Whacky Jacky

I'm late to talk about this subject, but I didn't think it terribly important. It's really just another episode in the monthly bundle of insanity known as Jack Thompson. The short of it is he's offered any game developer $10000 to their charity of choice if they'll make a game of his design specifications. Basically, a game where the story blames all sorts of violence on games.

Gamers everywhere reacted, some in laughs, most in ridicule.

Apparently one of the Penny-Arcade guys sent Jack Thompson an e-mail telling him about how Penny-Arcade's Childsplay charity had raised half a million dollars in toys and cash which went to children in hospitals everywhere. Apparently he forgot his phone number appeared in his signiture, because Jack called him back and yelled at him a bunch, telling him never to e-mail him again.

Honestly I've passed the point of amusement.

I could sit here and bash Jack all day, I could cite him as reason to wave off his cause, and I could end satisfied that I was right, and he was stupid.

Stupid he may be, attention hogging and extremist as well. However, more than anything he is a travesty. There is nothing worse, I think, for the gaming industry than to offhandedly dismiss the potential damage violence in the media can do to our children. Unfortunately, Jack Thompson provides gamers like myself with the easy opportunity to do so. When the primary spokesperson for a cause continually makes a fool of himself in front of the lights and cameras of the world, it's easy to forget how important what they're misrepresenting may be.

Something should be done to address the problem, but those of us who know games the best do nothing. We have unfortunately taken the position of calling parents who buy M-Rated games for their children idiots, as well as the people like Jack Thompson who try to react to a problem they don't fully understand. Instead, since we hold the keys of knowledge in this area, we could very easily be solving the issue once and for all.

As much as Jack Thompson is a travesty, so are we the gaming populace for not proving him a moron by solving the problem he champions in spite of him.