Everquest 2: Much Ado About Thompson

Typically my articles focus around Everquest 2 exclusively, however today I feel the need to talk about gaming news in general. Many of you have heard the name Jack Thompson. Now the mere utterance of this word is enough to cause fits in the gamer communities but if you're not familiar let me catch you up.

Thompson is a lawyer who has turned to attacking violent video games in some form of fervent crusade. The fundamental principle behind his opposition is a belief that violence in games begets violence in life. Now this is nothing new, the whole idea of some form of media corrupting the innocent youth has been around a LOOOONG time. The rallying cry of "won't someone think about the children" has made the career of many a lawyer politician and journalist.

Only recently has the spotlight landed on video games. Before that it was violent TV and movies, and before that it was that devil's music of rock and roll, the youth culture led down the path to Hell by Elvis and the Beetles. It is a belief both ludicrous in conception and asinine in practice.

Thompson's antics started to really grab headlines when the Hot Coffee mod gained public infamy (this mod allowed players of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to view somewhat graphic sexual displays). Since then he's continually upped the ante of lunacy, going as far too compare to compare the head of the Entertainment Software Association to HITLER. Yes, that Hitler.

His antics have gone so far that the National Institute for Media and the Family (an institute which advocates keeping violent games away from children) sent Thompson a letter effectively telling him to stop mentioning their name, or the name of their founder Dr. David Walsh in his communications and press releases. They feel that even being connected with this...seemingly unstable individual hurts their reputation and damages their effectiveness (if you think the things I've mentioned so far don't seem THAT bad, I assure you there's a lot more out there).

Things got odd when Thompson published A Modest Proposal (name taken from a 1729 satirical piece by Jonathan Swift). Basically, Jack offered to donate $10,000 to charity if any development team that made a game based on a father's vengeance on the game industry after his son is killed by a gamer...Swift he is not. Well, the funny part is, someone did it.

This is where it starts to get REALLY weird. Thompson refuses to pay out, claiming his proposal was strictly satire and not ment to be taken seriously. Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, a.k.a. Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade pick up where Thompson leaves off, donating $10,000 to the ESA Foundation, and they did it in Thompson's name.

Now a bit of back and forth has been going on over at PA, and if you're interested in the long history of it go check their website. The result of it is this, Thompson sent a fax to the Seattle police department (where I guess PA is located) claiming Holkins and Krahulik were harassing him (what makes this even FUNNIER is he refers to them as 'idiots' in his fax). May I remind you that this man is an ATTORNEY? He actually PASSED law-school.

But there's a problem with all of this, and that is the simple fact that...Thompson is right. sort of. I do STRONGLY disagree that violent video games lead to violent behavior, at least directly. Rather that belief is a failing to get the condition and the symptom in the right order. Violent games do not promote violent behavior, but rather those predisposed to violence tend to be attracted to those kinds of media. Counter Strike doesn't cause teenagers to blow people away, but those teenagers who WOULD take gun in hand and raid their high school would probably enjoy playing Counter Strike. The absence of the game will not negate the predisposition.

Now believe me, it makes my heart weep to say I agree with Thompson about ANYTHING, but hear me out. The controversy surrounding him is so great that we've gotten in such a fit over the messenger we've forgotten the message. The message being simple: violent material should be kept out of the hands of children. Parents need a dedicated, explainable, and most of all ENFORCED rating system so that THEY can determine what is and is not suitable for their children. If media companies try to avoid these systems in order to rake in profits by selling violent, sexual content to minors, then they should be held accountable to the full extent of the law. All hands are off (as they should be, as long as nobody actually get HURT) when it comes to what ADULTS chose to do with their time, however. I'm not even saying that children should be banned from seeing violent material, only that the parents should have the ability to make an informed choice about what their children will have, and short of forcing parents to play every game, an ESRB rating is necessary for that goal.

See Jack, it's not really that hard, is it?

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