Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson

[...] And how about this: Frustrated with Thompson’s antics, a 14-year-old gamer wrote him a satirical email: [...]

What a dumbass. Not only is that pretty tasteless and poorly-timed, he's an idiot for not knowing that death threats are taken very seriously.

Classic! Couldn't he see it was clearly sarcasm? Yes, investigation was appropriate, but judging by his comments he obviously didn't get the joke! :P

@jonwanker

Like Scoops said, we don't know. I have an interest in things like this, serial killers and the likes. When someone says they're going to kill 20 or 30 people, it should always be taken as seriously as possible. Because you don't know.

We assume he was making a (terrible) joke. But you can't be certain of that. People who go out and mass murder, and serial killers, the thing that's common among them is you don't know. I'm assuming it's sarcasm as well, but in the end, that's all it is; an assumption.

And this kid should be thrown into some kind of disciplinary institution. If anyone should use discretion, it should be that damn idiot of a kid. Sure, at that age, they can do some rather stupid things, but that just pushed the line.

@Timothy

There are more than one way to find out things like that than just a newspaper. It may never make the paper, but that does not mean someone couldn't use it against us. It's a bad image gamers don't want, so we ARE an involved party, because it can turn into a false reflection of us. This is the opposite of how we should confront critics, and this kid had the balls, but not the brains to think it through, to do more harm than good.

[...] Teen Arrested for Making VA Tech Copycat Threat - to Jack Thompson [GamePolitics] [...]

@Wolf

You can't be serious. First off, that second line about looking for a game to train on is obviously a sarcastic shot at Jacko. Secondly, if we were to arrest and send every stupid 14 yr old kid to a "disciplinary institution" (which in reality just makes them more fucked up), then there'd be more kids in juvie then there are actual criminals in jails. We'd be sending every 14 yr old this side of neverland away. I don't know about, you, but this kid doesn't seem that bad to me. This is pretty normal teenage rebellion stuff, I know I was just as bad or worse when I was 14.

If I was a cop and Jacko called me up about this, the most I'd do is tell the kid's parents, and give Jacko a stern talk about wasting police time.

Great. That little stunt has just given JT more excuses to attack the gaming community, and strengthen his unproven link with game violence.

I'm following the developments of this JT vs. Game Violence debate for my MA project, and will eventually develop a video documentary/debate. However, I need comments like these spoken out loud to include in the video.

I'm going to be holding several online focus group talks about this via SkyPE. If you want to have a voice, message me on RakuraiMedia1 on Youtube. More info can be found on my livejournal blog.

Alright! Thanks a lot to you fellas for the address, here's my email, pick and prod at it, I'm going off of personal knowledge and experiences, and tried to be as accurate as possible.

