Jack Thompson

[GhaleonOne]

Just curious if anyone has been keeping up with this whole ordeal? He's been threatening gaming sites, and specifically, Penny Arcade. The latest is that he's trying to get the FBI to go after them to "shut this extortion factory down". This guy is a nutbag, and how someone like this rises to prominence in the legal system is completely beyond me. If you're interested in reading more, GAF has been keeping up with all the details of it (not to mention, has had 'ol Jack threaten them too):

http://www.gamesarefun.com

And Penny Arcade is the source of a lot of the issues.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/

[Werefrog]

Wow, that guy's insane.

[Rune Lai]

I've been following it. He's a real nutjob all right. I wasn't aware he threatened sites other than Penny Arcade though. Most of what I've been reading has been on either Joystiq or Gamespot (and of course Penny Arcade itself).

[drumlord]

If I have my times correct, he spoke by email to GAF and penny arcade around the same time. But he spoke to us (one of my cali staff members, Ash) on the phone AFTER he spoke to Gabe on the phone. So he was apparently already pissed and was just doing a lot of yelling. But I guess Ash basically convinced him he had nothing to whine about against us so he stopped threatening us that day.

[Greensky]

I was JUST reading about this guy at Gaming Revolution. Here's a good, and mildly hilarious article on the guy. It's short.

http://gr.bolt.com/articles/jack/jack.htm

[Werefrog]

That was a pretty good article.

Oh great! The picture everyone uses comes from Cincinnati which might as well be my home town.

Just what Cincy needs. First people associate them with race riots. Now with Jack Thompson.

[Shiva Indis]

I have been following this latest mess Jack has made with great interest, and I can say with greater certainty than ever that he's a stooge. I find he way he shot himself in the foot with his "modest proposal" very appropriate. The man is astonishingly easy to bait, and the more our fellow proponents of free speech do so, the more the media establishment will face the fact that Jack is fit for sleazy daytime talk shows and nothing more.

[localflick]

Yeah, Jack's pretty nuts. He talks as if ALL videogames are evil. The Penny Arcade last week about Gabe/Juan was a good one.

It's very clear to most people at this point that Jack's crazy, and aside from vague threats, he doesn't seem to do anything but complain. While it's true that video games will probably always have people criticizing them, it'd be nice if they were rational about it.

[Rune Lai]

I figure the best way to fight him is to ignore him as a person and instead fight the message he's preaching. After reading all of that I decided that when Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity event opens up for this coming Christmas I'm going to make a donation to them beyond what I normally do.