should be sued and held liable for money damages by the victims of the Beltway Snipers."[51] Thompson's critics point out that John Allen Muhammad was a former soldier with significant rifle training, as predicted by the police, and that Lee Boyd Malvo's shooting skills could have easily been the result of instruction by Muhammad.^{[citation needed]}

Manhunt

Thompson has also alleged that Rockstar's Manhunt provoked the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17, and was to represent the victim's mother in an undetermined fashion[52]. Contrary to popular belief, and reports from the Times^{[citation needed]}, Thompson had not filed a lawsuit, and his representative role seemed to have been in a public relations faculty. The police and judge presiding over the case denied that the game had been a contributory factor in the murder. In the case, it was the victim who owned a copy of Manhunt, and not the killer, as confirmed by the local police. Thompson counter-claimed that: "By the way, the reports that the game belonged to the victim are false. Somebody in a gaming magazine in Scotland or England put that out. That's false. The game belonged to the murderer."

The Getaway

In addition, Thompson blames the Columbus, Ohio sniper shootings on video games when it was found that Charles McCoy Jr. had a PlayStation 2 and the game The Getaway^[53]. McCoy initially pled insanity due to severe paranoid schizophrenia, believing that TV media coverage of various issues (Michael Jackson's trial was an example) were mocking him. [54] Even though experts on both sides acknowledged his mental illness, the disagreement was on whether he knew that what he was doing was wrong. He later plea-bargained, dropped the insanity plea, and was sentenced to 27 years. [55]

Call of Duty

On February 12, 2006, following the arson attacks on nearly a dozen Baptist churches in Alabama, Thompson wrote a letter to Alabama Attorney General Troy King, attempting to link the burnings to video games. Thompson cited scenes such as a cutscene from Call of Duty 2 where Nazi soldiers are shown burning a church, and implied that buildings could be firebombed in Grand Theft Auto. [56] Police have ruled out racial motivation, as both white and black dominated congregations have been targeted. The only common factors so far are that the churches are Baptist (although it is the dominant religion in the region), and rural. Suspects were described as two middle-aged men in an SUV.

"A Modest Video Game Proposal"

On October 10, 2005, Thompson sent another open letter to members of the press and to Entertainment Software Association president Doug Lowenstein. He proposed that, if someone could "create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006" that allows players to play the scenario he has written, he will donate $10,000 to the charity of Take Two's chairman Paul Eibeler's choosing [57]. The title of the letter alludes to Jonathan Swift's classic 18th-century satirical essay, "A Modest Proposal".

Several groups took up the challenge and created games that mirror or parody the proposal, although none have fully satisfied the list of criteria Thompson laid out. Some accused Thompson of using the offer of charity as a ploy to gain attention, and that he had no intention of paying out the money. Thompson insisted the offer was real.

Thompson was unaware that Running With Scissors had already released a commercial first person shooter, Postal², in which the player could massacre the employees of Running With Scissors, including its CEO, Vince Desi, and actor Gary Coleman.

Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator

Unbeknownst to Thompson, however, a group of modders known as the Fighting Hellfish had released exactly one week prior a mod for the game San Andreas, called Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator [58]. The mod features Jack Thompson himself acting out a remarkably similar scenario, at one point even assassinating Doug Lowenstein. Acting under hypnosis, Thompson moonlights as Banman and takes to the streets in his Bannedwagon to destroy the entire shipment of Rockstar's Bully before it reaches distribution. Jack later assassinates Janet Reno after thwarting her coup, which forces him to confront the realization that his time spent researching violent games has turned him into his own "Manchurian Candidate". Although the team never asked him to donate the money, Thompson refused to when he discovered that the game existed. He later said that his proposal was satire and said that he would not donate the $10,000.

Thompson clarified that the game had to be released in 2006, that Paul Eibeler had yet to pick a charity, and that the game had to be released by a company, not thrown together by "anyone in a garage". He said the offer was still valid, and that while the description of the scenario was satire, the offer to donate money was real. [59]

I'm O.K. - A Murder Simulator

In response to the "Modest Proposal", a team "[c]onsisting of 3 alcoholics and a foreign exchange student" formed a company called Thompsonsoft and created I'm O.K - A Murder Simulator in January 2006. [60].

