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John Bruce "Jack" Thompson (born July 23, 1950) is a Miami, Florida-based attorney at law often cited in the media for his conservative views on the effects of obscenity and violence in popular media. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a 1976 JD graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law and has practiced as a medical malpractice attorney in Florida since 1977. Instead of chasing ambulances, he hounds the video game industry because of their "obscene" content.

File:Jack Thompson (attorney).jpg

The biggest Douche in the Universe since John Edward.

Political run

In 1988 Thompson was the unsuccessful Republican challenger to Janet Reno for the Office of Dade County State Attorney. Following this, as the "Man in Miami" for NewsMax.com, a conservative opinion website, he made a series of allegations ^[1] regarding Reno, met with incredulity in the press ^[2], claiming among other things that she was a closet lesbian, who was suffering from various mental disorders as side effects of medication for Parkinson's disease. Thompson also alleged that Reno was being blackmailed by the Mafia.

Video game controversy

Thompson's views

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".

Thompson asserts that young persons accused of violent crimes have "trained" or "rehearsed" their actions using "murder simulators".

Thompson asserts that video games are used by the military to desensitize and remove the inhibition to kill. A lot of commercial off-the-shelf computer games serve military purposes.[3] One of the earliest games for military usage was Marine Doom, a modified version of the Doom II to train United States Marine Corps fireteams in decision making skills. The United States Army has developed a first-person shooter called America's Army as a recruitment tool. In response to many of their troops playing videogames while deployed, the U.S. Army also commissioned Pandemic Studios to produce a tactical training simulation, which was later turned into a commercially released game, Full Spectrum Warrior. The original military version of the game and its companion for higher-ranking personnel, Full Spectrum Command, can be unlocked within the retail version.

Thompson frequently refers to medical studies that he claims scientifically prove that there is a link between violent media and aggressive behavior. Although he has used several variations of this argument, a statement on his website is typical of the approach taken:
"Recent medical brain scan studies at Harvard and Indiana University prove ... children's brain functions are damaged by a steady diet of violent images and messages."
The Indiana University study makes no mention of children's brain functions being "damaged" by exposure to violent media. It is mentioned that "there is a difference in the brain activation patterns of youths with Disruptive Behaviour Disorder and those without when exposed to a specific stimulus," but it is not explicitly claimed that there is a correlation between exposure to violent media and brain activity. (The study was funded by "Center for Successful Parenting", a lobby group campaigning against media violence.)

Thompson states that games with adult content are developed for and marketed to children.

Thompson claims that before (violent) videogames "[k]ids took guns to school for 200 years in this country [the United States] without turning them on one another" [4].

Thompson identifies himself as a Christian and frequently quotes the Bible to justify his actions. One such example is name-calling, which he claims the Bible does allow, but only as long as it is a truthful name. In an interview with the Sun-Sentinel, Thompson linked his views on religion and video games[5]:

"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. (see CBS interview below) ^[6]

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.

Webcomics like Penny Arcade, VG Cats, and similar groups have also had much-publicized spats with him, further fueling controversy (See below in the Penny Arcade section).

Thompson also blames violence on Islam, expressing his opinion that the Qur'an "promotes the killing of innocent people" and "infidels", who he claims the Qur'an identifies as Christians and Jews.

Thompson regularly contradicts himself when asked about his views. He has said that "My only position for six years on this has been: Mature games must not be sold to minors. That is my only position." [7] and "The Warriors must not fall into the hands of anyone under 18. In fact, it should not be sold to anyone" (sic) [8]

In an interview with Netjak's Rick Healey, he referred to video games as "a masturbatory activity" and told gamers to "put down the controller and get a life".

Correspondence

Thompson has gained notoriety as a caustic and combative individual, to some extent borne out in many examples of exchanges between him and other individuals that have been posted in emails on the Internet, as well as interviews and media appearances.

He invokes broad negative stereotypes against gamers in general. For example, in an e-mail correspondence with Scott Ramsoomair, he questions: "Honestly, are all of you gamers on drugs, or what?" [9]. In a correspondence with Ryan Acheson (gaming writer for The Horror Channel's Dread Central), when Ryan Acheson said he supported Thompson's intentions to make M-rated games inaccessible to children, he identifies "gamers' ideas" as "the latest oxymoron" [10].

In some interviews Jack refers to Pixelantes, a derogatory term referring to gamers.

