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Penny Arcade Conspires to Discredit Jack Thompson
Werrick
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://gamepolitics.com/category/court-cases/
Apparently Take-Two is conspiring to threaten and intimidate Thompson along with several third-parties, one of which is Penny Arcade. Yah, that's right. We don't all think he's a complete idiot because of what he says and does, we're clearly out to get him.
What a fucking tool.
Someone should send him a present
Apparently Take-Two is conspiring to threaten and intimidate Thompson along with several third-parties, one of which is Penny Arcade. Yah, that's right. We don't all think he's a complete idiot because of what he says and does, we're clearly out to get him.
What a fucking tool.
Someone should send him a present
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be rude without having their skulls split, as a general thing."
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
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He's just trying to protect the children. Haha.
I don't see why stopping someone under 18 getting a game that's only aimed at over 18s is bad personally. Surely that's the point of law?
I demand a poll of the servant population to confirm this.
It isn't a legal requirement, the ESRB and/or stores police themselves over this issue. Much like the MPAA and movie theatres police themselves over not admitting someone under 17 into an R rated movie.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
On the black screen
Well how about the fact that Take-Two actually might have a case and take money away from him?
Oh yeah, those pesky legal fees... Thompson will have some Family First crowd there to pony up the bill... even if they don't Thompson will easily be able to afford it. And of course, that is only if the suit is successful. It's just a premptive strike by Take Two to prevent him from blocking the release of their games.
Edit: There, consider it discussed.
Done. It'll take a few years for me to compile the data, though.
Really, though, nobody seems to respond positively to Thompson - judges, the bar, people, etc.
He's just some loser local lawyer with delusions of grandeaur and a knack for finding hot button issues.
He's out to do what he thinks is right, maybe. I'm sure some of his intentions, though misguided, come from some kind of imposing desire to "better" society. I think he may be doing what he thinks is right, but I certainly don't think it's right. Replace Jack Thompson with my most trusted and respected friend, and I'd tell her to stop being an idiot too.
By this point, isn't Thompson just somekind of inside joke? Has he actually done anything, you know, in the real world other than a few impotent lawsuits?
He's like the Paris Hilton of video game politics. And for some reason some people manage to get worked up over him.
That's exactly right and something that a lot of people forget. His intentions are... or were noble. The problem is that he's gotten personal. He has no ability to deal with criticisms and gets down and dirty, calls people names, threatens them at the drop of a hat and makes an ass of himself every time he opens his mouth.
Should kids under 18 be buying M18 games? Fuck no! They shoudln't be renting or attending 'R' rated movies either. The same rules should apply.
It's just too bad that he's bat-shit fucking insane.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
Different debate entirely, but I really don't agree. There's really nothing about most of today's R-rated films that require, say, a 15 year old to be legally barred from seeing it.
Then that calls for a review of the standards of the rating system in place for movies, not a comment on whether or not having standards or limits in general is a bad thing.
At the same time, I might let my 16 year old kid, assuming a certain level of maturity, to watch somethign like... Army of Darkness. It's rated 'R', for example.
I wouldn't, however, let my 16 year old kid play GTAIII.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
Any age that is prescribed will be arbitrary. The system, as is, decided that 17 or 18 is the proper arbitrary number for R rated movies and M rated games respectively. Kids are always going to try and game the system, though, but I don't see the huge issue with that to be honest.
He's overestimated the importance of both his cause and his role... which is why now he's nothing but a punchline and Video Game violence is a non-issue until the next Jack Thompson arrives on the scene.
Sure, okay. But the rating system in place isn't legally mandated as of yet. Isn't that on the top of Thompson's to do list? That's why I think he's a dilweed. I think there should be no legal mandate. I've no problem with a private organization enforcing their own age-limiting policies, as fallacious or draconian as they may be. If my local theater wants to limit it to individuals that are 30+, that's fine. If they want to make it so only senior citizens are allowed to watch Grumpy Old Men, no prob, that's their right as property and business owners as far as I'm concerned.
