Kotaku Games Blog Sued By Jack Thompson 126
Reacting to Kotaku's coverage of comments Thompson made last week about the VA Tech incident, Thompson has sued Kotaku and their parent company Gawker media. He also tried to sic the FBI on them (getting as much success there as he did with the Penny Arcade gents). From GamePolitics' coverage: "Thompson's ire was apparently raised by Kotaku reader comments which the attorney maintains are threatening. He also alleges in the complaint that Kotaku and Gawker declined to remove the menacing posts. The messages in question stem from Kotaku's coverage of Thompson's claims that video games prompted last week's Virginia Tech massacre. The Gawker suit is actually an amendment to an action Thompson filed on March 13th against the Florida bar. On April 11th he amended it to include the members of the Florida Supreme Court. And now Gawker joins the list of defendants."
Rule him vexatious already! (Score:5, Insightful)
"Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought, regardless of its merits, solely to harass or subdue an adversary. It may take the form of a primary frivolous lawsuit or may be the repetitive, burdensome, and unwarranted filing of meritless motions in a matter which is otherwise a meritorious cause of action. It is considered an abuse of the judicial process and almost always brings down sanctions on the offender." -- wikipedia [wikipedia.org]
Dear Mr. Thompson, (Score:5, Insightful)
Much like you, we were deeply disturbed by the actions of the shooter at Virginia Tech and feel terribly for the families of the lost. However we deeply resent the fact that you have totally bypassed the issue at hand and chosen instead to scapegoat the electronic entertainment industry. Perhaps instead of blaming videogames (which are clearly not your area of expertise [teamxbox.com]) we should instead delve a little deeper in order to find what causes these depraved/deprived individuals to take such drastic measures. Your "proof" of a link to video game violence is tenuous at best - equivalent to such joke statistics as bread creating murderers [snopes.com]. Statistical correlation is not proof of cause and effect but beyond that, you have failed to even show a statistical correlation, instead bringing up the specific examples where the statistics say what you want to prove.
Like naysayers for the past several centuries, you see the advent of a new form of entertainment as the downfall of society. Novels, the waltz, radio and television have all been targetted in the past and so far civilization has emerged unscathed (but not unchanged).
Perhaps this is the issue; you (and millions of right-wing conservatives) are afraid of what the future may bring. Who knows what changes the liberalization of the West may bring?
In short, we feel that you are doing nobody any good - you are attempting (and luckily failing) to take the attention away from the actual issues (which in the case of the VT shooting are as of yet indetermined).
Signed,
Gamers of the world.
P.S. While we harbour you no malice, I wouldn't suggest you attempt any retribution - we have all been trained on "murder simulators" . . .
Seriously, what is it? (Score:2, Insightful)
I thought it was common sense that if you get proven wrong (or your lies dissected) that you get the fuck over it and get on with your life, right? The only thing to gain is a more wide-spread reputation -- but mind you, it's the type of reputation you want.
That said, what is it that spawns these people? They seem to infest society in both recent and dated history... Nobody ever likes them, so why do they do that to themselves?
Re:Legal Precedent (Score:3, Insightful)
You know the legal system is broken... (Score:4, Insightful)
o.O (Score:4, Insightful)
If I were a lawyer I'd be deeply offended by that complaint. Lord help us if Jack ever writes a biblical commentary.
i'm glad... (Score:5, Insightful)
THe best thing to ever happen in the favor of gamers was Jack's soap box jump within hours of Vtech. Blaming games, and saying Cho never would NEVER have "learned to enjoy killing withoutplaying violent video games". Only to later find out, that Cho, well never really played games. Maybe mine sweaper to pass some boring class time.
He made the biggest fool of himself and lost all credibility he had. Jack's an empty shell and a nobody now. While someone else will eventually take his place in the crusade, gamers everywhere can comfortably play games without scrutiny.
Re:Seriously, what is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine that you have built a business around selling tiger-repelling rocks. Not crazy huge, but enough that you live quite comfortably and can even get on TV being interviewed about your success as a self-made entrepeneur.
Would you ever admit that the idea of a tiger-repelling rock is nonsense? Would you accept any proof that was offered, no matter how robust and bulletproof, that your rocks did nothing? Of course not. You might know that your rock is useless, but you aren't going to say so, because as long as your insistence that your rock does its job perfectly convinces some people, then they will buy your rocks and you continue to make money. When nobody believes you any more, well, then you just come out with the wolverine-repelling friendship bracelet and you're back in business.
"Video games (as opposed to complex social problems) cause violence" is all JT has. He isn't going to give that up so long as a single person is willing to point a microphone at him while he rants. When that day finally comes, then he'll find another boogey man to blame all of society's ills on, and suddenly people will start listening again. Just like he moved on from rap music to video games.
I don't think for a second that JT really thinks games drive people crazy. I think he thinks it's his only meal ticket. He's a lawyer, and being a lawyer is all about arguing for something vehemently that you don't necessarily agree with at all. While JT may be crazy, and most of his statements do give that impression, his fundamental motivation is probably greed rather than a distorted view of reality.
Re:You know the legal system is broken... (Score:4, Insightful)
If video games really (Score:2, Insightful)
Ban Phoenix Wright! (Score:4, Insightful)
It is clear to any right-thinking person that these so-called "games" are in fact Lawyer Simulations. Thanks to their brutal desensitization we are in danger of creating an entire generation of Jack Thompsons.
Please, think of the children.
-T.
Re:Dear Mr. Thompson, (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Dear Mr. Thompson, (Score:3, Insightful)
> (and millions of right-wing conservatives) are afraid of what the future may bring
Yeah, because "millions of right-wing conservatives" don't play games. Because gamers are one vast hivemind and march in lockstep to the promised socialist future. What crap -- in a story about gaming! As if Democrats [breitbart.com] are immune from the knee-jerk "bash gamers" disease.
And oh --
> Who knows what changes the liberalization of the West may bring?
It happened 500 years ago, it's called the Renaissance. And it's produced some mighty good things, but it's also produced pussies who piss their pants in the name of political correctness. And that's just sad.
Re:Seriously, what is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, because before video games, rap music was to blame for society's ills. And before that, pornography. Jack Thompson tilted at both of these windmills before he found his bete noir in video games.
Re:You know the legal system is broken... (Score:2, Insightful)
Even if they all got thrown out of court without complications, there is still a heavy cost incurred to society as everyone involved has to waste their time listening to this bitter man's empty threats. I don't know about you, but I have more important things to do in life than sit around in court every time some jackass disagrees with my opinions.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:i'm glad... (Score:3, Insightful)
Jack took a chance and lost.
Expecting male college student to play nowadays is about as likely as them drinking (ie: very high).
He thought that such a loner would be a gamer and it would not have been unexpected, but it proved wrong this time. Basically, Jack fell the victim of profiling. He classified people and that came back to bite him in the ass.
Let's hope that with all those frivolous actions, he finally lose his Florida license and that we wont hear from him anymore...