Thompson offered to speak at the 2006 Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association Executive Summit, although IEMA President Hal Halpin has once again declined to comment, essentially refusing his offer. Thompson claimed that he could "get Hillary off [the industry's] backs" and that he was their "ticket out of where the industry is right now." [11]

On January 6th, 2006, Thompson wrote a letter to US President George W. Bush, demanding that the president appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Blank Rome, over allegations they used political connections to Republican National Committee members to win a post-Hurricane Katrina relief contract for one of their clients. Thompson has previously gone after Blank Rome since they represent Take Two Interactive. [12]

Video game cases

In 1999, Thompson filed a $33 million federal products liability class action lawsuit against a number of entertainment companies, including Time Warner Inc., Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution Inc., Palm Pictures, Island Pictures, New Line Cinema, Atari Corp., Nintendo of America, Sega of America Inc., and Sony Computer Entertainment, on behalf of the parents of victims of the 1997 Paducah schoolhouse shootings, in which 14-year old Michael Carneal shot at a group of fellow students as they were leaving a preschool prayer group in the school's lobby, killing 3 and wounding 5. [13] He was sentenced to life in prison. In 2002, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's dismissal of the lawsuit in 2000 [14], citing Kentucky tort law, absolving the companies of responsibility for Carneal's actions. [15] In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari, refusing to review the case because it was not dismissed on 1st Amendment grounds. [16] Dr. Dewey Cornell, a psychiatrist who interviewed Carneal, rebuked the idea that Carneal had never fired a gun before, as Thompson claimed, as he admitted to having stolen and practiced with a .22 caliber pistol, and had previously practiced with other handguns. Carneal eventually stole 5 rifles from a friends' father's gun cabinet while the family was away at a Thanksgiving dinner, as well as stealing 2 shotguns from his own father. [17]

Since the Paducah lawsuit, Thompson has pursued the companies that develop violent video games in court: he attempted to link the Columbine shootings and the Washington Sniper to first-person shooters and frequently attacks Rockstar, linking Rockstar North's Manhunt game and Grand Theft Auto series to a wide variety of murders, particularly those involving vehicles or weapons other than firearms.

Some consider Thompson to be a Fredric Wertham-like figure in the video gaming world. However, Thompson lacks Wertham's psychology background, and his actions have not led to a censorship movement; neither has he succeeded in connecting the media in question to violent crime in the eyes of the US Government.

More recently, he has 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 lawyers have declined to employ this line of reasoning, and Thompson has subsequently offered to defend Lynch for free, presumably in the hope that he may create credibility behind the "video games defense". The defending lawyers declined Thompson's offer. ^[18]

As well as propagating the "video games defense," Thompson attempts to predict which violent crimes will be caused by specific video games. In the Washington Sniper case, he 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. From that report, Thompson claimed 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." ^[19] 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.

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^[20]. McCoy initially claimed insanity due to severe paranoid schizophrenia, believing that TV media coverage of various issues (Michael Jackson's trial was an example) were mocking him. [21] 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. [22]

Thompson also proactively linked Grand Theft Auto III to violent crime in general. He was also linked by British newspapers to claims that Rockstar's Manhunt provoked the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17. The police and judge presiding over the case denied that the game had been a contributory factor in the murder, however, and it was in fact the victim's mother who originally made the claims, leading Thompson to tell IGN that his involvement was fabricated by British tabloids. In the case, it was the victim who owned a copy of Manhunt, and not the killer.

^ In one of a series of "video game violence" interviews by CBS^[23], he compared Douglas Lowenstein of the Entertainment Software Association to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels (this response has since been edited)^[24], in reference to Lowenstein's alleged role as "spin doctor" for the videogame industry. Months thereafter, Thompson instead wrote an open letter comparing Lowenstein to Adolf Hitler^[25], comparing Lowenstein's knowledge of the US Constitution to Hitler's apparent ignorance of Napoleon's failed attack on Moscow. In a June 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Thompson implied that Lowenstein was worse than Saddam Hussein. 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. [26]

Grand Theft Auto

Hot Coffee

In July 2005, Thompson Patrick Wildenborg, a modder, discovered a sexual mini-game (dubbed "Hot Coffee"); players could not normally access it in the game, but could through applying a third-party hack. Although the 3rd party alterations were unknown to and unapproved by developer Rockstar Games, Rockstar was held accountable by the ESRB because they failed to sufficiently disable or remove the incomplete mini-game. 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. [27] Take Two has confirmed that the FTC has begun the investigation. [28]

