Jack Thompson
Thompson attacks Penny Arcade; seeks arrests
Jack Thompson, if you’re not familiar with him, recently offered $10,000 to a charity if someone would produce a game where the main character specifically targeted to be killed, individuals at a large game company, along with many other acts involving his weapon of choice, a baseball bat. Then, when someone got close, he took it back, as it was not something he was actually going to do.
He’s now decided to ask the Seattle police department to arrest the PA authors for “harassment”. You can find a copy of the fax he sent at their website: www.penny-arcade.com (note the dash!)
Jack Thompson, according to the fax, apparently feels that the Penny Arcade folk, along with the industry as a whole, and the game players, want to stop him from speaking on an issue he’s passionate about — video game violence. Of course, that would be hypocritical of us (I’m one of the game players) since we’re arguing the developers should be allowed to make these games, as protected speech — the very same protection that leaves Jack Thompson free to discuss his opinons.
The harassment appears to be that the PA creators emailed him a couple times and created a “I Hate Jack Thompson” t-shirt. While I believe the t-shirt is in poor taste, I doubt it can be deemed harassment, as this man quite publicly has taken it upon himself to fight the industry with little but apparent hatred in his heart. No reason the industry can’t respond in kind, in my opinion.
Sure hope Seattle’s Police department sees the complaint for what it is — petty media whoring — and roundfiles it.