Dear Mr. Thompson,

I am what is known as a recreational gamer, who has repeatedly heard your name on news, game media, and talk with other gamers. I am saddened by your constant assault upon the gaming community. And I would like to take this opportunity to point out many flaws in your theories. My largest concern is your constant one sided views on gaming. I have played games since I was 15. I am a normal college student, who in fact is currently pursuing a private pilots license, and who plays many violent video games. Or as you prefer to call them, murder simulators. To tell the truth, I have been bullied near my entire teenage and close to my adult life, made fun of, looked down upon, and I have found these games, such as Grand Theft Auto, Doom 3, America's Army, to actually help me calm down, to relax me and allow me a time to think and clear my head. They have been stress relievers, they have been distracting efforts from points of stress, and they have helped me cool my head. My father even plays video games, though he has only recently gotten into it. I am 22 years of age, pretty damn weak, and often never violent. Yet your constant portrayal of games and gamers, truly is untrue, yes there are the loud mouthed morons that play and cuss and are ill advised to play with, but that is a vast minority. I am of the majority, the intelligent, hopeful, kind of gamer that loves to enjoy a good game that let's us step back from the stress of the day and relax. Now, onto your theories. One that you constantly bring up is how shooters "Train" on First Person Shooters (Or FPSs for short). This is physically impossible, having played many FPSs and having fired a .45 colt semi-automatic pistol, a .38 cal. revolver, a 7.62 WW2 era Soviet combat Rifle, an AK-47 Soviet designed Assault Rifle, and a .22 cal. single shot bolt action rifle, I can say this freely and easily that it is impossible to train one's self on a computer simulation for the use of any, I repeat ANY, firearm. The only way the could possibly train is through the military or through the Police force, both of which require mental evaluations. There is a difference between computer games and actual fire arms, a very large difference. That difference is the fact that the physical act of firing a firearm is no where near as easy as it is to click a button on a mouse. All games can do is show the bucking and firing of a weapon. Nothing more, Sure it can show you how the simulated recoil can react, but that is nothing compared to the actual act of the weapon, in the hands of an inexperience shooter, that weapon can pose a huge threat to the shooter himself. The recoil could be so much more than what he is expecting that it could buck back and smack him in the forehead, break his shoulder or even fly out of his hand. This alone should be enough to prove that theory wrong. Another problem I have is your constant use of the term "Murder Simulators," this may make some sense in the terms of GTA, which I must point out penalizes you for the injury of innocents and police, but most games place a good guy, against terrorists or criminals, or even aliens or terrestrial threats. Another point I must state is that blaming games for acts of violence is never, NEVER targeting the source of the problem, which could be any number of things, including bullies at the school, problems with finances, problems with family members, or any other number of things OTHER than gaming. In the end, it's up to the parents to decide what games are right and wrong for their kids, and all you are doing is providing a scape goat for these parents when something goes wrong, horribly wrong. That's all I feel I can really sat at this time, until I can find more of your theories that I can hopefully point out as wrong.

You Mr. Thompson claim you are an advocate for the first amendment, yet you continually attempt to deny others from expressing and using that first amendment. You are a representative of the law Mr. Thompson, yet so far you have insulted it. I ask you sir, as a concerned citizen, why? Why do you do what you do? You say that it's for the betterment of our children? Sir, this is a weak statement, children will find violence in many other forms, street gangs, drugs, school bullies, abusive parents. Video games are a weak excuse for causing violence. I plead to you Mr. Thompson, stop this now. It's horrible, disgraceful, and it only makes you look the fool in the end. I have loved gaming for many years, I will continue to love gaming for many more. There are games with huge worlds, games with ideas that enthrall me, there's a game that is to come out later this year that is based around Norse Mythology, a subject I am greatly entertained by, and I hope to play it, and its later installments, but you Mr. Thompson seem to want to hold that away from me, just because it has the use of weapons, and adult themed ideas, such as death, or destruction. It's a truly saddening thing to see the law twisted and worked like it is being today. So please Mr. Thompson, consider your actions before you commit them.

Sincerely,

A concerned Citizen

nothing to say just Baine tould you all, I am a maltese guy entitled with the UN army - i have been playing games from the age of 9 - presently I have 24 years of age.
While I was doing the basic arms training at the age of 22, I found it rather diffucult handling guns (and I play FPS only), so please Jack Thompson SHUT THE FUCK UP - go to play WoW.

Sarcasm. Bad sarcasm, but still...

[...] According to everyone’s favorite special interest blog, GamePolitics.com, a boy in California sent a clearly tongue-in-cheek-but-in-questionable-taste email to Jack Thompson threatening to “shoot 20-30 people” at UC Berkeley. He continues to ask “what gun to use” and states “I am also looking for a game to train on”. [...]

I doubt Jackson knew the kid was 14 from the e-mail and it's better to err on the side of caution when someone says 'I'm gonna shoot people'. Sure, it may seem like obvious sattire but bear in mind two things.

1) We obviously don't share Jacky's opinion on much.
2) What if it wasn't and you laughed it off?

The kid's only 14. I imagine he'll just have an uncomfortable time in jail, an uncomfortable time in court, and an uncomfortable time with his parents. He's learned a lesson about being a smartass, at least.

