Gaming press responsible for Thompson?

[FullAuto]

Just in case you've been AFK for the last few days, Jack Thompson has been disbarred. He has less than 30 days left to appeal.

 

Former Entertainment Software Association boss Doug Lowenstein blames the gaming press for Thompson even getting a soapbox to stand on, in a letter to Kotaku.

 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

 

I read with more than passing interest the reports of Jack Thompson's disbarment. Amid all the celebrating among the game industry, one thing I hope emerges is some degree of self examination by the game press of its own complicity in making Thompson what he became.

 

The game press had a schizoid relationship with Thompson. He was the person they loved to vilify and the person they could not get enough of. Time and again, the game press — and mainstream press — would ask ESA to engage with, or respond to Thompson's latest excess. The media knew well that he was a charlatan who wholly lacked credibility. But hey, they said, he was news and could not be ignored. That was a cop out. It gave Thompson a platform he might not have had for as long as he did.

 

Mainstream outlets (The Today Show, CNN, Fox) were worse but the game press knew better. But he was the game press' crack. And even as they said privately he was a kook, they treated him as if he was a credible, fair minded critic. That represented an abdication of the critical filtering role the media should play.

 

There were and are legitimate grounds to criticize the game industry, and there were responsible and fair minded critics like Dave Walsh. But for the game press it was all Jack all the time. So as it takes delight in his apparent demise, it is a good time to contemplate whether the game media itself has matured . You help set the tone for mainstream media coverage and if you validate extremists you give license to the less informed to follow your lead.

 

It is 35 years since Pong. Your readers and the industry deserve a game media worthy of the best that journalism has to offer.

 

Doug Lowenstein

 

Game Politics says "Bull" and blames Lowenstein.

 

On this issue Doug Lowenstein should look in the mirror. It was Lowenstein's own unwillingness to stand up to Thompson years ago which emboldened the game-hatin', soon to be ex-attorney. It is a remarkable piece of spin to blame Thompson on the gaming media, but that's exactly what Lowenstein has done.

 

But, by refusing to respond, Doug dropped the ball. Thompson, finding no resistance from the top of the video game industry, was empowered to push harder. In retrospect, it's important to understand that bullying is the essence of Thompson's strategy. In fact, one of the tips he offers in his forgettable 2005 book, Out of Harm's Way, is "be mean." And, since caveman days, bullies have pushed and pushed until someone got up the nerve to push back.

 

Doug never pushed back.

 

What do you reckon, chaps, chapesses and those of indeterminate gender?

[Bomb Bloke]

To my understanding, Thompson can't appeal - someone has to do it for him. Not that I payed him all that much attention, but a VG Cats comic "suggested" he has some sort of leverage with Hillary Clinton, so I wouldn't write that idea off just yet. Still, I just don't see it happening from where I'm sitting.

 

I'm not sure how "being mean" against Thompson woulda worked. I mean, what was it exactly Lowenstein was supposed to do in order to "stand up to" the guy? Any action on his part would've only fed the press and strung the issue out further still, wouldn't it?

 

It takes two to tango, and Thompson found plenty of other partners to dance with.

 

Mind you, don't be surprised if this isn't the last we've heard of our mate Jack. I mean, seriously, he's disbarred, not jailed. It'll be interesting to see whether it's the gaming or mainstream news who now gives him the most attention.

[FullAuto]

To my understanding, Thompson can't appeal - someone has to do it for him.

 

I freely admit to knowing little about the US legal system, but there is nearly always an appeals process, and the appeal must be made by the person or the person's legal representative, as the decision is against that person.

 

Quite frankly, if the gaming press ignored all the obvious bullshit in the industry, they would rarely have anything to report.

 

"We're not making a new model of the DS."

 

"These are in-game graphics."

 

"Duke Nukem Forever will be out this year."

 

And so on.

[FullAuto]

God strikes Take-Two down.

 

Here's another passage of Scripture that you don't understand and never read: "All things work to the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." That group would include me and not Zelnick. Zelnick is not a believer in the Gospel. How do I know? Because the man who got us together is a Christian, with a massive ministry in Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment industry. It was because of the spiritual aspect of this struggle that he got the two of us together, and Zelnick failed the test.

 

If you knew anything about the Gospel, you would understand further that Paul, whose writings are considered part of the canon, tells Christians, not unbelievers, that we are to "count it all joy" when trials and tribulations come our way.

 

I have been persecuted for my faith, not because I did anything wrong, by those committed to evil. Glad to clear it up for you. And as it now stands, Mr. Zelnick's problems at Take-Two are minuscule [sic] compared to the eternity of punishment that is coming his way unless he repents and accepts Christ as I did 32 years ago this month. You might do well to read the Gospel of John yourself. Come to think of it, I'll write Strauss about all this and send you a copy...