October 19, 2005

Penny-Arcade v. Jack Thompson FIGHT!! The synopsis: Annoying anti-video-game lawyer Jack Thompson offers to donate 10,000$ to charity if a someone develops a violent game about killing video game developers based on his idea. Gabe of Penny Arcade e-mails Jack to tell him about the Child's Play charity drive in which gamers donated over a half million dollars to children's hospitals. Jack calls Gabe and yells at him. Then things get weird...

The National Institute on Media and Family distances itself from Jack. Jack talks back (see Update section), blames liberals. Some GTA modders make Jack's ultraviolent game. Jack Thompson claims the charity offer was satire. Penny Arcade steps in and donates 10,000$ in Jack's name to the Entertainment Software Association. Jack Thompson faxes the local police department and asks them to arrest employees of Penny Arcade (see bottom of page). And that's about where we stand now, though I doubt it's over yet.

posted by six.oh.six 19 years ago
  • Jack Thompson just wants to make sure that the people that make media do their job and raise our children for us. Is that so much to ask? I'm surprised Jack hasn't pointed out PA's excessive violence. I'm sure someone has been killed over a watch somewhere in the United States. Anywho, Gabe & Tycho rule.
  • Somebody should ask the police to arrest Jack Thompson for abusing taxpayer provided resources.
  • and wasting their toner.
  • Nicely linkified. I admit to not getting the reference until these threads, but that's awesome. How rich are those PA guys anyway? also see
  • Interesting: the Hellfish link from your post doesn't work. Traffic overload, or something else, has killed the server.
  • See if he owns an airplane Call the librarian
  • Man, that Jack Thompson... I'd like to pund his head into jelly with a pool cue, just like in GTA. Whoops. Seriously, his fax could hardly be more ridiculous if he laughed like MOO-HA-HAA while twirling a long moustache.
  • 'pund'... that would be 'pound'. I blame the videogames.
  • It's funny how this crops up every so often -- somebody finds a way to make a name (and money) for himself by Naming The Enemy and preying on the fears of concerned parents. In the sixties, it was whassisname that wrote The Seduction of the Innocent about comic books, then in the eighties was the "concern" about D&D's demonic influence, and now it's Jack "OMG Teh Best Lawyer EVAR!!1" Thompson and video games. One wonders what the next crusade will be.
  • One wonders what the next crusade will be. Under newly elected president Bill Frist, The New House Unamerican Activities Committee calls Cory Doctorow to explain his open source activities.
  • Someone should teach Lawyer Jack about False Analogies.
  • It wouldn't do any good. Jack appears pretty well off into uncharted territory these days.
  • I'm admittedly biased towards the guys from Penny Arcade as a thrice-a-week reader for years. I made a donation for the first Child's Play charity drive, which is an awesome endeavor for two self-professed assholes, and made me feel awesome. Especially with the daily photo updates and commentary (i.e., Day 2 - so all of the stuff that we've received won't fit in the garage anymore... we're going to rent a large storage space! Day 4 - the storage space is full. But we found a local wherehouse that's letting us use some of their empty space! Day 7 - the wherehouse is full!). I'm astounded by the rantings and ravings of J.T. I can't help picturing him as a raving loon, foaming at the mouth while he types out his rants.
  • An inverse comic-book guy?
  • He WOULD make a grat comic book villian! Who wants to design his costume?
  • Who wants to design his costume? Well, the cowl would be made of scrotum with rectum eye-holes. His codpiece would likely be shaped somewhat like a diaper and it would be a little too tight in the crotch. His cape would be made out of "O" magazine subscriptions and ineffectual paparazzi scalps. Other than that he would have stilletto heels and razorblades lining the interior of the costume because open-mouthed morons should be punished.
  • I can't get over that JT is calling the PA guys by their comic alter-ego names (paragraph 7 as of this writing). Weird. Very weird. It's like he can't tell fiction apart from reality!
  • Who wants to design his costume? Tim over at Ctrl+Alt+Del already has (scroll down the newspost a bit). Subtle? No, but I laughed.
  • Er, let me try that again but with preview this time. ARS Technica: Anti-game activist Jack Thompson under investigation Ah, that's better.
  • Do not FUCK with geeks. They're smarter than you and they have keen sense of irony.
  • The guy has a serious personality disorder. Possibly NPD. Of course that is a pat diagnosis made without first obtaining his full medical history. /hands over yoghurt.
  • PA explains Jack Thompson.