August 17, 2007 -
GamePolitics has expended a fair amount of ink this week speculating what popular TV shrink Dr. Phil McGraw might or might not do regarding video games in an upcoming episode.To recap, we first learned that Dr. Phil planned to probe the game violence issue. This set many readers off, thanks to Dr. Phil's ill-informed comments about game violence in relation to the Virginia Tech massacre earlier this year.
Next, Jack Thompson weighed in, claiming that he'd been approached by Dr. Phil's producer as a "game violence specialist." However, Thompson said, the focus of the show had been re-directed from game violence to MMO addiction. GP notes that a solicitation on the Dr. Phil website seeks parents of teens addicted to Second Life.
In the latest glimpse into how mainstream TV puts together a show on video game issues, we heard from Andrew Bub, the highly-regarded Gamer Dad. Andrew reports that he was also approached by Dr. Phil's people:
A few months ago - mid-June I think - I got a phone call from someone claiming to be a Dr. Phil staffer (not producer) and they asked me if I'd like to be on the show to talk about video games.
They asked about my stance and as I described what GamerDad is all about - moderation, games are no worse than any other media, informed parenting equals good parenting - they seemed to lose interest (my perception).
They asked about the VA [Tech] shooting and I said Dr. Phil's comments were "absurd." They said they'd get back to me and, well, [Monday's GP story] was the first I heard of it again.
Topics for next week's Dr. Phil shows haven't been posted yet, so we'll have to wait a bit longer to see whether games get a fair shake or whether it's another mainstream media bashing.
Comments
corporate responcibility...I could dig a company choosing only to market games for minors with very "G" content. but then again, thats their choice, isn't it?
...are you trying to say that you aren't smart enough to keep your kids away from violent media, that you need some help? Well, there are several systems that can help you out until all the bad things in the world dissappear. You could start by choosing age appropiate games for your children using the ESRB ratings system. They're clearly marked on the box. Another way is to take some time out of your day (maybe some time usually spent making comments on gamepolitics) and sit down with your kids, find out what they're watching on tv, what games theyre playing, just taking an interest in what their doing so that you can try to make sure that they aren't exposed to any media you do not theink they are old enough to witness.
These are simple steps you can take until all the bad things go away in the world. It may take a while for that to happen, so you must try to work with what you can. Hope this helped ^_^
If you have any questions Mr. Thompson, feel free to email me at juniperwak@gmail.com (spam and heckling will not be answered, but instead sent to GP.)
Cheers!
(strange, this started out as sarcasm, but then it seemed like i really believed I may be helping him. :)
...
Thank Goodness. :)
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Yep, Dr. Phil's faker than wrestling.
Im pretty sure that the majority of Second Lifers are NOT teens.
This is nothing new.
The irony of all this, is that, while Phil and Jack both have a good intention, there methods are flawed, failed, and pointless.
Phil is a shrill tv hack, jack is a shrill imbecile lawyer.
End of story
phil maybe, but jack has proven time and time again by ignoring facts, harassing and insulting numerous peoples within the industry and the legal system, making racist comments and having a general bigoted viewpoint of the entire gaming subculture, that his crusade is more about self promotion and hatemongering than it is about the kids.
I would consider such things actions. His intentions, least as he's claimed in the past, but thats a seperate matters.
AS far as I see, the man had good intentions, and they were buried under his own hate and anger.
thanx for covering this
I think what they want is to cause a nice, dramatic scene on the set, that means calling in wild, confrontational extremists who are guaranteed to go boom once the discussion starts. Since Gamerdad is calm and intelligent, he clearly doesn't fit the bill.
Now Jack? He'd of been perfect, all nice and foamy. But since they switched to MMO addiction the show's no longer in his field. So now they have no use for him.
Dr Phil as I understand it, I'm English we don't have Phil over here, wants to give out advice and doesn't want an argument or people who don't completely agree with him on the show because it undermines his authority.
It's basically an excuses for him to tell people to play less Computer Games.
Now, I can prove that I've also been invited to be on WIFE SWAP twice (because they were looking to make a controversial videogame episode) and that GamerDad has been on the local news as an expert in Philadelphia, on radio nationwide and in Canada, and all over the newspapers. Any producers reading this should know that I'm available.
I'd love to argue in favor on my moderate positions re: videogames in any forum and against any expert they'd care to through at me. Thanks for all the nice comments!
Wife Swap? Wow, everyone wants to get in the video game controversy. I wonder how they wer planning on pulling that one off.
I just really wish that "Dr." Phil will get this show over with. We all know the outcome. It is very apparent from the quality of guests they have accepted. They wanted Jack, but not Gamer Dad. So we can see where this is going.
Oh easy! It'd go like this:
GamerWife goes and spends time with anti-gaming family.
Anti-gaming wife goes and spends time with GamerDad's family.
-- not a bad idea, given how that show works.
I turned them down.
Mostly because I love my family. Partially because... you know how they edit these things. But also because my lovely wife - who I ironically call "GamerMom" - is not much of a gamer herself! She, y'know, supports me and all but the most she plays is Brain Age every now and then. She's invaluable to my work though because she's a live-in "how will non-gamer look at this issue" barometer.
I think the most important question is would Jack Thompson be the other head of the other family.
Judging by gamerDad's response, I would say that JT's wife would not be the Anti-game wife the show would be looking for. I don't see her in open support of her husband's efforts.
Until, that is, Lex-Man suggested that John Bruce's family be the one you switch with. Now THAT would be hilarious!
But you're right, these shows look for the most sensationalistic edit they can make.
