Thompson Declines PAX Debate, Blames Penny Arcade 101
GamePolitics is reporting that Jack Thompson, who was invited to debate at this year's Penny Arcade Expo is now blaming the PA gents because he turned down the debate. Essentially, PAX organizers were aiming to keep the debate a secret until the event actually happened. When Thompson declined the invitation, he did so in a public forum, revealing their intentions. He now claims that he turned it down because PAX wanted to use the event as a publicity stunt ... somehow. From Jack's letter to GP: "What GamePolitics or others need to do is get to the bottom of why they really wanted to announce the debate one hour before it occurs. Now THAT would cause a stampede that would not allow them to have passes in the hands of those who want to go. I'm surprised, Dennis, frankly, that you have so naively taking this dodge. I believe what happened is that they thought I would never accept the debate offer, and they planned to use that for p.r. purposes."
There goes my PAX booth (Score:3, Funny)
Say What? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Say What? (Score:4, Funny)
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It is worth noticing that... (Score:5, Insightful)
I always found PA to be upright about things and there again. Besides these guys are involved in more than just games thru the likes of their annual toy drive.
Re:It is worth noticing that... (Score:4, Informative)
Without the national media attention, hopefully "he" will just shut up and go away.
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Like Slashdot? Please?? Pretty please???
There is no point in reporting on this guy's every utterance. If and when he actually does some newsworthy (I know, a long shot), fine, report. All this grandstanding is meaningless and is not news.
Stop making this guy relevant, he is NOT.
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Sadly, you are mistaken. He is relevant, but not because anything he says is accurate or valuable. It is rather because policy-makers take his statements (heck, sometimes solicit his statements) at face value and use them as justification for public policies. Whether we know he's an asshat is irrelevant; the sad part is he can get on a CNN talkshow or in a meeting with a mid-to-high level bureaucrat and the vast majority of sheeple nod compliantly along with his screed. As much as it pains you and me, he d
Re:It is worth noticing that... (Score:5, Insightful)
JT's worst enemy is himself. Anytime he shows up in the mainstream press (which is actually extremely rare) he makes a fool of himself. That's good, that is something that I approve of. His arguments, if you can call them that, are patently absurd. I think the most recent time he hit the mainstream press was right after the VTech shootings. He and Dr. Phil both tried to play the odds and pin the killer down as a gamer, something that was unsubstantiated and shown not to be true. That might not phase JT, but Dr. Phil won't be making that mistake again. And even if it was true, guess what, most people play videogames. Correlation does not equal causation, and people are more than willing to entertain the idea that a seriously unstable person might enjoy playing a game were you kill people, knowing full well that it wasn't the game that made them unstable. Yeah, the media will continue to talk to JT when something extreme like this happens because he's an entertaining asshat. That doesn't make him relevant.
People aren't as dumb as you seem to think, they see right through JT. And even if they don't, it doesn't matter, because people don't decide policy. However, any time he shills a new law, and that law gets passed because some populist governor wants to make the news doing something "for the children", what happens? The ESA smacks that law right down. It's only then that JT has any semblance of relevance, the only time anyone needs to pay attention to him. Unfortunately, it looks like that needs to continue for a little longer so that other governments will finally wise up to his antics and stop costing their tax-paying constituents hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. When one of these laws fails it is an embarrassment to all those involved in its passage. Whatever public policy you are referring to doesn't exist, or at least not for more than a couple of days. We have the ESA to thank for that, not the fringe press. JT will never be able to overturn the constitution, and there is no constitutional way he can hurt gaming. He is not as big a threat as everyone seems to think.
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JT: Video Games are destroying our youth and corrupting young minds!
GL: Actually, games can be quite educational and improve hand-eye coordination. Studies even show that doctors who play video games make fewer mistakes and perform surgeries faster.
JT: SHUT UP! YOU F*CKING LIE! STOP HARASSING ME OR I'LL SUE! I'M GONNA SUE ANYWAY! THAT WAS DEFAMATORY!! I'LL KILL YOUR FAMILY IF YOU DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO TALK TO ME!!!!!!
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But from the context of this thread, please don't enlighten me.
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I am not sure if you are being serious or not, but then, if you're not that much into gaming and tech news, it could be possible that you never heard of him yet.
In that case, don't follow this link [wikipedia.org].
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I figure it's only a matter of time before even Florida grows tired of him and disbars him, at which point he'll simply find another lawyer as kooky (or worse) than himself to handle the lawsuits while the former lawyer continues making his rounds on the talk show circuit. After all he'll need the money. Lawyers aren't cheap you know
Of course, m
There is no Jack Thompson (Score:5, Funny)
You got it! (Score:5, Funny)
And then you didn't. And now they will. GG Jack!
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Logical Atoms? Yes. Any more complicated structure of which these are comprised? No.
Jack Thompson == genius tactician (Score:5, Funny)
Except before it is revealed who will fall victim to the poison, ninjas attack and behead all three of them. The last one to leave steals the Pac-Man watch.