The game is based on the description of the Modest Proposal, and features several weapons. The story follows a disgruntled father of a killing victim who takes his revenge upon the games industry, which he blames for "training" the man who killed his son. The father begins a spree of murders in retaliation, attacking the offices of "Take This", who made the game, and killing the chairman "Paula Eibel" and her family. The father then begins a road trip across the United States back to Los Angeles, assaulting the law firm "Blank, Stare" who represent "Take This" and various gaming arcades and games stores before arriving at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and completing a "monstrously delicious rampage" on the participants.

Jack Thompson later said that the game didn't come close to his Proposal, although other than the fact that Take Two CEO Paul Eibeler hasn't officially picked a charity, he hasn't gone into detail as to what parts of his Proposal are yet to be satisfied. He also announced that "the attorneys for these idiots will be contacted." [61]

Thompsonsoft has since moved to a more stable web server, imokgame.com and reports that their lawyers have not been contacted. Their original web host apparently dropped them after having been threatened with legal action.^{[citation needed]}

Amazon.com threatened with legal action

Soon after Jack Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way [62], appeared on Amazon.com, users from the game community added prank personal pictures, recommended various sex books, and added various tags to the page, such as "unscientific" and "scaremonger". When it went on sale several people posted their one-star reviews of the book. Thompson has accused Amazon of not living up to their end of their contractual agreement, which he says should require all reviews that violate Amazon's terms of service to be removed.

A review by Jack Thompson was also added to Amazon's page [63]. Jack Thompson's long review condemned Amazon for the negative reviews but was also removed from the page, since it too violated Amazon's review guidelines. Thompson issued an ultimatum to Amazon to remove the negative reviews before November 20, 2005 at 7:16 P.M., and to block any further ones. Amazon has removed many reviews that don't adhere to its guidelines, but recommended Thompson use the "Report this" button to report inappropriate reviews (rather than emailing). [64] [65] [66]

On November 21, 2005, Thompson wrote a letter [67] to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, accusing Amazon (among other things) of "knowingly collaborat[ing] in violations of the First Amendment" and "that Amazon.com does so at its own grave risk." [68] As of November 22 the offending user submitted pictures have been taken down and the amount of reviews has been reduced to only 23, mostly unfavourable. The number of reviews before moderation peaked around 232.

Jacob Robida Murders

In February, 2006, an alleged neo-nazi attacked a gay bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts before fleeing to Arkansas. He killed a police officer, and later during a shootout with a police roadblock, killed his girlfriend, and himself. Thompson attempted to link the incident to Grand Theft Auto and Postal².

See sub-article Jack Thompson and the Jacob Robida murders

National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF)

Thompson's proposals and press have also ignited response from other sides of the video game debate. In an open letter, David Walsh, founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family, condemned Thompson for his use of biased and vitriolic tactics and asked him to refrain from implying that the Institute supports him and his work in any way. Walsh requested that Thompson remove his link to the Institute's website from his own site. Additional details can be found at GamesIndustry.biz. Walsh also sent this letter to several others, including Senator Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates and Doug Lowenstein of the Entertainment Software Association.

Jack Thompson later replied to David Walsh [69] in another letter. Thompson argued that Walsh withdrew support because Best Buy recently donated money to the NIMF; Thompson currently has a lawsuit against Best Buy. Thompson also criticized Walsh's decision to send an open letter, rather than "confronting me directly man-to-man."

Recently Thompson has been using Dr. Walsh's name to describe the ESRB as a "sham ratings system" that "Dr. David Walsh helped create" and that it "actually markets M games to kids rather than prohibit the sales of such games to kids." [70] Dr. Walsh however, is not known to have assisted in the creation of the ESRB, which was formed from the old IDSA ratings system after pressure from Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Herbert Kohl. [71] As with other accusations Thompson has so far declined to elaborate, or provide supporting evidence of his accusations.