Quality and humor value in the email aside, this letter was obvious satire that got taken way too seriously. If the police wanted to come by and question the boy, that's fine. That's exactly how this should have been handled, but an arrest is way over the top. The kid lacked judgment, but that's part of being a teenager, (no offense to other, brighter teenagers.)

This isn't a big deal but will probably be treated as one.

@baine

I think it's amendmentone@comcast.[something]

An attempt at irony, I think.

@Roger

Why? because he's a stupid kid. The gaming community is much like most other communities when it comes to diversity, and like all other communities we have our fair share of idiots. They take on actions that are just plain stupid and often do not realize the possible consequences of their actions (specifically that making threats, whether real or not, is against the law and can get you in serious trouble). They think their being big shots, that they're getting in JT's face, when all they are really doing is making the rest of us look bad. It's just stupid and immature behavior.

@griff

Acutally he would need to make it 100% clear that he was not serious about that threat. Making threats, idol or not is NOT protected speech.

Jacko sent me a press release thingy of his with this in it, I responded by saying that he should understand satire and sarcasm after the Penny Arcade Incident. His response: "we had the story wrong"

Seriously, this is just a sarcastic email gone wrong. So much for free speech, I guess. Sure it's "heightened sensitivity", but a joke is a joke, and their is no way anyone should be able to mistake this email for real, given who it was sent to.

A judge may look at it then lambaste the kid for being so damned stupid then send him on his way with some community service possibly house arrest. This may qualify as terroristic threats, not really sure how thats defined. The kid did something very stupid and childish, it should be dealt with accordingly.

However Jacks response was equally childish. Jack is going to claim the kid was actually going to do it. Jack will claim that this kids represents gamers. jack will... Nothing new really.
Jack is going to grasp for straws at every juncture, really were just giving him rope to hang himself with. Every time we give him to much though, he digs a deeper hole to jump into.

If he wants my IP fine,as always let him sue me, he will rather quickly make the jury hate him if it even went to court. Pay my court cost maybe even compensate me for my time.

The kids won't get off the hook, joke or not he made a threat during a time of heightened sensitivity. He whispered fire in a strangers ear during the movie, and there is an arsonist on the loose that likes setting cinemas on fire, hit 3 already the same week.

btw, for anyone wondering if this might not have been a joke (some comments seemed kinda uncertain), remember that this is a 14-year-old kid threatening a college campus. Something of a stretch, there.

GG, Jack, you moral tour-de-force, you

For christ sake...I could do the same thing, and say that "What I say is protected under the 1st amendment, because I'm protesting against your own accusations of gamers." Thats all he had to f***ing say to get off the hook! I'm really gettin fumed on this half-ass of a lawyer.

Honestly. I have to admit that I feel for the kid. It was dumb, and a bit insensitive considering the kind of pressing proximity to VT, but the joke reminds me a lot of common jokes like "Tetris Made Me Do It!" et all. The worst part, really, though, is that he just, whether he intended to or not, gave JT some fodder to throw at the press. The last thing we need is more credibility for the guy.

Shoulda sent it from behind a proxy with a fake email account. I lol'd though.

I think that this was a tastless and pointless joke on this kid's part, but who was more childish here? Jack knew what this was, it was just a joke. I'm sure he feels like a real big shot now. some kid tried to hurt Jack's feelings, so he hurt the kid back. You can't honestly tell me that he took this threat seriously can you? Jack relished this, he only wanted to get some kid in trouble. He's done this aort of thing before. In fact part of the reason he was banned from posting on this site was because he started demanding IP addresses and threatening legal action with virtually every person who ever posted on this site. He'll probably start claiming he thwarted an attack now too!
Leave the kids alone Jack.

Do you think he could get off by using Jack's method, claim it was intended to be satire? Sorry, couldn't resist the cheap shot. But seriously I doubt this kid is serious, nor is he right in the way he went about doing this. If he wanted a less harmful joke he could've claimed he was a trained medical professional because he beat the Trauma Center games, or he could've tried to show up Jack by beating Phoenix Wright...