RevolutionSF Forum

[Dharma Bum]

From here.

Attack of the Show is a show that attacks you on G4, the gamer's television station which we watch when we aren't playing video games. Appearing was an infamous man by the name of Jack Thompson, who is so disgusted by videogame violence that he wants to place industry wide censorship standards that would limit what kind of violence and sexuality games could depict. His stance isn't reasonable, as the position of, say, "Let's not sell snuff porn to children," is. His stance is more, "Let's limit what game companies can do to what can pass for a G rating at the movie theater."

Jack Thompson was brought on the show to talk about why he wants a game called "Bully" to stop production, and what impact violence in videogames have on children. His main opponents were G4 personality Adam Sessler, and some random white guy who made some good points, but was so boring, that nobody seems to give a damn. Now, despite Thompson going over the edge in several of his published statements in the past, including challenging game companies to create a game based on Columbine, he came off as a completely eloquent, level headed guy who was genuinely concerned for the psychological health of children.

The only real opposition he got was from Sessler, whose entire argument was, basically, "Ubh, hubab, duh, LACK OF A CANADIAN STYLE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS THE PROBLEM WITH KIDS TODAY!" Literally. And if that wasn't bad enough, the other boring white guy immediately chimed in with, "Grung, hurr, uh, HIP HOP LYRICS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH KIDS TODAY!" They kept dodging the issue and trying to twist the debate into addressing other topics. And while Thompson used all of his lawyer skills to present himself as being a pretty level headed guy, Sessler was so angered that he was addressing such a sworn foe of his industry, that he disintegrated into a spazzy, yelling, unpersuasive dork of epic proportions.

In short, fans of disemboweling zombies without gloves, fans of naughty Japanese dating sims, and fans of casting fireball spells at deers and giggling as they explode into a tumbling mess of ragdoll physics down a steep hill, have been issued a swift defeat. You let us down, Sessler, you thirty something bastard who has had physical contact with Morgan Webb. Gah!
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[Superdave]

Sheesh. They should've had him debate the Vede at PC Gamer. He's been prepping his facts for a fight like that for the past couple of years.
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[Dharma Bum]

Exactly. G4 missed a huge opportunity by not putting this guy, a professional lawyer who has been on this crusade for years, up against someone who could express his opinions eloquently and backed up by effective counter points. Instead, they got a whiney spaz who isn't impressed with the current state of public schools.
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[Daikun]

It was a horrible debate. It didn't go anywhere, and Sessler (who, if you've seen G4's X-Play, would know how much of a one-sided network tool he is with his game reviews) was a bad choice to throw a bone at Jack Thompson.

And surprisingly, as much as I'm opposite Thompson's views, Jack was the only mature person in the group, while Sessler acted like a child.

On a side note (but not unrelated), Ben Silverman at Game Revolution and several other people were contacted to be in that debate, but they declined because of bad preparation time. (You can read Ben's article on it here.) G4 needs to learn to schedule better.
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[Dharma Bum]

There were many better choices than Sessler. I do think the guy is an okay comedian of the soy un peredor variety, but he just got too damn worked up to say anything intelligent in response to Thompson. It's interesting on G4, that through all of the geeky writing and reviews of sold only in Japan Nintendo DS games, you get to see the personalities of several of the channel's face talent flash through every so often. And a lot of the time, they aren't the smiling, giggling, hip jutting women or dorky yet friendly frail men that they portray themselves to be. More often than not, they turn out to be angry jerks who have spent too much time playing videogames, like me.

This begs the question: Why don't I have my own damn videogame show? At least then the debate would have been interesting instead of just sad.

KP: And today's guests are Jack Thompson, a legal advocate for censoring violence and sexuality in video games, and Jack the Ripper, a nineteenth century serial killer who killed between five and twelve of London's finest prostitutes, ate parts of them, and shipped the remainders to the police with notes attached. Okay, now that we've introduced everyone, let's start the debate. Mr. Thompson, thank you for being with us today, can you tell us why you're opposed to violent videogames?

JT: Chil-dren. Chil-dren. Fu-ture. Fu-ture. Children are our fu-ture!

KP: Mr. Ripper, your counterpoint, sir?

JR: I will eat your face!
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[Shane Ivey]

Isn't that pretty much any given night on "Nancy Beck O'Reilly and Colmes"?
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[Dharma Bum]

But my show would be threatening cannibalization over topics that really matter. And also, maybe tort reform, whatever that is. The word "tort" makes me very angry for some reason.
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[Daikun]

To quote someone from another forum on the debate:

[Shane Ivey]

No way. Halo 2 is WAY more fun than acid. Trust me.

(I don't know, maybe my brain chemistry just wasn't built for it.)
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Shane Ivey
Editor, game designer, etc.
RevolutionSF • Arc Dream Publishing • Avalanche Press
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Scary new fun from Arc Dream: Monsters and Other Childish Things

[Superdave]

Well, I just listened to PC Gamer Podcast #45, which briefly discusses this debate, and then has as guest a psychiatrist who claims a huge number of WoW players are addicted to gaming. The psychiatrist is a bit boring, but she sounds 70, so a little rambling is forgivable. Anyway, everyone acts like adults and I would say it's a pretty good debate.
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[The Pyrate Kincaid]

Well, I just listened to the AOTS (Attack of the Show) debate, with Mr. Thompson and Mr. Sessler. Though, Adam was clearly emotionally moved to speak, he did make some good points. But to make a long story short...

Both Jack and Adam have one-sided opinions. Jack doesn't play videogames, whereas Adam's job is playing (we think) and rating them. Jack Thompson makes a comment regarding a poll through the internet. The poll asked everyone, through the G4 site, if they thought videogames cause real world violence: Yes-9%, No-91%. Jack Thompson tried to throw it back in the face of G4 by making a point to cite "experts", as well as to give himself a bone by telling the audience how he predicted the Colmbine shootings 1-week prior, on the Today Show. He then says the poll, made up of mostly gamers, "...fly's in the face of all the science and all the medicine". My take: Since the debate is regarding videogame players...isn't the audience feedback (made up of mostly gamers) straight from the horse's mouth? Yes.

I was (and still am) very interested in persuing bodybuilding. Steriods were as much a debate back in the 60's as they are now. I remember reading many articles, old and new, as I researched steriods and how they work. Many scientists in the 50's and 60's claimed they didn't work to build such large muscle mass, but only to quicken the healing process (back to your normal size). The bodybuilders (horse's mouth) knew the steriods were working...which is more or less the case above. Science not paying attention to cause and effect, but instead using theory and quick solutions. Or is it even "science", at all?

I have to pick out one of Thompson's only cited "experts". The American Psychological Association. This is not a scientific group, nor a purely medical one. Psychology is a theory of the mind only. It seems, as he continues, his base argument is rooted primarily in psychology. A pseudo-science.

His "science" is trying to pin a tail on the donkey, missing the horse completely.

Edit: I can agree that G4 missed out in representing the videogame masses. G4, as a channel, does not talk to it's target audience anyway. Instead, showing "The Man Show, Braniac, Star Trek" and other non-game shows. It also seems be a more platform for both Nintendo and Sony. I have complete contempt for the producers and writers of this channel's "content". This belongs under another thread, of course.


*By the way, Adam is correct in stating both parenting and schooling is the #1 problem.
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