Jack Thompson (not the actor)

[Dino]

No matter what happens, people will always create video games that are violent. Making a law against them won't stop it, because the law will either be removed since it's clearly rediculous and can't be enforced, or it will stay in place but game development will go underground and will be distributed over the internet. Getting rid of violent computer games won't stop people from dying, it won't stop gangs from forming, and most importantly it won't stop young people from becoming criminals. There were young people who became criminals before violent computer games, so there will be young people who become criminals after violent computer games are made illegal. Which they won't ever be.

First thing I would like to see if this is going to go to the courts is the evidence that proves that Computer Games have ever influenced young people to become criminals.

[Nate]

There is none, just like there is no proof that TV makes people violent or antisocial. It's just too big a call to make - do people become violent after playing violent games or is it just that violent people play violent games?

On another note, I continue to be impressed that no-one has yet asked who Jack Thompson the actor is.

[Abeguy]

yeah, I don't even know who he is, I just looked up on google "Jack Thompson" and an imdb thing popped up. and no, I didn't think of it 4 days later, I didn't get on the internet for 4 days, I came up with putz right off the bat.

[Adder]

He is evil! In a game informer artcile I read he said he would donate 10,000 to an orphanage with sick children if someone made a game where the main goal is to kill the creators of grand theft auto and their families. Several modders made a simple game with this goal and he said it was a joke! The guys from penny arcade then donated the money for the orphanes!

Okay, heard of this before, didn't know it was some guy trying to legaly ban violence.

While I will admit some games are too violent, you cannot "blame" them for social violence. Do we blame Sonic for making children think they can crouch down and gain speed so that they can then whiss away really fast? Do we blame Pac-Man for "power-pill" drug problems?

People have the conscious mind to NOT do things. If they fail to NOT do things that they shouldn't, it is not the fault of a game. These games don't say "go kill someone... in real life".

Games are rated, and it is normaly only when children play a game rated too old for them (who here played the first GTA when they were around 13?) that games may be too influential.

[Nate]

Heh, this just reminded me of a newpaper article I read years ago about a parent who wanted to ban violent movies after her daughter had a paranoid fit, thought she was a character in the movie Scream and had to be taken to a mental ward.

This 11 year old daughter. Who had a history of mental illness. Who was shown an MA15+ movie. Which was clearly labelled.

And yet the mother blames the movie for her own stupidity.