On November 28, 2005, Thompson sent out a press release claiming that a year previously, Best Buy had signed an agreement with him in order to settle a lawsuit he had brought against the retailer. The agreement was supposed to be that Best Buy would stop selling M rated games to anyone under the age of 17 (as a member of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, Best Buy already has such a policy). Thompson claimed to have done "a reverse sting" using his underaged son to buy the Mature-rated game The Warriors at one of their locations. [72] According to Jack, this instance proves that Best Buy as a company was not living up to its end of the settlement, and vowed to bring a lawsuit against the retail giant asking the courts to enforce the original agreement. [73] Some critics speculate that this press release was an attempt to discredit Dr. Walsh and the National Institute on Media and the Family, as their 10th Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card [74] was released a day later, and praised Best Buy for the enforcement of their store policy with regards to not selling Mature-rated games to minors. Others speculate that the "settlement" was likely a standard letter explaining Best Buy's policy, and that Thompson is claiming they signed an agreement with him personally rather than the public at large. [75] Thompson later sent a letter to Dr. Walsh accusing him of a "conflict of interest", since Dr. Walsh allegedly received financial support from Best Buy. [76]

Dr. Walsh denies ever receiving financial support from Best Buy, admitting to receiving contributions from one of Best Buys' competitors, Target, which did not get praised in the report card. [77]

Video game legislation lobbying

Thompson has frequently claimed to be working with various levels of government to develop video game legislation aimed at restricting minors' access to "ultra-violent" video games. He has also turned on those he claimed he was working with, calling their work "failures" because they were unconstitutional. At one time he claimed to have been working with Sen. Hillary Clinton on a federal bill, but as soon as she held a fundraiser run by the ESA, Thompson denounced her, and from then on attacked her bill as "unconstitutional."

On September 29th, 2005, Thompson issued a press release claiming that Florida Governor Jeb Bush had personally asked him to write a bill restricting the sale of violent video games to minors. After the Governor's press office denied the Governor had made any such request, Thompson claimed that "Jeb Bush often says one thing and does another" and that "One of the Governor's chief policy advisors CALLED "ME." (sic) The press office acknowledges that Thompson spoke with one of the policy advisors, although they still insist that Thompson called them first with the offer. They also say Thompson was told that "the Governor does not use the bully pulpit to target individual industries", and that he should talk to his legislator if he wants to submit ideas for new bills. Critics have accused Thompson of twisting what was discussed with the policy advisor to make it seem like the Governor was asking Thompson to write legislation on his behalf. Both Thompson and the press office continue to insist they were each first called by the other, although Thompson no longer claims the request came from the Governor himself, but rather just from his office. [78] [79] [80]

On January 12, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush officially announced that he would not be in favor of restrictions, saying, "I think self-regulation is the first step. Parents ought to take control over their children's lives... If it requires regulation after that, fine, but I don't think government should replace that... And sometimes we rush in to fill the void when it's more appropriate for moms and dads to be, ultimately, the best regulators." [81]

On January 19, 2006, Thompson announced he was once again working on video game legislation, and planned to use Miller v. California in order to restrict violent games. Miller v. California only defined how legal definitions of obscenity cover the depiction or description of sexual content, not violent content. [82]

February 15, 2006. Thompson announced he was working with Utah Rep. David Hogue on video game legislation. The bill (HB 0257) had initially been defeated in committee, but eventually passed the committee vote after the bill was narrowed to only focus on video games instead of all media. The bill would treat violence the same as pornography, using the Miller Test as a guide, although the test was ruled to only apply to sexual conduct, not violent conduct. [83] Rep. Hogue's office has not confirmed Thompson's involvement.

February 17, 2006, Thompson claimed he had helped North Carolina State Senator Julia Boseman write SB2, another bill that seeks to treat violent content as if it were sexual content, once again using the Miller Test as a guide, although the Miller Test was ruled by the US Supreme Court to only apply to sexual conduct. SB2 had passed a vote in the Senate and was now being considered by House Judiciary I Committee in preparation for a House reading. Once again Sen. Boseman has not confirmed Thompson's involvement. Unlike North Carolina's obscenity statues though, SB2 would only restrict violence in video games, not any other media. [84]

Metalgearsolid.org

January 2 s2006 A gamer named Mitchell S. with the online screenname "Kuja105", who posted on a few online video game forums (including GameFaqs.com and MetalGearSolid.org) committed suicide. He posted a message in both forums detailing his intent to end his own life, citing overwhelming complications with school and finances.

