(Part 2 of 4) Game-hatin' attorney Jack Thompson went verbally medieval on GamePolitics in an interview with the obscure PopZart site last week.
In my third year of running GamePolitics, I've grown accustomed to Thompson's criticism, but this attack was remarkably personal in nature, so I feel called upon to respond. Part one of my riposte may be found here. Part two follows:
JT: the worst example of [a game industry stooge] is GamePolitics and its owner Dennis McCauley. McCauley is now an operative for Hal Halpin's ECA, so the curtain behind which this Wizard of Odd, Mr. McCauley, has been rent asunder. McCauley has pretended, mightily, to be a journalist. He is not. He does put out a lot of information, some of it correct, about what is going on in the gaming world and industry. I commend him for that. He does a better job than most.
GP: Interesting... In a single paragraph, Thompson pegs me as both "the worst example" and doing "a better job than most." Go figure... As for being an "operative," gee, it sounds so very Splinter Cell-ish...
As far as the ECA goes, I think GP readers already know that the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is NOT a game industry organization, despite Thompson's efforts to paint it that way. The ECA receives zero funding from the game industry, and wouldn't accept game industry money if it was offered. Hal Halpin has been very clear about that. Membership fees paid by gamer-members drive the ECA. Personally, I've always made it very clear that I have no connection to the industry. My record reinforces it.
To put it bluntly, I've pissed off a number of people in the game business over the years - Take Two people, ESRB people, ESA people, and more. I'm kind of proud of that fact, actually. As a journalist, when you're simultaneously angering Jack Thompson and Paul Eibeler, you know you're playing it right down the middle.
What's more, even a cursory glance at GamePolitics illustrates that Thompson's comments are dead wrong. In the past few weeks alone we've been all over Microsoft concerning the Xbox 360 red rings issue because A.) they deserve it and B.) it's an issue that's very important to game consumers. At other times we've taken Sony to task when they tried to bully Kotaku. We ripped inept former Take Two CEO Paul Eibeler on a regular basis. It's all in the GP record.
Oh, and don't forget that GP made its journalistic bones by breaking the Hot Coffee story in 2005. That little episode cost T2 close to $30 million and still reverberates through the business. Our person of the year for 2005 was Leland Yee, architect of the California video game law - not because we thought the law was a good idea, but because Yee was so skillful in maneuvering it to passage. By the way, can you guess which publicity hound complained about not being selected?
So, GP as a game industry stooge? I don't think so. We're after the truth here, wherever it leads us.
JT: McCauley gets money from the very industry that he is supposedly "fairly" reporting about. Look at his ads. Look at his now formal ECA affiliation. I get money, by the way, from nobody, nor have I ever accepted any in my twenty years of fighting the entertainment industry's marketing and sale of adult entertainment to children. I'm clean. These sites are not.
GP: What money from the video game industry? I work for the ECA. Once again, and I'll say it slowly this time, Jack. The ECA is a consumer group. We fight for gamers.
Ads? What ads? Prior to the ECA acquisition we had small Amazon and Commission Junction affiliate ads for things like games, books, DVDs and T-shirts. I personally selected and posted the ads. Never - as in not ever - did we have an ad paid for by a video game company.
Currently there are some issue-oriented banners - but nothing to buy - on the front page of GP that I picked myself because they are relevant to what we cover. We've also got links to every major - and several minor - video game watchdog organizations on the front page. My goal with GamePolitics is to be a comprehensive, one-stop shopping resource for information related to the politics of video games whether you're a gamer, a game company executive, a political staffer or an activist.
On the other hand, may I ask, Jack, how much you expect to receive from your video game debate tour? $3,000 per appearance, wasn't it? May I ask how much your combined lawsuits against the video game industry in Alabama and New Mexico are seeking? $1.2 billion, isn't it? That works out to a pretty hefty legal fee...
GP: Thompson’s attack on GamePolitics was extensive. So is our reply. Look for Part 3 soon…
Comments
Re: Jack Attack on GamePolitics, Part 2: Game Industry Stooge
yes, Games are looking like GamePolitics and some other game like online games also looking Online Gamepolitics somthing cartoon games casino online Games, they are some part of games. This time game industry going top and getting lots of online games. This games business growing faster then other business.
I remember reading in an issue of Gamepro that R*/TTwo blamed the mod community for uncovering it, but not for Hot Coffee itself.
Not everyone likes it, but T2 & Rockstar badly misplayed what happened. They went to ground and lied. They could have saved themselves and the industry a lot of trouble.
They tried to blame it on their biggest fans, the mod community, which is indefensible.
[Adult Swim] made one, 5 minutes to kill yourself, :p
Well he said that because he has this problem separating fantasy and fiction from reality. Therefore he think if you play a game involving suicide you will be forced to do so in real life.
So yes, Jack if you can point us in the direction of a suicide game I will get good at it. But guess what? Even if I get good at a suicide game I will remain alive and supporting the ECA long after you are eating pudding in a rest home.
"Yippie Ki Yay, Motherfucker"
damn loser
GP- 30
JT- 0
I award points based on truthfullness, style and Proper Punctuation.
I think if its JT that has been posting on the GP comments he is confusing some of our comments with articles written by Dennis. Its pretty irresponsible that he is allowed to do this. Jack is just acting irresponsible and foolish. It is a shame because a more than a few people ignorant on the entire issue will side with Jack Thompson just because he gets more exposure.
