Jack Thompson Sues Take-Two, SCEA, Gamestop, Wal-Mart

[C_Coder]

Now this is too much! (from Gamasutra news):

Another Grand Theft Auto-related lawsuit has arisen in relation to video games and violence, this time in Jasper, Alabama. Notorious anti-game industry lawyer Jack Thompson is suing several companies on behalf of the victims in the case of Devin Thompson (no relation), who was allegedly inspired by the games to kill three police officers in 2003.

The games have become the target of the lawsuit, both because Devin Thompson supposedly said that "Life is a video game. You've got to die sometime," after being arrested, as well as the fact that he was under 17 when he purchased the M-rated games from retailers.

Thompson bought Grand Theft Auto III from Gamestop and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City from Wal-Mart, thus explaining why the two companies are named as defendants in the suit, along with Take-Two Interactive, the publisher, and Sony Computer Entertainment America, who of course manufactures the PlayStation 2 hardware.

"What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin ... to kill three men," said Jack Thompson, prosecuting attorney in this case and many other suits related to music, movies, and games in the past

[Bmc]

in the eighties it was heavy metal.

[AndyN]

I have to stop myself chewing lumps out of my desk every time i hear lines like "What has happened in Alabama is that four companies participated in the training of Devin ... to kill three men,"

Speaking as someone who's actually fired a handgun (a long time ago, you can't anymore in the UK) GTA is pretty far from being a simulator, as are DOOM and resident evil - both of which had the same charges levelled at them a few years ago.

I'm assuming the officers were shot, maybe I'm wrong there. But whatever the weapon used, shouldn't this schmuck Thompson be suing the manufacturer of the weapon?

If a guy lost control of his car and ploughed into a bus queue would they blame the car or the driver - or maybe they would find out he'd been playing Burnout3 just before the incident and blame EA?

[Pyabo]

in the eighties it was heavy metal.

And don't forget the incredible negative influence that Dungeons & Dragons has on the fragile psyches of adolescents!

[Coyote]

Dungeons and Dragons, Comic Books, that newfangled rock & roll, foreigners immigrating here, BOOKS...

It's all those awful things putting ideas in good people's heads. Why, nobody should ever have to take responsibility for their own actions. Now back in the old days, before we had all that - that was utopia! We never had rape. Murder. Banditry. Hooligans. You never had people going on killing sprees, burning villages and stuff. Why, the only reason Cain ever killed able was because he was trained to do it after weeks of playing Grand Theft Sheep on his Sega Genesis...

[princec]

Yeah, you've got to watch those books. I reckon the only solution is to imprison anyone caught writing them, and burn their work.

Cas :)

[Hiro_Antagonist]

I'm sort of interested in seeing this lawyer explain how the violent crime rates in the USA are the lowest they've been in many many years, if these violent video games are just training America's youth to be killers.

Doesn't everyone know by now that things only seem worse as a psychological by-product of increasingly sensationalized news coverage?

-Hiro_Antagonist

[PoV]

I think we need someone to kill for the sake of childrens books or the Teletubbies, just to finally clue in that people kill for stupid reasons.

[Valen]

Here's a shirt we should all wear: http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/713e/zoom/

[Sirrus]

in the eighties it was heavy metal.

In the early nineties it was rap...


Always going to be something.

[Anthony Flack]

He forgot the television manufacturer (unless it was also Sony). What about the electricity company that powered the equipment that trained a killer?

[Nonz]

What about the prehistoric swamps that turned into peat that was compressed by millenia that created the coal that fueled the power station that made the electricity that powered the console that played the game which trained the killer that killed the policeman that lived in the house that Jack built.

Nonz.

[svero]

What surprising to me is that the special forces bothers with all that hard training stuff they do. Why not just find kids good at counter strike and throw them in a war zone. Let the games train em up. See how that goes.

[oNyx]

If there really is a connection between video games and running amok... why did the numbers decline continuously since there are video games? Ah well, those science stuff is clearly witchcraft.

[svero]

If there really is a connection between video games and running amok... why did the numbers decline continuously since there are video games? Ah well, those science stuff is clearly witchcraft.

Theres an extended debate on this in some other thread where I post about 20-30 yrs of psychological studies that show it's inconclusive. (ie they're unable to show any correlation) Although it does deal more with tv and other stuff...

[DanDanger]

Deary me it's a sad state of affairs isn't it.

Here we have a young kid, who obviously has some psychological issues, playing with his guns and playing video games. And what do the lawyers try and blame on his killing spree? The video game, not his psychological state of mind, not the guns that he owns, but the video game.

[ManuelFLara]

Deary me it's a sad state of affairs isn't it.

Here we have a young kid, who obviously has some psychological issues, playing with his guns and playing video games. And what do the lawyers try and blame on his killing spree? The video game, not his psychological state of mind, not the guns that he owns, but the video game.
Of course! Assuming the gun was he's (or his parents'), that's the only way for them to make money!

[GBGames]

Stuff like this is why I wrote my letter to Governor Blagojavich regarding his proposed laws. I got a letter back from his office finally. It was basically a form letter saying, "Please support my law".

[GBGames]

If there really is a connection between video games and running amok... why did the numbers decline continuously since there are video games? Ah well, those science stuff is clearly witchcraft.

I think it is funny because millions of people have played games like Doom. Why would only a handful become violent because of it? Wouldn't we have much more?

But people like having a scapegoat, and the game industry isn't as well represented by a single organization as the movie or recording industries are. Notice that books are protected by free speech, and this is understood, but games based on the stories were considered different by some people. It is inconsistent and shows a lack of understanding, and probably also shows that some people don't want to understand it.

[Air]

Yeah, it's scary to think that there are people who are so easily brainwashed (for lack of a better term) that their view of reality can be remade entirely by the frivilous content of a video game. You have to figure that if it wasn't GTA now, it would have been a cult religion, hate music, or creepy literature later.

[Abscissa]

I'm sort of interested in seeing this lawyer explain how the violent crime rates in the USA are the lowest they've been in many many yearsI'm interested in seeing that nutcase finally locked up in an asylum.

Doesn't everyone know by now that things only seem worse as a psychological by-product of increasingly sensationalized news coverage?God I wish I lived in such a utopia that people actually recognized such obvious things :( One of the news channels around here calls itself "Action News". Jesus christ if that doesn't just scream "tabloid", "irresponsible", "sensationalism", and "fear mongering", then I don't know what does.

I think the whole issue, it's causes, etc. can be summed up in three words: People Are Morons.