Later, members from the site contacted Mitchell's family to find out the grave news. They reported it to their online community, and posted a tribute to their passed friend on the front page of metalgearsolid.org. A very brief period of initial disbelief was followed by a barrage of replies from fellow forum members pleading that he not take his life, trying to talk him out of it. For days, no word was heard from Mitchell. Fearing the worst, members and administration from metalgearsolid.org began searching for contact information, spending hours on the phone trying to get in touch with him. Finally on January 4, Ryan K., an administrator at metalgearsolid.org, got him on the phone and spent hours desperately trying to talk him out of it.

Sadly, Mitchell soon ended his own life by consuming antifreeze and painkillers. Mr. Jack Thompson then sent in the following letter regarding the situation to MetalGearSolid.org, one of the forums frequented by Mitchell, where he was known well:

Your "gamer friend" will find peace through the Lord, Jesus Christ, but sadly it's too late for that.

There is a void in every heart. You can fill it up with the things of God, or the things not of God. This unfortunate soul chose to fill it up with combat games. The playing of these video games is masturbatory activity, meaning senseless self-stimulation. If you gamers could use a dictionary you would know that that term is not necessarily a sexual one.

The real tragedy here extends beyond the life and death of this one fellow. There are literally millions of young people and young adults whose despair is deepend by turning to the things of this world and then finding them meaningless.

All of you gamers need to put down the controllers and get a life. The utter inanity of the vast majority of postings here shows how vapid "gaming" really is.

You are one of the cheerleaders for this wasting of time and the wasting of lives. Do you feel any remorse for having contributed to this "culture of death?" Of course not. Hey, let's all play MORE games, and ignore all the really productive things to do with our lives.

Let's pretend to be shocked that a gamer might descend into deeper depression, as his gamer "buds," knowing he was killing himself, couldn't figure out how to call 911 themselves for him. That would have involved leaving their computers I guess. Sad. Sad for all of you.[91] [92]

On January 20, 2006, MetalGearSolid.org issued their response:

Once again, Mr. Thompson, you've proven that your ignorance knows no bounds. We're not going to participate in this war you wish to wage against us -- we're bigger than that. We're bigger than you.

This is a case where our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions. The fact that you want to exploit the loss that both we and his family have suffered to forward your own selfish, religiously driven ambitions speaks volumes about the integrity (or lack, thereof) of your character, and it only serves to strengthen our resolve.

You can continue to try and discredit us and insult us, though no true man of God would do such a thing. We pity you and your ignorance, and only hope that someday you can come to terms with and mature away from your biggotry.[sic] As Metal Gear Solid fans, we have learned to believe in the best of individuals. We've learned to show charity. We've become better people, and through the loss of our friend, we've become a closer-knit community.

We forgive you, Jack, and we hope that God will do the same for you.

Howard Stern

In mid-2003, a complaint by Thompson about radio shock-jock Howard Stern was investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. In 2004 the FCC fined Clear Channel $495,000 for indecency. Clear Channel dropped Stern from six of its networks, but he was quickly picked up by CBS Radio, (formerly Infinity Broadcasting) which serviced a larger area. Thompson also wrote a letter to CBS Radio's parent company, Viacom, threatening civil action if they did not drop Stern altogether. [93] In early 2005, Thompson filed another complaint over on-air descriptions of sexual activity during Stern's radio show. The FCC has yet to rule on a fine (although the maximum penalty was proposed). Under pressure from the FCC and congress, CBS Radio censored Stern until he completed his move to Sirius Satellite Radio. Stern had signed a 5-year contract with Sirius in late 2004 for $500 million, to begin on January 1, 2006. Sirius has also promised to broadcast Stern's show online, although this has not happened yet.

Flowers for Jack

See main article Flowers for Jack.