On August 3, 2005, Thompson claimed 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. However, third parties failed to find this alleged game. Thompson also sent a letter to the ESRB claiming GamePolitics, a gaming news website, told him about the code, although the site reported no such thing. [29]

On November 15, 2005, Thompson claimed that the FTC had sent him a letter stating that "Take-Two continues to aggressively market M games to kids. The M is a sales tool in such marketing." So far he has not produced a copy of the letter to back up his claim. [30]

Strickland vs. Sony

On August 12, 2005 several online newspapers published a story from the Associated Press: "Relatives of two slain Fayette officers turn to suit over video games." Thompson filed a lawsuit representing families of two of the three victims in Fayette, Alabama. The third victim's family later joined the lawsuit ^[31].

On Tuesday, November 1, 2005, Thompson sent an email ^[32] to various websites in order to comment on the opening day of the Alabama trial involving Devin Moore. In this same email, he compares Sony and Take Two Interactive's sale of the Grand Theft Auto video game to Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II since according to Thompson, certain regional governments in Japan had prevented the sale of the Grand Theft Auto games to minors, though Sony continued to sell the game where its sale was not restricted in Japan and abroad (Microsoft is doing the same for its own video game console). A large number of readers of the letter expressed their anger at Thompson's comparison to the Pearl Harbor attack.

On Friday, November 4, 2005, Blank Rome submitted a motion to have Thompson removed from the case, stating that Thompson would "turn the courtroom into a circus." [33]

On November 7, 2005, Thompson withdrew himself from the case stating, "It was my idea [to leave the case]." Jack Thompson was quick to mention that the case would probably do well with or without his presence. This decision followed scrutiny from Judge James Moore, however Thompson claimed he received no pressure to withdraw. At the same time, Judge James Moore had taken the motion to revoke Thompson's license under advisement. Jack Thompson appeared in court to defend his right to practice law in Alabama (using Pro Hac Vice), following accusations that he violated legal ethics ahead of a civil case against companies involved in creating and selling Grand Theft Auto.[34] [35]

Upon returning home Jack Thompson discovered a tube of vaginal lubricant left at his front door. Thompson said he believes Rockstar may have been responsible for leaving it there.[36]

Just before leaving the case, Thompson filed a motion with the court, quoting noted designer Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Thief) as being critical of Rockstar's actions, taken from a speech Spector gave at the Montreal International Game Summit. He even implied that Spector could be served a subpoena to testify, even though the court's jurisdiction did not extend to Spector's place of residence. On November 9, 2005, Spector lashed out at Thompson for taking his comments out of context, saying "Take two or three things, from different contexts, mash them together and you can mislead people pretty dramatically." [37]

Alabama license revoked

On November 18, 2005, Judge Moore rejected Thompson's request to withdraw, and instead revoked his Pro Hac Vice admission (a temporary license to practice in Alabama), in an 18-page decision. Thompson responded with a letter to Alabama's Judicial Inquiry Commission, questioning Judge Moore's ethics and accusing him of violating the first 3 Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics [38] [39] Thompson also claimed the judge had "absolutely no authority" in preventing him from withdrawing from the case, and so therefore the court's decision to kick him off the case was a "legal nullity". He accused the court of punishing him for "aggressively telling the truth" while it "looked the other way when Blank Rome elegantly told those lies." [40]

Judge Moore has also referred this matter to the Alabama Bar for "appropriate action" remarking among other things: "Mr. Thompson's actions before this Court suggest that he is unable to conduct himself in a manner befitting practice in this state." [41]

On November 21, 2005, Thompson claimed that "We had heard going into this civil case, before it was even filed, that a particular Western Alabama lawyer had to be part of our litigation team or Judge Moore would not give us a fair hearing. This lawyer himself claims, openly, that 'Judge Moore will not allow you to survive summary judgment if I am not on the case.' For too long we have heard swirling around this Judge allegations of improper influence." (sic) [42] Thompson alluded that the "fixer" was local lawyer Clatus Junkin, although Junkin denied he had any influence over any judges, or that he had made such a comment, as he was "not that dumb [...] or foolish enough to imply that [he] could [influence Judge Moore]." He also declined Thompson's request to join the plaintiffs' team, citing disagreements over Thompson's demands of complete control of any contact with the news media. Judge Moore noted that even though he had banned comments on the case outside the courtroom, Thompson had issued 7 different communications between the start of the case and the day he revoked Thompson's Pro Hac Vice. [43]

