We all know it's inevitable: as soon as Rockstar releases a new game, Jack Thompson appears. Even though he can no longer practice law, he still has the ability to do absolutely insane things in his quest to crush video games... even going so far as to write one exective's mother to embarass the company into withdrawing GTA IV. Don't believe me? Read this.
I know what the reaction will be. "OMG THIS GUY IS A *insert rude comment here*!!! WE SHOULD *insert act of senseless violence here* TO HIM!!!"
Do you think it will help? It may make you feel better, but all it will do is fuel more hostility, and portray us, the dedicated gamers, as a bunch of hotheads. If anything, it could give the opposition more ammunition in their quest to reduce games to cartoons for little kids: if I were working for them, I'd be trawling the game sites and gathering evidence of gamer hostility... and I wouldn't need to look too hard, would I?
Entertainment controversy is nothing new. In the late 1940's, it was comic books: EC comics (link from wikipedia), the biggest target for "Tales from the Crypt" and other horror comics, was almost put out of business by activists and the Comics Code Authority. In the 1960's, the MPAA was formed in response to criticism of mature content in movies. In fact only books and music aren't rated in the US... but music almost was.
In the late 1980's, Tipper Gore and the PMRC tried to impose a form of censorship on hard rock music in response to what she felt was rock's bad influence on children. The biggest difference between Gore and Thompson was her relationship with then-US Senator Al Gore, which gave her a measure of clout Mr. Thompson can never hope to achieve.
It didn't work. This is the best they were able to achieve:
How did this happen? How did rock music manage to escape with nothing more than a silly-looking sticker?
Intelligent responses.
Take Dee Snider: watch this video, and listen to him describe how he prepared for his turn in front of the Senate sub-commitee that the PMRC wrangled. In particular, listen to the excerpt of Snider's testimony. Does this sound like a man who's corrupting the youth of America?
More to the point, does this sound like anything written in response to a Jack Thompson news item on GameSpot? Or any other anti-GTA IV news?
Passion is a wonderful thing. Great works of art, literature, and musical compositions have praised passion, and in turn have been praised for their genius. When that passion isn't restrained, however, with some intelligence, it can become dangerous and unpredictable.