At least, that's what the comic I drew while I was high said.
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Yes, he's playing directly into their plans! He knew PA would expect him to decline the offer, and thus he declined. He knew they would expect him to make a hystrionic claim that PA was once again conspiring against him, and thus he did. The goal is to make PA think that they completely understand Thompson and can predict his every move. Thompson will continue to play into this belief until they invite him to a private chat at their home to discuss the issues of violence in media. Again, exactly as they will be expecting, Thompson will suggest a game of his own to "break the ice". Two cups of tea, one spiked with iocane powder, which is tasteless, odorless, dissolves instantly in water, and is one of the deadlier poisons known to man. The PA crew must pick a cup and both drink from it, while Thompson drinks from the other. Then while they debate which to drink from, Thompson plays his card and does the unexpected -- he cries "what's that?!" and points, and while they aren't looking, he switches the cups. As they drink, he cackles and reveals his nefarious scheme!
Except before it is revealed who will fall victim to the poison, ninjas attack and behead all three of them. The last one to leave steals the Pac-Man watch.
At least, that's what the comic I drew while I was high said.
Inconceiva--no, can't do it, too easy. I'll do something with class like a "soviet beowulf running new here linux" instead.
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No, but it does risk having your home raided by the police, you confessed drug user, you.
In Soviet Russia, drugs use you !
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Two cups of tea, one spiked with iocane powder, which is tasteless, odorless, dissolves instantly in water, and is one of the deadlier poisons known to man. The PA crew must pick a cup and both drink from it, while Thompson drinks from the other. Then while they debate which to drink from, Thompson plays his card and does the unexpected -- he cries "what's that?!" and points, and while they aren't looking, he switches the cups. As they drink, he cackles and reveals his nefarious scheme!
But he's been taking the poison for years in small doses, building up an immunity? Inconceivable!
Obvious (Score:1)
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This way you get the debate, and the presence of an audience means that whatever you say has witnesses and becomes public knowledge, limiting the ability of either side to spin things their way afterward. The public is there pretty much to keep the participants honest.
STFUJT (Score:3, Insightful)
Since you didn't, the world will never know...
Uh, what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice try Jack.
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Fun (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you're Jack Thompson apparently.
Re:Fun (Score:5, Insightful)
PA wanted to get Jack Thompson in front of their crowd so they could knock him down and make themselves look like heroes in front of their adoring fans. The correct action for Thompson to take would have been to either privately (and politely) turn down the request, or simply ignore it. However, Thompson is apparently not capable of doing anything privately, so he turns them down publicly, hence giving them exactly the publicity he criticizes them for seeking.
The debate was a trap, Thompson was right about that, but the way he handled it was just stupid.
Re:Fun (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know why they bothered to ask him...He's notoriously unable to deal with people disagreeing with him, and it wouldn't make much of a debate to have him screaming at whoever he was supposed to be debating.
Re:Fun (Score:5, Insightful)
I call Shenanigans. Sure, Tycho and Gabe can be sarky bastards, but I think the real intent was to have Thompson be debated by people who actually have a clue about videogames, something that doesn't happen every time he pops up on network news. That's also the reason he declined. His past tactics and behaviour bear this out. He's a guerrilla figher, sniping from a distance, doing hit-and-run smear pieces, never getting engaged in anything but the slightest and tritest discussions.
One day, somebody will eventually get the chance to poke him hard, and he'll crumble like the house of cards that he is. Looks like he managed a dodge on this one, but it won't be long now.
Re:Fun (Score:4, Funny)
One day, somebody will eventually get the chance to poke him hard, and he'll crumble like the house of cards that he is.
how many points is a Jack-Thompson-Splatter in Carmageddon?
I'm not sure, (Score:3)
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One day, somebody will eventually get the chance to poke him hard, and he'll crumble like the house of cards that he is.
So, if we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!
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I guess from Jacko's POV, accepting the invitation would be accepting to go talk to a huge bunch of murderers higly trained in various killing, torturing, driving, flying, jumping and mushroom-eating tactics with sophisticated simulators!! Just try to picture that.. a room filled with potential mass murderers, all having expressed their profound hatred towards him..
geez.. get this guy locked up already.
Can't blame him... (Score:4, Funny)
He obviously brought it to media attention because any attention is good attention. The guy has to be the center of controversy whenever possible. (He's a closet gamer, don't let him fool you. He only started throwing lawsuits when Rockstar released GTAIII on PS2 as a temporary exclusive. He only had an X-box, and the rest is history)
Never would have happened in the first place. (Score:2)
Plus, given the amount of literal death threats given to Thompson, I think that the PA guys did the right thing.
Possible Reasons - Free of Charge (Score:5, Insightful)
The first reason would be security, Jack Thompson is a "polarizing" individual, to put it mildly. It would only take one crazy gamer to take any kind of shot at Thompson to make him a martyr. Making the announcement onsite would allow the PAX crew to avoid anyone planning in advance to engage Thompson either with hostility or protest.