In January, 2006, two gamers started a group called "Flowers for Jack", and planned to raise money to send Thompson a large batch of flowers, as well as a letter contesting his stereotyping of gamers. The concept was to make a non-threatening statement and open a casual dialogue free of insults and generalizations. The group raised over $1,000 US, and approximately half was used to buy the flowers, while the other half was donated to charity.

In February, 2006, the flowers were sent, and Thompson denounced the incident as a "stunt" and "harassment". He then forwarded the flowers to Take Two Interactive and Blank Rome, along with his own letter, "in the memory of all of the people who now lie in the ground because of your reckless design, marketing, and sale of mature-rated murder simulators to children, facilitated by lawyers who know no shame."

Other legal cases

Ileana Flores

Thompson first came into the public eye in 1986 when he represented Ileana Flores in her divorce from Frank Fuster. Fuster had been convicted the previous year of multiple counts of child abuse in the controversial Country Walk Case.

First Amendment issues

Following the Flores case Thompson became prominently involved in First Amendment issues, particularly concerning the possible effects of sexually violent material. The Florida Supreme Court ordered that he undergo psychiatric testing during this campaign, which he successfully passed. He later quipped that "I am the only officially certified sane lawyer in the entire state of Florida"^[94].

2 Live Crew suit

Thompson led the campaign against the 1989 2 Live Crew album As Nasty As They Wanna Be. In the 1990 federal trial which ruled the album obscene, he submitted material as an amicus curiae. He would reprise this role as a third-party "expert" in various video games cases (see above). The court's decision led to the arrest of several members of the group and a record retailer, although the ruling was soon reversed, and the charges were dropped.

The CD has since returned to sale on Amazon.com and various other US media outlets with merely a tag saying "Explicit Language" [95]

Freedom Alliance

In 1992, Thompson represented Oliver North's Freedom Alliance at the annual Time Warner shareholders' meeting, regarding Ice T's song "Cop Killer". He put forward the argument that, should the song inflame listeners and lead to the killing of police officers, widows would be able to sue Time Warner over the content of the record. Time Warner subsequently dropped the performer.

As a result of Thompson's efforts against Ice T's song, he was named a "top ten" censor by the American Civil Liberties Union ^[96]. Thompson states on his website that he considers the ACLU's 'award' a badge of honor.

Miami radio stations

In 1988, Thompson unsuccessfully sued Miami radio stations WZTA and WINZ for 200 million dollars, for reportedly violating an agreement the two parties reached in late 1987 following a feud between Thompson and radio personality Neil Rogers. Rogers had a temporary restraining order against Thompson for harassment, stemming from Janet Reno's refusal to arrest Rogers over comments he made on air. By August of 1988, Thompson claimed that Rogers had violated the agreement by mentioning Thompson's name 40,000 times, keeping track by taping broadcasts made by Rogers. [97] [98][99]

Books

Out of Harm's Way by Jack Thompson; ISBN 1414304420

External links

News

Interviews

Articles and Editorials By Jack Thompson

"Beltway Sniper Trained on Sniper Video Game" December 14 2002.
"Ben Stein's Tragedy" by Jack Thompson.
"What kind of game is Hillary Clinton playing?" Sun, 11 December 2005.
"Violent video games feed unhealthy ideas to young kids" January 8 2006.

Contrary opinion(s)

In Defence of Jack Thompson (written by a video games journalist)

Vocal opposition

Parodies

Jack Thompson disavowed by God - StartTruth.com parody of NIMF disavowing Thompson
On the Bandwagon - DR Comix provides suggestions for improving "A Modest Proposal"
And all of it was true - Penny Arcade response to Thompson's phone calls
An open letter to Jack Thompson - Ctrl+Alt+Del response to "A Modest Proposal"
To prove a point - Ctrl+Alt+Del shows how gamers are feared as "programmed" killers
Bathing Suit Area - Ctrl+Alt+Del Thompson's "origins"
Coco Beans in Warm Water - VG Cats The Hot Coffee media frenzy
Good Ol' Ben Theory - Little Gamers Motive?
Endorse the Semiauto - Little Gamers More guns, less sex in games.
Let it hang out - Little Gamers Put down the controller and go outside?
Jack Thompson doesn't spread stereotypes
Jack Thompson is a f*ckward by Marion.

References