Andre
8th August 2005, 10:32 PM
What follows is an open letter to Jack Thompson. I'm sure you know who he is by now.
Mr. Thompson, I've been hearing repeatedly about your crusades against the videogame industry for at least a month now, and I consider that to be far too long a duration for what you are doing. Nonetheless, I have a few questions for you.
First of all, when will you stop? Sure, the Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was a bit questionable, but I don't think it warranted a rating change that resulted in it being pulled from the shelves. Was that the goal? To get a game that you personally find offensive off of the shelves entirely so that nobody could buy it? Pardon me, but that's more than a bit asinine.
I wish before you went on these crusades that you'd actually research what it is you are crusading against. You began by saying that the Hot Coffee mod was accessible in the PC version of San Andreas via a readily-available code, and then when you realized you were wrong, that a hacker-supplied modification patch had to be applied to unlock it, you changed your tune without changing your goal. This isn't Salem, Massachusettes in the late 1600's, and you can't say the word "children" to further your cause in much the same way they could say the word "witch". And you sure as hell can't change your reasoning for your crusade halfway through and then pretend you weren't wrong in the first place.
Next you go after The Sims 2 and its pixellated private areas. The pixellization is what gets you all in a twist, and you start spouting the word "pubic" as if saying it loud enough will make your claim true: that there are actual graphical parts under those pixels, which can be revealed with yet another simple "code". This has, again, been proven to be flat-out wrong, and once again, the only way to make those parts show up for real is to apply an unauthorized patch to the game.
Wrong or not, you cite these two instances as reasons for the dismantling of the ESRB. The company that has been regulating and rating the products of the gaming industry for over a decade now, the company that has rated hundreds of thousands of games with no complaints from publishers or parents, and now because two games slipped through -- both of which have to be modified with unofficial patches in order to glean their questionable content -- that everything the ESRB does is wrong. Who do you propose should replace the ESRB? You? That seems to be the implication, that since you discovered these things, that obviously you're better at rating games than the ESRB. And that, sir, is arrogant to the point of mental instability.
It's appalling that you trumpet your wildly right-wing values while standing on tragedies such as the Columbine shootings in order to do so. You claim you were exposing to the world the "horrors" of influence by video games a week before those shootings, and while that may be true, using the deaths of innocent people to support your claims is as blatantly immoral as one can become.
And now you go after Killer 7. Once again your "research" is groundless, yet your argument is still just as loud: the game contains, quote, "full-blown sex sequences". This nugget of description comes from IGN.com's review of the game, and apparently what you have done is skimmed the review looking for phrases like that, found them, cited them as proof, and made up all of the other details. I seriously doubt you've played the game, and I doubt that you have read alternative points of view from other games-reviewing publications. All that mattered was that that four-word phrase was quotable and parade-able towards any media outlet that would hear your voice.
Killer 7 is different than San Andreas or The Sims 2. You already got San Andreas pulled from the shelves with its Adults Only rating, and even if you succeed similarly with The Sims 2, you won't make a dent towards all of the people that already have it. But Killer 7 is a new game. It had a massive budget, was delayed numerous times, and took years of development -- in other words, it has a lot to lose by not selling well. And an Adults Only rating would certainly cause it to not sell well. What confounds me is your indifference towards this situation. You claim to see the big picture, in that these games are harming our children, but you clearly don't see the fact that a lot of money was invested in making these products. These products are made by companies, who spend money so that they can make money, and if they don't make money, people get cut. People could lose their jobs if Killer 7 doesn't sell well due to your influence, and you'd likely perceive this as a casualty of war -- as long as it doesn't affect you, and you get what you want, the results justify the means. Again, asinine.
And now I find out that you've been sending e-mails to the major media outlets asking them to publish something recently afflicting you: death threats on your life. Your only concern, it seems to me, is to stay in the media spotlight. I suppose it's human nature to want fame and respect, and with your vehement rantings you have gotten the fame, but you're going about it the wrong way. Somebody somewhere deciding that someone they don't know can't have what they want doesn't exactly construct a respectful relationship. I give my personal guarantee that, when you are too old to dress yourself, any legislation pushed through by you will be deconstructed by the very kids you so adamantly claimed to be protecting by it. These kids whose entertainment you are taking away will one day be the lawmakers, they will run the world. They will be the parents that will be buying games for their children, and influenced by your legislation or not, it is up to them to decide what their children are and are not exposed to.
History is replete with figures that stand up against authority and elicit change. Who would you rather be remembered as: Malcom X, or Martin Luther King Jr.?