I think it was one of the very few episodes I watched where they switched a pair of families where one was in favor of the Gulf War and the other was against it. It included one of my most favorite comedy bits. The one where someone says "We're over there fighting for your Freedoms... so just SHUT UP talking bad about your government!". Oh yeah, bright people there.
Nightwng2000
NW2K software
Oh, and I plan to have this guy arrested when I get around to it.
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: [deleted]
Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 10:15 AM
Subject: (no subject)
[The below quotation is part of my signature block on my e-mails]:
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." G.K. Chesterton
What's behind you Jack? A dick in your ass? It's crazy senile bigots like you that abuse the first amendment! Thank god your generation is almost extinct.
Gamer Dad's comments to Dr. Phil's people about this were absurd, idiotic, and, uh, fallacious.
Jack Thompson
And you ignore ALL the other news outlets who reported otherwise.
And using the New York Times and Washington Post articles hardly qualifies as any proof that Cho supposedly "trained" on video games for hours on end, as you and other clowns like ex.Lt. Col. Grossman have been suggesting. The Post article referred to Cho playing video games in HIGH SCHOOL. Remember when Chris Mathews slapped you on national television when he said Cho was a fourth year student at Virginia Tech, and no one saw him play video games during his four years at VTech? Also, the New York Times article made absolutely no mention of what video games he supposedly played in high school, yet you claim they referred to his "massive violent" video game use. They just casually mentioned video games in one sentence (and that sentence also included Cho playing basketball).
And how ironic that you, Thompson, a so called "conservative Christian", are falsely citing the Washington Post and New York Times, two newspapers that are largely considered liberal, to promote your propaganda.
FACTS:
Cho had no violent games in his room, he wrote and read, he hadnt played games in over 4 years smashig all of your theories out of the water.
then you said. 'they dont typically drop these things when they go to college' we apart from being based on your own flawed opinion thats alsolute BS. I had to drop CS when I went to university, due to workloads, just another bit of evidence that shows youre talking out of your ass.
And dont try preaching your 'typical gamer' stuff here, we're all gamers, we know better than you ever will the people who play games.
I don't think that is grounds to have someone arrested. As a lawyer I thought you would know that. But I guess you are not a very good one.
Additionally, GamerDad has the common sense enough to read more than just the stuff that echoes his own agenda. You on the other hand read only that which supports your agenda and ignore all else regardless of how out numbered your supporting sources are.
Ummm, because the Washington Post retracted that statement because it was FALSE!!!!
"Gamer Dad’s comments to Dr. Phil’s people about this were absurd, idiotic, and, uh, fallacious"
Nah, I'd say you're better at statements like those.
Seriously, lol Internets and all that, the fact it's an AOL Email address in the first place should have set warning bells ringing, no offence to you legitimate users of AOL, but I've dealt with a high percentage of AOL users, in particular, who seem to get some sort of pleasure out of screaming incoherently over Email.
Other people have addressed your other points, and frankly, I'm tired of typing the same things over and over, but don't take abusive Emails so personally, you're in the Public Square, Doug Lowenstein got streams of abuse from yourself because 'he was in the Public Square', well, you're there too, why are you surprised when the same thing happens?
There are PLENTY of studies that refute your claims. You just pretend they don't exist. As far as you're concerned, the only studies that are right are the ones that agree with your agenda, or in your case, the ones that are related to your agenda but with the facts twisted to make it look like it supports your agenda.
The only reason you are doing this is because you have nowhere else to go. You're trying to be that German Psychologist who tries to link comic books with youth violence and various other immoral things. The only difference between you and him is that HE actually succeeded and sounded genuine enough to be professional. Of course, by the 1970s, 20 years after he managed to get comic books censored, he regretted everything he did and when he died, no one remembered him except comic book fans who despised what he did to American Comic books.
Seriously, you should stop. The only people who will remember you other than your family are the people you made enemies with ie. the gamers. No one in government will ever know about your existence.
JT: The first amendment called, it wants its free speech back.
GamerDad: as one gamerdad to another, I truly believe there is an army of us out there... the problem with moderates as Jon Stewart points out: "Moderates have shit to do". I wish there was a way to reach out and mobilize us effectively.
-mw
Other than him, one other professor and, if the class is set up to be taught on Second Life, I guess the students in his class ... they are the only ones that I know who play the game.
It doesn't seem all that addictive ... and isn't it the game that had to shut down it's casinos because you could turn the game's money into real money? So if your kids going on about how much money they make in the game .... wouldn't they be able to cash out and be sitting on lots of money? I mean, I understand it costs money to begin with but if they're making more money than they are putting into the game ... wouldn't it be considered a profitable pasttime?
Sorry to inform you but you can't have the guy arrested for THAT, it's not a threat, and since it's a private converstaion piece between you two (well it was) libel and slander can't qualify. Guess what that means, he's protected by the first amendment.
I don't play Second Life, but if there was one thing that would attract me, it's the ability to create and sell my own items there, more as a question of marketting experimentation. At the moment, things move from the real world to Second Life, mostly, Coca-Cola, Kirby etc, but it will reach a point when things start emerging in real life that were designed in Second Life, it may already have happened with T-Shirt designs etc. So it makes for interesting market research to see what sells and what doesn't.
I'd certainly say there are two kinds of people in Second Life, the 'players' and the 'workers', I couldn't 'play' second life, I've got a first one, but I could work there if I felt there was money to be made in what I sold.
Oh no, someone made a comment on my email sig....
You cant arrest someone for that. As a lawyer, you should know better.