So, some of you might not have heard of Jack Thompson before. The well-respected lawyer is a furious, angry advocate against videogame violence.
Since he has taken his crusade to the media in the last while, he has challanged the makers of GTA and other game makers to pull what he calls filth off the shelves. He has addressed many challenges to game makers to put violence aside. He even yelled frantically that he would never see ' 25 to Life' hit the shelves. Some companies listened, but not the game makers. Wal-Mart has agrred on his recommendation to not sell certain games.
So, when he proposed a challenge to the videogame makers to make a video game based on his proposal, some people raised a eyebrow. His proposal? To make a videogame where the star is a greiving father that had his child killed in a 'videogame' fatality. If there is a videogame company that is willing to do this, he will donate $10,000 to the favorite charity of the head of Take-Two interactive, the publisher of Grand Thief Auto.
Basically, you would play Osaki Kin (O.K.), and your son was beaten to death by a baseball bat because some other kid had practiced it in Grand Thief Auto. The game takes you all over the United States, killing and mutaliating all the people responsible for making these games. He even quoted that you would be able to piss on brain stems.
Ok, I realize that this sounds like a joke. I figured that Thompson was making a satarial joke on the gaming industry, but he himself says that this is true. This is what he wants. IT would appear to me that Thompson might be headed for the crazy house.
This man has spent 20 years, 20, fighting videogame violence. He claims to have visited young adults in jail that claim that GTA and simular games lead them to kill because they had seen it in a videogame. Now, that rings false to me. I realize that there might be a genuine person out there, one or two, that might actually have committed violence because of a videogame, but is that the games fault?
No. I've been playing videogames for 18 years almost, as well as 50 of my closest friends. None of us have gone crazy. While we are only 51 people out of billions, wouldn't the statistics that have been produced in the name of videogame violence and it's end suggest that one of us, at least, would go crazy and kill a bus load of people? People will do what they will do, and blaming other sources for their rage or anger is not right. I could kill someone tomorrow then and instead of blaming my parents, I could blame a videogame. Videogames as a reason is a cop out to me.
So, proposing a violent videogame.... that doesn't seem like it is coming to a solution that Jack wants. Indeed, it is almost like he is just adding another violent game ot a list that he himself, is trying to end. I realize that he is trying to make a point, but it will be lost in the crowd. People play games like Postal2 and GTA because they like them. Regardless of the moral message Thompson is trying to incluide in this proposal, it comes out stupid. Actually, it also comes out some what hypocritical. Silly man.