On December 13, 2005, Thompson announced that he will be "assisting plaintiffs’ counsel during the discovery process and in the courtroom at trial" when the civil trial begins in 2006 (the judge ruled on both Thompson's dismissal from the case, and dismissal of the case itself, during pretrial hearings). He also claimed he "will likely be a witness in the case." Although he gave no details as to what he would be a witness to, except that he claimed he had "warned, in writing," Take-Two and Rockstar Games "that murders such as those in Alabama would occur by teens who had rehearsed the murders on their virtual reality killing simulators." [44] It should be noted though, that Judge Moore forbade Thompson from "[communicating] with the court or the judge" or he "would be held in contempt of court." [45] While that order was appealed, it has not yet been ruled on.

Jacksboro shooting

On November 8, 2005, a student at Campbell County Comprehensive High School in Jacksboro, Tennessee was arrested after the shooting of 3 school employees, including the principal, who managed to wrestle the .22 from the suspect. An assistant principal later died at the hospital, and the others were treated in intensive care. No students were hurt other than the suspect, whose hand was grazed by a bullet during the struggle. [46] While police have not yet determined a motive for the shooting, Thompson has already proclaimed the incident to be video game-related. [47] So far he has not provided corroborative evidence to back up this claim. On November 9, 2005 he sent out a press release [48] claiming to have spoken to relatives of the suspect, and that they have supposedly 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.'"

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 [49] had a parody of Thompson, where a character named "JT", representing a group called Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety [50], a fictional activist group, seeks to ban the Internet. Thompson claimed the emails from "jt@citizensunitednegatingtechnology.org" imply that he "likes to surf the Internet for pictures depicting deviant sex acts by prepubescent 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 encourages 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 claimed these attacks are the same the pornography industry used in 1989 when his complaint resulted in an FCC fine. [51]

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 advertised during daytime TV aimed at children. He has not specified which programs the ads were seen in. A successful nuisance injunction would see GTA:LCS pulled from store shelves in Alabama. [52] King's office confirmed it was investigating the request, but did not comment on whether it would be taking any action. [53]

Other GTA-related incidents

Thompson has "called on California law enforcement personnel [to] seize GTA games." [54] Although Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, had signed into law a bill requiring "ultra-violent" videogames to be labelled 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 insisted the attackers were copy-catting Take-Two games, although many critics point 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. [55]

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.

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." (sic), due to the availability of a mod that removes the censorship fields from all characters when they are nude. Thompson claimed that this allows pedophiles to see computer-rendered nude children ^[56], "much to the delight, one can be sure, of pedophiles around the globe who can rehearse, in virtual reality, for their abuse." Only consenting adults can engage in relationships in the game, sexual or otherwise. All sexual encounters between Sims are handled in a comedic fashion and are not explicitly seen by the player, contrary to Thompson's claims. In another instance, he claimed "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. Thompson further accused EA and Will Wright of supporting adult custom content specifically. However, Will Wright has historically supported all user-created game content universally on the principle of endorsing personal creativity, innovation, and personalization. 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."

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 ^[57]. 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 with the Miami courts in August, 2005 [58], seeking to have "Bully" declared a "public nuisance" and kept off the shelves, but nothing further is known about this complaint.

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 ^[59] 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^[60]."

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 claimed that the ESRB was 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 has now spoken out against Rockstar Toronto's 2005 title, The Warriors, a video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox gaming systems. His accusations are based on the movie of the same name. He said that it should be rated AO by 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/X). 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. [61]

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

25 to Life

Following the announcement that Eidos, makers of 25 to Life were sending the game to gold master, 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 will have 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. [62]

Thompson also insisted that Eidos had an agreement with Utah's Attorney General to not release the game, and insisted that the AG was "madder than a wet hen, and all this is going to hit the fan..." [63] 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 doesn't plan any legal action against Eidos, and hopes retailers such as Wal-Mart will choose not to stock the game but acknowledged that was a "corporate, free-market decision." [64] [65]

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 a lot of anti-semetic 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 Postal 2 over the internet. [66]

Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desi noted that neither Postal nor Postal 2 have knives as weapons, although the Postal 2 add-on, Apocalypse Weekend, does have a boomerang machete. [67] RWS also released a press release denouncing the attack, saying "Despite our renegade image, we have ALWAYS maintained that violence belongs in videogames, NOT on the streets." and "Violent behavior and mental illness are complex issues and trivializing them with baseless anti-game invective helps no one." [68]