This is why we should support the ECA. Power in numbers so to speak. If the ECA becomes strong enough gamers and the game industry can more easily defeat those allied with Jack Thomson, Leeland Yee, and Lyndon LaRouche.
Gamers are the most important party in the Game Industry. What we say should go, period. No if, and, or, but about it. Without gamers the game industry wouldn't exist.
Do you mean Thompson or Dennis? As far as I know, PatrickW first reported the fact that it wasn't user-made content and that Rockstar had somewhat misled people with the statement it had made, to Dennis and it was first reported here and taken up by other sites, that's the Dennis link. Thompson, as he will happily tell you, allegedly briefed Hilary Clinton for her Press Release regarding Hot Coffee. I wasn't around here for either of them, so it's for others to confirm or deny them.
JackTompson.org is not affiliated with the man at all.
GP did not "go low"-he just hit back with the appropriate responses to John Bruce Thompson's cowardly attacks. Good on you, GP.
As far as i remember back when i joined this site, we've always been neutral, tearing at gaming industry and its opponents alike. If the gaming industry did something stupid, we'd call it out and tear it a new one.
JT, we gave him page space, we were open to his opinions, we may not have agreed with it 99.9% of the time, but we were willing to hear it out. Now i dont think he'll even get that anymore, even though tbh i never thought he deserved the page space in the beginning. Guys nothing more than a troll and hes pushing extremely close to slander
if he did then why did he pull that crap a year ago when he tried to get the cops to confiscate copies of gta san andreas from anyone regardless of age????
he wants to keep m rated games out of the hands of anyone
"...what does GamePolitics actually do?"
As of late? Proving what a delusional, massacre-chasing fraud JT is... at least that's what I've seen.
Keep it up!
Can't wait to read the next 2 Dennis!
"a while back when he did post but for someone who thought we were “children” and then post [saying] anyone that posted at all was required to post their name, phone number and address"
Ignoring the fact that asking for personal info is a violation of LJ's TOS, that alone would've gotten him tagged as a potential child molester
I think that was his strategy, he was praying one of us would go off and become a threat to his safety, thus becoming his poster child for his cause, like how he prays for bodybags within a mile of a game console.
Until then, JT I'll have to see how the indusrty, as well as GP and the ESA will play thos one out (sorry if it seems like I am saying GP and the ESA are part of the indusrty, which I kno they are not) as well as JT.
I love the phrasing "I am sure I have been guilty of that at times..." it's such a muddy, uncertain admonition. Like he's trying to be humble. It's especially flavorful after that whole "I'm so Christian" diatribe.
I don't think I've ever read or heard an interview with Thompson that didn't involve him accusing all gamers of being slavering madmen.
i think he know's that but he may not since he truly believes that every single person that posts on gp is just a 5 year old "kid"
not sure if u were here a while back when he did post but for osmeone who thought we were "children" and then post and say anyone that posted at all was required to post there name phone number and address
he needs to be put away in a mental institiution
When is he gonna get it through his thick skull that WE DONT WANT THAT EITHER.
He was interested in the stabbing incident not so long ago because they were playing a game at the time. When it was revealed that the game was just an innocent sports title, he was interested because they might have played violent games in the past - in other words, the fact that they were playing a game at the time was of no consequence and they could've been playing on a swing set instead. So why is he not interested in all cases of violent minors?
The big kicker for me is that the GP readership, and everyone else he speaks out against, are mainly gamers. Most of us here spend hours at a time training on masturbatory murder simulators, being brainwashed and turned into mindless killers who only need the slightest trigger to go postal. Yet he insults us, openly and sometimes individually by name, without fear for his own safety. We're evidently homicidal maniacs who don't pose a threat to anyone.
he really needs a few games of gta to vent his anger
You (and the ECA) should just get used to being called industry operatives or whatever. By the time it's all over, you'll probably be labeled as the "violent game lobby" by the game haters. This type of marginalization is pretty much par for the course..
He talks about the fact that the posters on Kotaku violated the sites terms of service and yet when he was violating livejournal's terms of service it was ok because he was being censored.
Then there is his constant changing of just what censorship is. Apparently censorship is anyone who doesn't like Jack and censorship isn't violating the first amendment by having the government regulate free speech.
if he still has his panties in a bunch from getting banned then maybe he shouldnt have acted like a moron then maybe he wouldnt have gotten booted
I guess Dennis has a lot to say about Whacky Jacky. Just rememeber Dennis, you've gained recognition, while he's just some conspiracy nutjob; and apparently he hates you for receiving recognition and considers it unfair and a conspiracy that he didn't get any.
"Sorry, but your random bitchings about minor topics that noone actually cares about..."
Good, then I guess you don't have to read it, then, huh?
I'm sure you would usually have something to say in response when somebody attacks your character in public. Why? Because...well...you would care about it. Just like Dennis cares now, and, judging by the enormous amount of positive response to this, he isn't the only one. So take your moronic generalization elsewhere, or just drop the piss and vinegar attitude.
I think uninformed is a more accurate description. Considering how frequently he states that "xxx study by the University of yyy" reached "zzz conclusion" when the study says nothing of the sort, the obvious conclusion is that he didn't read past the title. He has no actual facts to back him up, and every piece of credible evidence refutes him, so I find it unlikely he knows anything at all about media violence effects.
Keep it up.
Jacky Boy never learned to practice what he preached.