Anti-game activist Jack Thompson brands ESA "criminal"

Gamespot ^ | 7/15/05 | Tor Thorsen

[Tsunamii]

Anti-game activist brands ESA "criminal"

Crusading attorney Jack Thompson blasts lobby in general, its "thug" president in particular in open letter to game industry. Hot on the heels of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton's call for federal game legislation came a very public and very unlikely thank you. Miami lawyer and ardent game-industry critic Jack Thompson, who has vocally blasted games on 60 Minutes, CNN, and other media outlets for over a decade, publicly praised the Democratic senator from New York in an open letter. "I, as a lifelong Republican, am going to thank Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton," he said.

However, Thompson's letter, which was sent via e-mail to game publishers and press outlets (including GameSpot), had far less kind words for Doug Lowenstein. As president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the country's main game-industry lobby, Lowenstein helps oversee the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which voluntarily stamps games with familiar ratings such as E for Everyone and T for Teen.

However, it's the current kerfuffle over an M-for-Mature-rated game which spurned Thompson's letter. Addressed to an assortment of developers and publishers ranging from Electronic Arts to id Software, the latter of which Thompson partly blames for the Columbine Massacre, the letter blasts "the inept fashion in which ESA has 'managed' the 'Hot Coffee' mod scandal...Doug Lowenstein could have prevented what is going to happen today, but he preferred to shoot the messengers."

Thompson had similarly sharp words on the ESA's defense that the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which says "congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech," prohibits game censorship. Said Thompson, "Doug Lowenstein embarrasses each and every one of you when he holds forth about what the 'Founders' intended when they drafted the Bill of Rights [the first 10 amendments to the Constitution]. For Doug, the Founders are GTA's Tommy Vercetti and Carl Johnson. Doug never met a pixilated prostitute he didn't like, and I'm sure James Madison would be impressed."

At one point, Thompson tries to win ESA members over to his side. "If the ESA wants as its president a thug who demonizes critics of your industry's criminal, frauduelnt [sic] excesses, thereby earning their wrath and their determination, then by all means keep Mr. Lowenstein at the helm." Later, he took a blunter approach. "[Lowenstein's] extremism has painted a bullseye on your industry. Doug Lowenstein has the brush and [GTA publisher] Take-Two has provided the blood red paint....get rid of this highly-paid thug and replace him with someone with sense."

As has been his practice in the past, Lowenstein has deigned not to address Thompson's attacks directly. Instead he issued a lengthy statement addressing Senator Clinton. "Retailers should not sell Mature games to minors, parents should watch what their kids watch, and parents should and can rely on the ESRB ratings to make the right choices for their families," he said. "We hope that after further reflection and dialogue, Senator Clinton will abandon the bill and work cooperatively with industry and others to ensure that parents take advantage of the effective tools on the market to regulate the games their kids play."

[Quick1]

There are reasoned arguments for censoring a game that's rated M for mature?

[Tempest]

Ohhh dear. This clown is supposedly a conservative and a freeper to boot... $100 says that this clown has since gone the way of one of those silly 3rd party fringe conservative groups.

[Jdelaney]

I dunno, JT seems to be completely off his rocker about Hot Coffee anyway, surely hacking a game to expose content that was never ment to come to light and then blaming the makers of the game is equivelent to suing Cadillac after removing the brakes from Your own car and crashing, the potential was there, but you did it yourself ! Plus isn't free pornography much more available than the HC hack anyhow?

[dennisw]

Is this the same Jack Thompsom who was big on FR in earlier years?
_________

I would think so. He's lives here in South Florida

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Is this the same Jack Thompson who was big on FR in earlier years?"

Yes, it's the same lawyer Jack Thompson from Florida. He wasn't 'big' here, just loud and prolific in posting. If you don't fully remember his antics here, he was quite completely insane. I'm no psychologist, but he acted like a paranoid schizophrenic. Total narcissist.

JimRob finally kicked him out of here after he threatened to sue everyone. If you didn't agree with everything he said, you were 'obviously on drugs'.

Most of us thought he was just a liberal disruptor in disguise until we discovered he was genuinely insane after he made a few public appearances.

He made a good fortune soaking doctors for medical malpractice and then went on a one-man crusade against video games.