thompson interview
ChatterBox Jack Thompson Interview
I'm probably pretty late in the game since this interview took place way back in August, but I think it's pretty important to listen to, because it proves that the man isn't totally batshit crazy, and probably even sane to some degree. If you've been keeping up at all with anything on Jack Thompson, I recommend you listen to the interview, hell, since we all just love poking fun at him, there's still some great material for that in the interview, so conceptions about him aren't totally inaccurate.
In the beginning of the interview, Thompson made some good points about the sale of video games. In essence, that a policy should be mandated in all retail stores that M-rated games shouldn't be sold to anyone under the age it says so on the box, similar to R-rated movies. That is honestly a good idea to adopt, it takes the hot water off the gaming industry and we can go on to blame the fucking dumb parents that buy a game that says there is great violence and sexual content. Such a policy will disarm the lawsuit-crazy parents that must blame everything but themselves.
I'm no stranger to stores that have had such a policy, I would often give money to some random adult in the corner to buy me the game to circumvent it. Either that or it was warez for me.
Thompson began to sound reasonable, and my opinion was about to change about him slightly, he still held the same crackpot views conservative TV mothers were spouting but at least he was a bit more sane about it, but then, he started talking about boycotting Bully. Soon enough, he started taking arguments he tried to explain earlier from the corruption of the game industry and tried to tie it to Rockstar Games alone for making a game that isn't even out yet. Pretty soon, you see no mention of actually legislation to get his sole reasonable point enacted, instead you see bitching from a man who seems to think lawsuits and indirect action to the real issue at hand are the only ways to solve everything.
The part of the interview that summed up he was crazy to me was his claim the the creators of The Sims are collaborating with the porn industry by allowing mods of their games. I mean, wow, this guy doesn't even have his facts straight about the subject of mods and game ratings yet he's the expert on the gaming industry now for some reason. There is a reason there are notices that say "ESRB ratings do not determine online play and modifications" on many game packages, so people are warned. It's not like one day little Timmy was playing GTA and Hot Coffee was offered to him, and he's certainly not playing The Sims to re-enact fantasies in the shitty graphics of the EA game, there's porn for that.
The final statement did Thompson in, "I want to destroy Rockstar Games." I began to laugh my ass off, that should be a quote on every game released by Rockstar from now on to get people to buy their games.
So yeah, he's still a nutjob in short, but it's so much fun to see it, yet so scary knowing people like this have power over public opinion.
I'm probably pretty late in the game since this interview took place way back in August, but I think it's pretty important to listen to, because it proves that the man isn't totally batshit crazy, and probably even sane to some degree. If you've been keeping up at all with anything on Jack Thompson, I recommend you listen to the interview, hell, since we all just love poking fun at him, there's still some great material for that in the interview, so conceptions about him aren't totally inaccurate.
In the beginning of the interview, Thompson made some good points about the sale of video games. In essence, that a policy should be mandated in all retail stores that M-rated games shouldn't be sold to anyone under the age it says so on the box, similar to R-rated movies. That is honestly a good idea to adopt, it takes the hot water off the gaming industry and we can go on to blame the fucking dumb parents that buy a game that says there is great violence and sexual content. Such a policy will disarm the lawsuit-crazy parents that must blame everything but themselves.
I'm no stranger to stores that have had such a policy, I would often give money to some random adult in the corner to buy me the game to circumvent it. Either that or it was warez for me.
Thompson began to sound reasonable, and my opinion was about to change about him slightly, he still held the same crackpot views conservative TV mothers were spouting but at least he was a bit more sane about it, but then, he started talking about boycotting Bully. Soon enough, he started taking arguments he tried to explain earlier from the corruption of the game industry and tried to tie it to Rockstar Games alone for making a game that isn't even out yet. Pretty soon, you see no mention of actually legislation to get his sole reasonable point enacted, instead you see bitching from a man who seems to think lawsuits and indirect action to the real issue at hand are the only ways to solve everything.
The part of the interview that summed up he was crazy to me was his claim the the creators of The Sims are collaborating with the porn industry by allowing mods of their games. I mean, wow, this guy doesn't even have his facts straight about the subject of mods and game ratings yet he's the expert on the gaming industry now for some reason. There is a reason there are notices that say "ESRB ratings do not determine online play and modifications" on many game packages, so people are warned. It's not like one day little Timmy was playing GTA and Hot Coffee was offered to him, and he's certainly not playing The Sims to re-enact fantasies in the shitty graphics of the EA game, there's porn for that.
The final statement did Thompson in, "I want to destroy Rockstar Games." I began to laugh my ass off, that should be a quote on every game released by Rockstar from now on to get people to buy their games.
So yeah, he's still a nutjob in short, but it's so much fun to see it, yet so scary knowing people like this have power over public opinion.