# New Game=Violence Evidence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959 "2005-10-12T20:52:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/1 "2005-10-12T20:52:59Z")
[Here](http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/violent-games/jack-thompson-offers-10k-charity-for-proposal-130254.php) Jack Thompson makes a headline-grabbing offer. I provide this link in the spirit of asking: is there any NEW evidence of video game inspired-violence? Can you tell me more about this guy and does he have a factual leg to stand on? [More info](http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/2 "2005-10-12T21:03:59Z")
Heh. I expect that by the end of the week there will be flash games following this script and demanding ten thousand bucks. I do hope that some minor computer game company will take him up on his offer–because **of course** there’s no potential harm from the scenario he describes. It’s too preachy to be any fun to play, for one thing, unless whoever makes it makes it over-the-top camp that mocks Jack. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/3 "2005-10-12T21:35:29Z")
[Ctrl+Alt+Del](http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2005-10-12) did a strip on ol’ Jack today… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/4 "2005-10-12T21:59:10Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > [Ctrl+Alt+Del](http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2005-10-12) did a strip on ol’ Jack today… [The associated rant](http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/index.php), which points out many of the attendent idiocies in Jack’s proposal, is also good reading. And here’s a little bit of [surrealia](http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php) between Jack and the creator of the comic, [VGCats](http://www.vgcats.com), whom Jack somehow mistook for the chairman of the ESRB. That particular exchange inspired [this](http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2005-08-08) older Ctrl+Alt+Del comic. Lastly, here’s an [interview](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/24/tech/gamecore/main676446.shtml) Jack did on the subject of video game violence. So, Jack Thompson: soulless opportunist or legitimate nutbar? **You** decide! ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/5 "2005-10-12T22:12:07Z")
I choose “legitimate” nutbar. The man’s a fanatic. Case in point from that article: “Kids took guns to school for 200 years in this country without turning them on one another.” Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/6 "2005-10-12T22:13:00Z")
According to Penny Arcade, they sent him a mildly snarky email saying (paraphrased): Ten thousand bucks? Dude, we gamers have given **half a million bucks in supplies** to needy kids through our gamer-charity. Ten thousand bucks is lame! Jack Thompson called them (their phone number was in their email sig) and screamed at them and told them they’d regret it if they ever emailed him again. Wheee! I doubt I’m the only one who finds his game proposal more unsettling than _Grand Theft Auto_. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/7 "2005-10-12T22:45:46Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > Can you tell me more about this guy and does he have a factual leg to stand on? There have been a few studies that show a slight increase in aggressive behavior after kids play violent videogames. However … you have to ask yourself, an increase in comparison to what? ANY exciting activity will boost your aggression level. I personally have witnessed football fans so whipped into a frenzy from watching a game that they overturned cars in the streets. If we’re talking about banning entertainment that gets you pumped up we’re going to be banning LOTS of things. Video games are just being singled out unfairly because they’re the new kid on the block. $10,000 is chicken feed in the game business. A top title in full production has a burn rate of about $20,000 a day. Thompson thinks he can buy complete creative control over a title for the price of half a days work by the dev team? Laughable. I guarantee if he could come up with $5M someone would make that game for him. And it would sell about 10,000 copies and vanish without a trace. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/8 "2005-10-13T03:43:19Z")
Wasn’t there a video game where your character had gone postal? This seems to be about the same thing, but it’d be funny due to the self-referential nature. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/9 "2005-10-13T11:40:46Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Wasn’t there a video game where your character had gone postal? This seems to be about the same thing, but it’d be funny due to the self-referential nature. Jack Thompson refers to this game in his screed. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/10 "2005-10-14T17:47:16Z")
Yeah, Postal, which I didn’t like because of its’ excessive violence(which is funny considering this thread). I don’t mind running people over in a sports car in GTA Vice city, but using a flamethrower on a marching band…no thanks. I’d agree that there are some games that make a selling point of their violence, such as that title and The Suffering for Playstation, but I think it’s up to the parents to determine if their kids are mature enough to deal with that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/11 "2005-10-14T20:05:30Z")
Penny Arcade was already mentioned but I wanted to give a link. Here’s the set up > **[Penny Arcade](https://www.penny-arcade.com/index.php)** > > Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary. And here’s the strip [http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-10-14](http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-10-14) Apparently the game is now to see how long before gamers drive Jack to violence. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/12 "2005-10-14T20:56:40Z")
As linked to in the commentary for that PA strip, even Mad Jack Thompson’s [ideological allies](http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12259) are trying to distance themselves from his ravings. Incidentally, in [this article here](http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26850), Jack is just making shit up. I no longer think there’s a necessary dichotomy between crazy and dishonest for this man: he’s clearly excelling in both fields simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/13 "2005-10-17T19:43:15Z")
Follow-up: Jack Thompson [chickens out of his offer](http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000743063662/) after a team of GTA modders make the game he wanted. Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/14 "2005-10-17T20:49:44Z")
Followup to the followup. Penny-arcade ( [www.penny-arcade.com](http://www.penny-arcade.com) ) has donated ten grand in Jack’s name. History: This is the man who got 2 Live Crew investigated for obscenity. He ran against (She’s a man, baby!) Janet Reno for a position and was obsessed with her potential lesbian nature to the point where he approached her (At a debate?) with a piece of paper that stated, as I recall, “I am a, A: heterosexual, B: homosexual, C: Bisexual. Failure to return this paper in two hours stipulates B or C are true.” She trashed it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/15 "2005-10-17T20:50:42Z")
Also mentioned in that article is that the folks at PA have made the $10,000 donation he said he would make then backed out of. They made it in his name, too. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/16 "2005-10-17T21:11:49Z")
As for evidence against his position, video game use has obviously been (exponentially?) increasing since 1995, but the violent crime rate has [declined 32% over the same period](http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/17/crime.rate/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/17 "2005-10-17T21:16:07Z")
D’oh! My slow word choice has left me in the dust by **E-Sabbath**. Boy, he DOES sound like a nut. I’m amazed he gets any airtime at all. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/18 "2005-10-17T21:30:13Z")
> [@Love Rhombus](#): > > Also mentioned in that article is that the folks at PA have made the $10,000 donation he said he would make then backed out of. They made it in his name, too. You know, Tycho and Gabe are pretty cool…I need to start reading Penny Arcade on a regular basis again. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-game-violence-evidence/325959/19 "2005-10-18T19:44:36Z")
Seems Jack is trying to get Gabe and Tycho [arrested.](http://www.penny-arcade.com/) This guy really is all sorts of crazy.