Thompson responded by calling Desi a "sociopath" who provided "Jew-haters" with their very own "murder simulator" and called Postal 2 "open season on Jews." [69] 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?" [70] 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. [71] [72] Thompson followed up by claiming that Postal 2 "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?" [73]

As with his many other debate challenges, Thompson said that if Desi wouldn't debate him, he was a "coward". [74] 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." [75]

"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 [76]. The title of the letter alludes to Jonathan Swift's classic 18th century satire: A Modest Proposal.

The game 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 Eibeler" and her family. The father then begins a road trip across the states, back to Los Angeles, then assaulting the law firm "Blank, Stare" who represent "Take This" and various gaming arcades and games stores before arriving at E³ and completing a "monstrously delicious rampage" on the participants. Thompson argued that the game industry would never make such a game, in which the targets are virtual representations of themselves, for fear of turning players into their own killers.

Thompson was unaware that Running With Scissors had already released a commercial first person shooter, Postal 2, 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 [77]. 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 claimed that his proposal was satire and said that he would not donate the $10,000.

Thompson argued 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 claimed the offer was still valid, and that only the description of the scenario was satire, the offer to donate money was real. [78]

Penny Arcade

On October 17, 2005, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade donated the promised $10,000 to charity on Jack Thompson's behalf ^ . Krahulik and Holkins donated the money, under Thompson's name, to the ESA Foundation [79], the charitable arm of the Entertainment Software Association. Thompson e-mailed both Penny Arcade and Joystiq, who ran a story about the donation, demanding that the articles be taken down "or else." The check, presented to the ESA Foundation, was delivered at an ESAF fundraising dinner in San Francisco and said, For Jack Thompson, because Jack Thompson won't. [80]

In retaliation, Jack Thompson faxed a letter to Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, requesting assistance in halting the activities of Krahulik and Holkins [81]. In his letter, he described how personnel within Penny Arcade were harassing him: the sale of an "I Hate Jack Thompson" shirt and frequent postings on their website where they allegedly admitted to harassment.

According to GameSpot [82], as of 9:55AM PDT October 18, 2005, the Seattle Police Department had not received Thompson's fax, which at that point had been sent to GameSpot, Penny Arcade, and other sites. Thompson emailed GameSpot, claiming that he had fixed the URL for Penny Arcade (which was incorrect in the original fax) and faxed the letter, commenting, "They have it now." Thompson also told GameSpot that he was not a "pixelated piñata in a game." He ended by saying that the "moral midgets" at Penny Arcade had chosen "the wrong target" and "I've been at this longer than he has." These vague threats have been deemed "nothing to worry about" by Penny Arcade. The Seattle Police Department confirmed to GameSpot[83] on October 21 that they had received a complaint from Thompson.

On October 21, 2005, Thompson claimed to have sent a letter to John McKay, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, in an attempt to get the FBI involved. Thompson reiterated his claims of "extortion" and accuses Penny Arcade of using "their Internet site and various other means to encourage and solicit criminal harassment".[84] Penny Arcade denies the charge of "extortion", noting that they paid the $10,000 to charity, and are asking nothing in return.[85]

Thompson also contacted the office of Washington State Legislature Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, and her office confirms they asked John McKay to look into the matter. Thompson has not clarified how he is being "extorted," but accuses Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik of soliciting Florida Bar complaints against him through Mike posting the Florida Bar's link on Penny Arcade's website. The link, however, is in a post asking fans to stop sending letters to the Bar because the Bar is fully aware of the current situation.[86]

On October 27, 2005, the Seattle PD commented on Thompson's complaint, although after the initial reading of the letter they noted that the complaint appeared to be a civil, rather than criminal matter. They passed the letter on to the chief of their criminal investigations bureau for review. [87]

Amazon.com threatened with legal action

Soon after Jack Thompson's book, Out of Harm's Way [88], 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 1 star reviews of the book. Thompson has accused Amazon of not living up to their end of their contractual agreement which he claims 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 [89]. 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). [90] [91] [92]

On November 21, 2005, Thompson wrote a letter [93] 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." [94] As of November 22nd 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.

