You know, I checked through the forums, but couldn’t find anything relating to this guy here.. *I* certainly think it was a publicity hoax, at this point.
For those unfamiliar, Jack Thompson is a fairly high-end lawyer, noted for his rabid anti-videogame violence stance. He recently put forth a ‘Modest Proposal’, which basically was for a video game company to make an ultra-violent video game in which certain characters with names and occupations very similar to those of Take Two (makers of the Grand Theft Auto series) executives. In return, if it was made, Jack promised to donate $10,000 to the charity of Take Two’s CEO’s choice.
Full details and text of the letter: http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883
You can of course, predict what happened next.
Gamers around the world rose up in a united wave of anger, crushing all those bef.. oh, ok, fine, but there was a lot of anger on the ‘net. In any case, a few of them got together and *created* the game specified, matching all the needed bullet points.
Jack then said that his ‘modest proposal’ was merely ‘satire’, and that he was in no way obligated to part with his hard-earned monies.
The gamers united were even more outraged, to the point that Tycho and Gabe, of Penny Arcade fame, who had been getting some rather childishly snarky emails from Jack, simply went ahead and donated $10K to a worthy cause, *in Jack’s name*..
My favorite part has to be that the check they wrote reads ‘For Jack Thompson because Jack Thomson won’t’
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php?date=2005-10-17 gives a good rundown of the last bit, including Jack’s attempt to get them arrested for harrassment.
Now, for those of you of the opinion that video games are evil, just bear in mind that this thread is about Jack’s publicity hoax, not a discussion on video game violence. I personally have the opinion that a lot of gamers do, that needlessly violent games probably *should* be out of the hands of kids, and that it’s the parent’s responsability to not buy their little darlings Chainsaw Murdering Bus Driver 3 just as much as it’s the retailer’s responsability to not sell it to some kid who just raided mommy’s purse.