Secondly, this would be the huge surprise for the audience. PAX has made it sort of a staple to have some kind of surprise for the show.
Thirdly, pick a smaller reason, but with Jack any reason could balloon overnight. Between now and PAX Jack could go further off the deep end with some of his crusages. Perhaps he would decide to sue PA for something outside the scope of his PAX committments. In either case, PAX would lose the ability to quietly remove Jack.
Any of the three would be enough for me to want to keep Jack on a short lease. However, this could still happen, but I would expect PAX to have greater security at the actual venue.
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But it's a hostile audience, no doubt. I don't know how hard it would have been to keep them civil (quiet) while
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Run the debate anyway (Score:4, Interesting)
If there's one set of online comic writers whose fans will listen to them when they call for moderation, it's Tycho and Gabe. Anyone going to PAX is going to be well aware of how much furor any pie-in-the-face attempt is going to create, and none of them will want to provide more fuel for the anti-gaming fire.
consummate pro (Score:5, Insightful)
Morisettan irony at its finest... (Score:3, Informative)
This man can't be serious.
Use it against him (Score:4, Insightful)
The guy could rationally talk and get on the front page of every game site in 1 switch shocking hour or so. Yet instead he declined and proves he doesn't care what we do, just cares for the money and/or fame.
Re:Use it against him (Score:4, Insightful)
No, I think he'd rather make your parents paranoid, just like these [wikipedia.org] villainous [wikipedia.org] fuckers [wikipedia.org] tried years ago with a different medium.
Nobody ever went broke by banking on stupid parents.
Publicity for who? (Score:1)
Too bad... (Score:1)
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Jack Thompson, making gamers look well-adjusted (Score:5, Interesting)
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Very sneaky Rockstar.
Marketting Genius (Score:3, Interesting)
Jack won't show... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm totally on Jack's side here. (Score:2, Insightful)
Penny Arcade wanted to control all publicity. They wanted everything on their terms. They did not allow Thompson any flexibility. Didn't they consider that Jack might have wanted something out of it as well?
Would it really have killed Pennny Arcade to have announced this debate in advance? Is their security so hopeless that they can't protect a fairly anonymous guy from a crowd of middle class hobbyis
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Still, I imagine they were prepared to pay him for his appearance. Also, they're hosting the convention, so it's not that unreasonable for them to set a ground rule like that, seeing as they likely wanted it to be a surprise for the convention goers.
As far as Jack being "fairly anonymous," in the gaming world, nothing could be farther from the t
You don't know Jack (Score:3, Interesting)
On their terms? "Their terms" basically were, 1) Keep this secret until 1 hour before the debate and 2) let us handling marketing. Not exactly a gag order there.
Flexibility? This is not an 20-year binding c
Re:I hate Jack Thompson... but (Score:4, Insightful)
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I do understand Jack Thompson. (Score:1)
Zombies + PS2 (Score:2)
Doesn't take much imagination. Watch the last scene of Shaun of the Dead.
RE:Imagine, Jack Thompson, surrounded by gamers... (Score:2)
I'd buy that game...
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Best. Allusion. Ever.
The only thing he has to fear (Score:2, Interesting)
Tycho's Response (Score:5, Informative)
Gem from Tycho:
One Room... (Score:4, Funny)
Jack "video games will rape your kids" Thompson
John "I support John McCain because he likes Steve Ballmer" Dvorak
Robert "self-proclaimed sex-symbol dorkus" Cringely
George W. "God put sand on this earth so we could nuke it into glass" Bush
Tough call...
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The quote was bad though - Bush would be more like "we... erm, must spead freedom and democracy to the sand. Family values don't stop at the, uh, Tigris."
No surprise (Score:2)
Let's look at this from Mr Jack's perspective... (Score:2)
Re:Let's look at this from Mr Jack's perspective.. (Score:1)
Honestly, that's a darned good point. I loathe myself for saying this, but I agree with his decision to turn down the invitation. It wouldn't have mattered how well he argued his point (not that I think he could have), he would have been utterly eviscerated on that stage by the audience. It was a lose-lose situation and he was wise to decline it.
That said, coming up with BS reasons for such a decline was not a great idea. I mean, I RTFA, and after reading his email I kinda had the feeling he might hav
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No, privately declining is a good idea. Or even publically declining at the start.
Accepting and then running and whining in public because the PA, apparently, have legit security concerns about the appearance and didn't want it public is just stupid.
He was going to fact a hostile audience no matter what, people who 'support' him, if such people exist in actuality, are not going to purchase tickets to PAX just to see him. He could either face a group of gamers who had no idea he was about to show up, or he
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Oh, and he never proofreads anything. His dribbles are always filled with odd typos and random punctuation and all sorts of crazy-looking unprofessional things.