I think this is a matter of parental responsibility and personal responsibility because, frankly, at 16 you are capable of understanding moral value and exhibiting moral judgment separate from your parents. I don't believe it's the government's job to arbitrarily restrict youngsters from being exposed to certain materials because you can have a 12 year old as intelligent and mature as an 18 year old, and you can have a 12 and 18 year old equally immature and stupid. Age doesn't necessarily equal maturity, wisdom, experience, or the ability to internalize things they see in a proper manner, so while I can respect a private company's choice to arbitrarily restrict, I think the restriction is far too arbitrary for it to be legally mandated.
Ha, I was responding before I read this. I totally agree. Age restriction is too arbitrary to be legally mandated.
see: Dakota Fanning
Yes.
The problem is that instead of the industry regulating itself the way the movie industry does, it has languished in it's own feckless waste of apathy about actually doing something. This is starting to turn around and we've seen some folks speak out obout it.
The real danger here is that the Sam Brownback's and the Jack Thompson's seem to want to get the federal government (I'm Canadian, by the way, so this doesn't really affect me directly, but no doubt I'll feel it) to regulate games and enforce that regulation. Truth in Gaming Act anyone?
I absolutely agree, but it's a shared responsibility to a certain degree. The industry has to show itself to be accountable to the public. My parents might not have let me go see 'R' rated movies when I was 15, but that didn't mean that I didn't try to get in without their knowledge. Soemtimes I got in, but mostly the theatre, as a result of the restrictions placed on them by the industry, wouldn't let me in. See what I'm saying?
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
Heck, she beats her mom in maturity levels.
Yah, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
Drinking, voting, driving, being eligible to go off to war, all these things are mandated according to society's approximate age of consent or appropriate maturity. Nobody's dumb enough to think that everyone evolves at the same rate, but they have to put the limit somewhere or it'll be nowhere and then what's the stop an 8-year old from driving to the store to pick up a forty and a pack of smokes?
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
The interest rates on car loans?
Not if they go with Geiko!
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
Also it seems that insurance premiums might be higher for the "under 10" crowd.
Yes, but drinking and smoking are directly responsible for deteriorating one's health and they have addictive properties, either mental or chemical. I'll grant that the actual age limit is somewhat arbitrary but it's a different matter entirely than exposure to media which is still up for debate and is still being researched to see if it is harmful and by how much.
I mean, I have Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind here on my desk. I can't see how such a thing could be harmful to any teenager. There are plenty of R-rated films that have positive messages. Some glorify violence or promiscuity. Oh well. That's life. "Media," on the whole, will never be shown, I think, to have either an outright negative or positive affect. It's too broad a term. Too many types of media, too many genres and ways to present media within each media type, and so on and so forth. I think the whole idea of arbitrarily preventing children from media, legally, is rubbish.
When experienced by the wrong person certian games could also influence behaviour. It's not something that gamers like us like to admit, but some folks are crazy, some folks are fine and some folks could go either way and can be affected by games. Some folks don't have the counter-balance of parents or even a decent moral compass.
Therefore, there has to be some kind of general rule in terms of where to draw the limit. My crack about the smoking, drinking, driving 8-year old was fun and I admit that it might be a little "slippery-slopey", but I think it makes a good point on the subject. Some folks are mature enough to vote responsibly when they're 15. Some aren't until they're 25. That being said, 18 is when you can do it, period. Some folks are mature enough to drink responsibly when they're 16, some are 45 and still can't handle it, yet the rule exists as an average, reasonable estimate. There has to be some kind of limit somewhere. You can't just allow everyone access to everything all the time.
Well, again, that calls for a review of how that system works in terms of what movie is rated what.
-Robert E. Howard
Tower of the Elephant
Yes, but those people could just as easily go off the deep end from watching the news, or going outside, or dreaming. To punish everyone out of this kind of irrational fear that the wrong ideas will be put into the wrong person's head and it is somehow within our power to prevent that from happening.