War on Video Games = Bullshit!

[msbae]

It's about damned time Penn & Teller got to this topic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peLMsYqlDd0

I feel bad for the little kid who got to shoot that AR-15 to see what real guns were like...

Still, I'm happy someone put Jack Thompson in his place. Fuckin' Bastard...


Mod Note: TrekBBS can't really condone linking to entire episodes of a television show an a subscription network. I've edited out the other parts. Sorry. Cool topic though. -Akiraprise

 

[Hermiod]

Without watching a 30 minute programme, would you care to sum up the content of those videos ?

 

[Kelthaz]

To be fair to Jack, he's really not as extreme as people make him out to be. He doesn't hate video games. He only wants to prevent the sale of mature rated games to minors. He may not go about it the best way, but he has good intentions.

Here's a pretty good interview with him where he comes across as reasonable and intelligent.

Jack Thompson Interview.

 

[Akiraprise]

Without watching a 30 minute programme, would you care to sum up the content of those videos ?

Playing violent video games does not make you a mass murdering psychopath.
Which we, of course, already knew.

 

[Yoda]

^that and playing Call of Duty doesn't teach you how to hold and shoot a rifle without having the stock kick you in the face

 

[Akiraprise]

I was thinking "Kid you better put the butt of that gun tight to your shoulder or you're gonna get it."
Not surprising he didn't want to shoot more.

 

[msbae]

To be fair to Jack, he's really not as extreme as people make him out to be. He doesn't hate video games. He only wants to prevent the sale of mature rated games to minors. He may not go about it the best way, but he has good intentions.

Here's a pretty good interview with him where he comes across as reasonable and intelligent.

Jack Thompson Interview.

Yet, that asshole still cost me quite a few potential job opportunities...

http://www.examiner.com/x-4256-New-Orleans-Video-Game-Examiner~y2009m4d21-Why-Louisiana-has-virtually-no-game-developers

To Hell with him. I would not be sad if he died from Testicular Cancer.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Jack Thompson didn't cost you anything, living in Louisiana did. I mean, come on. Programmers don't want to live in the swamp.

 

[Arrqh]

To be fair to Jack, he's really not as extreme as people make him out to be. He doesn't hate video games. He only wants to prevent the sale of mature rated games to minors. He may not go about it the best way, but he has good intentions.

Here's a pretty good interview with him where he comes across as reasonable and intelligent.

Jack Thompson Interview.

That's all well and good, but his belief that the government has the right to even do that is pretty antithetical to how media is handled in the US. All forms of media are self-regulated and video games are no exception and his attempts to essentially restrict free speech in a way that has been ruled unconstitutional multiple times is most certainly not a good or constructive idea.

And yeah, that Louisiana thing makes no sense, especially since the law was overturned in court. And even then, video games are a global market; no one makes games just to be sold locally!

 

[msbae]

Jack Thompson didn't cost you anything, living in Louisiana did. I mean, come on. Programmers don't want to live in the swamp.

And yeah, that Louisiana thing makes no sense, especially since the law was overturned in court. And even then, video games are a global market; no one makes games just to be sold locally!

The Game companies were all set to come here and set up shop in either Baton Rouge or New Orleans. Then, that asshole came around and got that twit of a former governor Kathleen Blanco to pass a stupid law and ruined it all. He essentially took advantage of the fact that Louisiana politicians are even more stupid than usual to try and push his agenda.

I guess it doesn't matter. I won't be here much longer and, like other entertainment businesses, the game industry probably wouldn't take anyone from outside California all that seriously anyway.

 

[Kelthaz]

To be fair to Jack, he's really not as extreme as people make him out to be. He doesn't hate video games. He only wants to prevent the sale of mature rated games to minors. He may not go about it the best way, but he has good intentions.

Here's a pretty good interview with him where he comes across as reasonable and intelligent.

Jack Thompson Interview.

That's all well and good, but his belief that the government has the right to even do that is pretty antithetical to how media is handled in the US. All forms of media are self-regulated and video games are no exception and his attempts to essentially restrict free speech in a way that has been ruled unconstitutional multiple times is most certainly not a good or constructive idea.

And yeah, that Louisiana thing makes no sense, especially since the law was overturned in court. And even then, video games are a global market; no one makes games just to be sold locally!

I don't see any problem with a law preventing the sale of M (17+ rated) games to people under the age of 17. The kid can still play it as long as his parent goes with him to buy the game.

 

[Arrqh]

To be fair to Jack, he's really not as extreme as people make him out to be. He doesn't hate video games. He only wants to prevent the sale of mature rated games to minors. He may not go about it the best way, but he has good intentions.

Here's a pretty good interview with him where he comes across as reasonable and intelligent.

Jack Thompson Interview.

That's all well and good, but his belief that the government has the right to even do that is pretty antithetical to how media is handled in the US. All forms of media are self-regulated and video games are no exception and his attempts to essentially restrict free speech in a way that has been ruled unconstitutional multiple times is most certainly not a good or constructive idea.

And yeah, that Louisiana thing makes no sense, especially since the law was overturned in court. And even then, video games are a global market; no one makes games just to be sold locally!

I don't see any problem with a law preventing the sale of M (17+ rated) games to people under the age of 17. The kid can still play it as long as his parent goes with him to buy the game.

That's already how things are done... except the industry does it themselves.

I don't know exactly how it works in other countries, but in the US games are considered a form of protected speech. So is every other form of media... movies, DVD's, literature, magazines, etc. The only way the government can restrict the sale of any form of media is if it can be classified as obscene as per the Miller test. Quite a few states have passed laws restricting the sale of video games including a few that Thompson was involved in writing and each one of them was declared unconstitutional. In many cases the ESA was awarded legal fees, so the continued attempts at passing these laws is basically doing nothing but costing the taxpayers of these states money... which could be easily avoided as there is clear precedent now that indicates that these laws do not stand up to constitutional muster. They do it anyway to pick up brownie points with the voters on their own dime.

And this is how every other media industry does it... it's not illegal to sell a minor a ticket to an R rated movie. And it doesn't need to be, most theaters won't do it anyway. And it's the same with games... the problem is so many parents don't pay attention to what their kids are asking for. And you can't fix that with legislation.