Response

With his attacks aimed, not just at the corporations which distribute/develop video games, but also at the gamers who play them, Thompson has received a notable number of opposing responses from the gaming world; not only insults and threats via email, but challenges and invitations to debate. He has been credited for bringing together the often-divisive gaming community into a united front against his actions.

With Thompson's renewed public profile due to the Hot Coffee modification, his presence in the gaming news is now a weekly occurrence. Many gaming websites report articles regarding Thompson with mocking tones; he is rarely presented as a serious advocate for more sensible controls on game distribution, but more often as a sensationalist striving for fame and recognition or financial profit [95]. Many gamers see him as a caricature of an out-of-touch generation whose kneejerk reaction is to ban something that which is new and unknown, in an analogous way to previous generations' attempts to ban rock and roll, violent films, and comic books.

Recently, webcomics have shifted their focus, using their webpages to address Mr. Thompson's accusations in both email exchanges and in webcomics. In addition to the tri-weekly comic Hsu and Chan [96], Ctrl+Alt+Del [97] [98], GU Comics [99] [100], VG Cats [101] have all voiced their opinions through their comic strips, most recently with this response from Ctrl+Alt+Del to Mr. Thompson's offer of a $10,000 donation to charity A Modest Video Game Proposal above).

Mr. Thompson's responses to these websites comic-styled criticisms of him have become the source of much discussion among the webcomic community. Webcomic sites such as VG Cats have posted transcripts e-mail exchanges between Thompson and Scott Ramsoomair over Thompson's portrayal [102] of Killer 7.

Threats

There have been threats made against Jack Thompson. On December 9, 2005, one such individual, a 16 year old boy, was charged in Texas for leaving threatening phone calls on Thompson's home answering machine in Florida. Initially, Thompson claimed that he had taped the phone calls seperately, but rescinded this statement when challenged that such conversation recording without prior warning to the other participant is considered a violation of US Wiretapping and privacy laws.[103] The calls, placed in October 2005, threatened torture resulting in death, and the boy was charged with harassing communication, a misdemeanor offense. Thompson went on to imply that the boy was part of a larger campaign by the gaming industry to "shoot the messenger" and that it backfired because of the arrest. [104]

On January 10, 2006, Thompson began threatening posters on GamePolitics.com with arrest following the signing of "using internet communication with intent to annoy" (Sec. 113), which President Bush signed into law as part of a justice bill. The section was amended to help protect women from stalkers. The section makes it illegal to annoy someone through electronic communications while hiding their true identity. Many posters pointed out that Thompson's posts annoyed them, and that he was using an alias, "Jack Thompson", instead of his true identity "John Bruce Thompson". Thompson retaliated by insisting that the posts pointing this out were in violation of said law. [105]

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 [106] 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." [107] 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. [108] 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. [109] According to Jack, this one instance proves that Best Buy as a company was not living up to it's end of the settlement, and vowed to bring a lawsuit against the retail giant asking the courts to enforce the original agreement. [110] 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 [111] 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. [112] 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. [113]

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. [114]

Investigation by Florida Bar Association

In response to Thompson's behavior regarding Penny-Arcade's response to Thompson's "Modest Proposal" ^[115], 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. [116].

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 $20,000 USD. [117] 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 a disciplinary 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 "The Bar's ongoing, recidivist, tortious conduct". [118]

As of the 8th of January, 2006, Jack Thompson's website stopkill.com has been closed down and redirected to a spam site and Thompson has opened a new website. theflabar.org is a text based website, directly abusing the Florida Bar Association and others who were responsible for giving Thompson his license, citing ethical and moral disputes. Many of the claims on the site include claiming that Thompson was not forcing his entertainment and religious beliefs on others, counter to what the Florida Bar is perceiving. The final note on the website is asking anyone who views the page to rise up and oppose the Florida Bar Association.

Other legal cases

Ileana Flores

He 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"^[131].

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.

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 ^[132]. 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 harrassment, 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. [133] [134]

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, Dec. 11, 2005.
"Violent video games feed unhealthy ideas to young kids" January 8th, 2006.

Contrary opinion(s)

In Defence of Jack Thompson (written by a videogames 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?

References

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 <!-- Someone please find a confirmable source for his birthplace -->
-[[Image:Jack_Thompson_(attorney).jpg|right|frame|The biggest Douche in the Universe]]
+[[Image:Jack_Thompson_(attorney).jpg|right|frame|The biggest Douche in the Universe since John Edward.]]
 ==Political run==