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Poster on October 20, 2005So much for the Jack Thompson saga being concluded. Apparently, the man tried a have Penny Arcade arrested. However, it seems to he can't even do that correctly as, according to Gabe's post, he didn't actually send the request to the person he was supposed to, so nothing got done. Way to be, Jack. Way to be.
Also, apparently there's some word going around about the Florida Bar Association investigating him (thanks Tim!), though apparently that's neither nor there.
My final note on the guy is that Gabe made a good point. Focusing on Jack is pointless, because there will always be some other crazy fucker to take his place, and the next guy might not be so inept. What we should be doing is focusing our efforts on the people who actually take him seriously. We don't need to discredit the Jack Thompsons, we need to credit the gamers.
Posted on October 18, 2005Well, as you can read at the bottom of the OGHC post, Jack Thompson has officially said he will donate no money, and the prosal was satirical, so technically he never offered money in the first place. That's rather curious, because see, when we called him up, as we were making the game, and asked him if he was serious, he gave a 100% affirmative answer that if it was done as he specified, he would donate the money. That's right, we talked to him, he said he was serious. Will we ever see an end to his douchebaggery
However, this story does have a happy ending. Penny Arcade, after incorrectly crediting a mod that was created before Thompson even made his proposal as a response, are going to donate $10,000 to charity, even doing so in Jack Thompson's name.
Guys, mission fucking accomplished. For whatever reason, because of Jack Thompson being an asshole and the community responding to it, a charity is now up $10,000 and Jack Thompson is now down some credibility. In any case, I feel we came out the victor, and maybe this is just me being self-indulgent, but I feel like we had a part in bringing that around. So, high fives all around, and the gaming community gets a nice big pat on the back.
Posted on October 17, 2005When we made the game, I expected it to be cute, maybe get linked around a bit, and just sorta fade away as an amusing flash-in-the-pan working off of a coincidentally timed gamer zeitgeist. But now it seems to have evolved slightly
Read this post. This is now officially a community effort. Kotaku has now linked him and that hopefully means it'll get even more attention.
So, that's the job for now guys. Make as much noise about this as you can. Post this on every forum you have access to. Comment on news posts. E-mail people.
Jack Thompson has somehow managed to make his social and political voice louder than ours. It's time for us to even the playing field.
Other people have also made the game, in case you didn't read the link I just posted. Check them out here:
Zork Thompson v1.0
A Modest Video Game Proposal
The Golden Rule: O.K.'s Revenge!
Posted on October 13, 2005As you may or may not know, Jack Thompson recently issued his take on "A Modest Propsoal" - a challenge to the industry to create a game according to his specifications. At first, I thought it'd be something non-violent and maybe even thought provoking. I was wrong. Read about it here. We felt that we simply had to take him up on his offer. And besides, worst case scenario, we waste a few hours, best case, a charity gets $10,000. Sounded good to us.
As we developed the "game", we tried to think of what Jack's purpose was in encouraging its creation. Are we helping him prove his point?
Nope. Not at all.
From his letter, it appears he's either looking for someone new to sue or hoping the game will really train some killers.
Jack likes to argue that video games train people to kill people. However, the thing that makes games fun is gameplay. A game like Grand Theft Auto isn't entertaining simply because you get to break the law. It's fun because of the gameplay elements involved - a well modeled driving and city simulator, some fine third person shooter action (with combatants who fire back, mind you), and even a few RPG elements thrown in as you complete quests and such.
Our "game" has absolutely no real gameplay. It's a virtual snuff film. In fact, we felt bad just making it. I didn't want to kill anyone after playing it through; I wanted a hug. I feel absolutely dirty just talking about having made it.
So, we don't really know where this is going to go. But we'd be happy to see a noble charity get $10,000.
Choose well, Paul Eibeler.
As for you, Jack, the next move is yours.
Alternatively, you can purchase a copy of the game on CD for $7 (to cover the costs of manufacturing and shipping). If you would like to do this, send an email to osakigame@technical-difficulties.com.