Thompson Sues ESRB, Best Buy

Well known anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson is following up on his clever sting operations against Best Buy. He's filed suit against the consumer electronics retailer for allegedly selling M-rated games to underage gamers. He has also included the ESRB in that suit. GamePolitics reports: "As we reported, the claim against Best Buy suit looks as if it will be going nowhere. Thompson has also apparently named the ESRB in the suit. That looks like a non-starter as well. His explanation: 'The ESRB has been sued by Thompson because it is well known that it a) is owned and operated by the video game industry, b) does not even play the games it rates to conclusion, c) routinely mislabels games as to age appropriateness, per testimony before the U.S. Congress, and is engaged in representations to American parents that the age label are accurate and are keeping "Mature" games out of the hands of kids.'"

Anyone can sue anyone

[CyberBill]

Anyone can sue anyone, but that doesn't mean they'll win.

There is no law on the books that states an M-rated game cannot be sold to a minor, in fact, everytime this legislation is attempted it is shot down as unconstititional.

I'm Beginning to Like Jack Thompson

[TheWanderingHermit]

I used to hate Jack Thompson, but the more I read about him, the more I look forward to hearing what his latest stunt will be. He's become a larger than life comic book villain who will do anything, no matter how outrageous, to get himself publicity or to take down a force much bigger than he could ever hope to stop. Watching his latest absurd attempt to make everyone look at him and trying to figure out what he'll do next has become more entertaining than many of the games I've played. I've gone long past considering him any kind of threat and now often wonder if he is for real or can reasonably believe that any of his ideas are going to work. He's more and more like an incompetent Mr. Mxyzptlk, but more fun to watch.

Re:Oh Jack...

[nuzak]

The job that pays his bills is medical malpractice suits. He's pretty much arm in arm with actual ambulance chasers. In fact, worse, he's the guy chasing ambulances to see if he can wring money out of the EMTs in it.

Re:Self counter-suit mayhem

[Surt]

I don't think there's really any contradiction there.
The ratings are flawed. This doesn't mean there shouldn't be good ratings that aren't flawed.
There's basically no enforcement. This doesn't mean that there shouldn't be enforcement.

In the event that we had an effective and enforced rating system, I imagine some people would be happier.

Jack Thompson is crazy, but his desire to change both aspects of a two dimensional problem is not self contradictory, and is not an indicator for his insanity.

Tag: stopgivinghimattention

[Null Nihils]

Surely he knows he's not likely to be legally effective; the only reason he keeps doing shit like this is to get attention, both for his ego and his "vidjamagames are evil" meme.

So: stopgivinghimattention

If he actually has a chance to pass a stupid law or get a stupid ruling, then we can pay attention. The US, however, has this thingy called a "Constitution" that makes stupid laws kind of hard to pass. So this is just a case of some crazy jerkoff being a crazy jerkoff. Nothing to see here, please move along.

Re:Tag: stopgivinghimattention

[ucblockhead]

No! Given him LOTS of attention! Spread his voice far and wide!

He's a complete loon, and the more people see him acting like a complete loon, the more it will discredit his cause.

Re:Did Jack get the game back?

[montyzooooma]

I hope Jack got the copy of Bioshock back before his kid was exposed to it. You know how impressionable teenagers are - a few hours of playing, and Jack Jr. might have been inspired to craft complex literary-political allegories that investigate the nature of humanity.

With some of the most violent cutscenes I've ever seen in a game. Oh, and you may not fully understand the words "complex" and "allegory". Good game, but I wouldn't want a kid (say, under 12?) to play it.

Re:I'm Beginning to Like Jack Thompson

[pokerdad]

I can just imagine him, sitting in his volcano lair, stroking his white fluffy cat and yelling "I'll get you next time Gamers!"

Jack Thompson is Dr. Claw? I don't think so. Doesn't this sound more like him...

"...frequently led assaults himself, but often vacillated between being a coward at heart, usually the first to turn tail in retreat whenever the tide of battle shifted unfavorably, or pushing his troops to seize victory at all costs, berating them when they turned to retreat. Impatient and frequently hysterical, he was prone to fits of rage when things went badly, often launching into extended rants. He was also greedy and egotistical, often mistreating his own troops to the point of mutiny, and on multiple occasions saw his plans foiled by his own arrogance."

That is wiki's description for Cobra Commander [wikipedia.org], and for me at least, the high pitched whine of CC is how I always imagine JT.

Re:Self counter-suit mayhem

[Surt]

It should be the same as the movie ratings system. I wasn't suggesting that we needed legal enforcement, I was suggesting we needed point of sale enforcement. The stores should comply with the ratings and not sell games to underage kids voluntarily. Of course, this won't happen until parents protest in front of non-compliant stores like they did with non-compliant theatres, because, hey, there is money to be made, and who cares about morality when money is involved?

Re:Self counter-suit mayhem

[twistedsymphony]

Last time I checked, laws that tried to limit who could purchase games based on their ESRB rating were being tossed out left and right. Certainly there has to be a law against something before a company can be sued for breaking said law...

You can pretty much sue anyone for anything, it's just that most people wont waste the time and money to sue someone for something that has no real legal standing.

Personally I think that the ESA/ESRB should sue BestBuy/any other store that ignores the rating system putin place because really that's the core problem with the whole system.

EB, BestBuy, etc. don't even bother to enforce the ratings and while it's nice to blame the parents, by not enforcing it in the stores it makes it difficult for a parent to effectively managed their child's access. I'm not suggesting the government enforce this but the ESA themselves. Really I doubt this would even be half the issue it is if they enforced their own rating system well enough.

I've said it numerous times before, the ESA should send secret underaged shoppers to specific locations and if a location sells to them then you cut off that store's supply of M rated games for X amount of time. And that X increases with the number of offenses.

Unfortunately while the corporate bobble heads all agree that it should be enforced and put policies in place they still turn a blind eye to the managers and clerks on the floor selling it to anyone who walks through the door to keep making their quotas, and the ESA doesn't seem to really care either since everyone is making more money. If they don't take charge and start managing themselves then SOMEONE will eventually step in and manage it for them... it's unfortunate but really the software companies are doing it to themselves.