Sincerely,
Jeremy Prine
A Gamer
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Source: Void Games (http://www.void-games.com) Amen.
Mr. Thompson, I've been hearing repeatedly about your crusades against the videogame industry for at least a month now, and I consider that to be far too long a duration for what you are doing. Nonetheless, I have a few questions for you.
First of all, when will you stop? Sure, the Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was a bit questionable, but I don't think it warranted a rating change that resulted in it being pulled from the shelves. Was that the goal? To get a game that you personally find offensive off of the shelves entirely so that nobody could buy it? Pardon me, but that's more than a bit asinine.
I wish before you went on these crusades that you'd actually research what it is you are crusading against. You began by saying that the Hot Coffee mod was accessible in the PC version of San Andreas via a readily-available code, and then when you realized you were wrong, that a hacker-supplied modification patch had to be applied to unlock it, you changed your tune without changing your goal. This isn't Salem, Massachusettes in the late 1600's, and you can't say the word "children" to further your cause in much the same way they could say the word "witch". And you sure as hell can't change your reasoning for your crusade halfway through and then pretend you weren't wrong in the first place.
Next you go after The Sims 2 and its pixellated private areas. The pixellization is what gets you all in a twist, and you start spouting the word "pubic" as if saying it loud enough will make your claim true: that there are actual graphical parts under those pixels, which can be revealed with yet another simple "code". This has, again, been proven to be flat-out wrong, and once again, the only way to make those parts show up for real is to apply an unauthorized patch to the game.
Wrong or not, you cite these two instances as reasons for the dismantling of the ESRB. The company that has been regulating and rating the products of the gaming industry for over a decade now, the company that has rated hundreds of thousands of games with no complaints from publishers or parents, and now because two games slipped through -- both of which have to be modified with unofficial patches in order to glean their questionable content -- that everything the ESRB does is wrong. Who do you propose should replace the ESRB? You? That seems to be the implication, that since you discovered these things, that obviously you're better at rating games than the ESRB. And that, sir, is arrogant to the point of mental instability.
It's appalling that you trumpet your wildly right-wing values while standing on tragedies such as the Columbine shootings in order to do so. You claim you were exposing to the world the "horrors" of influence by video games a week before those shootings, and while that may be true, using the deaths of innocent people to support your claims is as blatantly immoral as one can become.
And now you go after Killer 7. Once again your "research" is groundless, yet your argument is still just as loud: the game contains, quote, "full-blown sex sequences". This nugget of description comes from IGN.com's review of the game, and apparently what you have done is skimmed the review looking for phrases like that, found them, cited them as proof, and made up all of the other details. I seriously doubt you've played the game, and I doubt that you have read alternative points of view from other games-reviewing publications. All that mattered was that that four-word phrase was quotable and parade-able towards any media outlet that would hear your voice.
Killer 7 is different than San Andreas or The Sims 2. You already got San Andreas pulled from the shelves with its Adults Only rating, and even if you succeed similarly with The Sims 2, you won't make a dent towards all of the people that already have it. But Killer 7 is a new game. It had a massive budget, was delayed numerous times, and took years of development -- in other words, it has a lot to lose by not selling well. And an Adults Only rating would certainly cause it to not sell well. What confounds me is your indifference towards this situation. You claim to see the big picture, in that these games are harming our children, but you clearly don't see the fact that a lot of money was invested in making these products. These products are made by companies, who spend money so that they can make money, and if they don't make money, people get cut. People could lose their jobs if Killer 7 doesn't sell well due to your influence, and you'd likely perceive this as a casualty of war -- as long as it doesn't affect you, and you get what you want, the results justify the means. Again, asinine.
And now I find out that you've been sending e-mails to the major media outlets asking them to publish something recently afflicting you: death threats on your life. Your only concern, it seems to me, is to stay in the media spotlight. I suppose it's human nature to want fame and respect, and with your vehement rantings you have gotten the fame, but you're going about it the wrong way. Somebody somewhere deciding that someone they don't know can't have what they want doesn't exactly construct a respectful relationship. I give my personal guarantee that, when you are too old to dress yourself, any legislation pushed through by you will be deconstructed by the very kids you so adamantly claimed to be protecting by it. These kids whose entertainment you are taking away will one day be the lawmakers, they will run the world. They will be the parents that will be buying games for their children, and influenced by your legislation or not, it is up to them to decide what their children are and are not exposed to.
History is replete with figures that stand up against authority and elicit change. Who would you rather be remembered as: Malcom X, or Martin Luther King Jr.?
Sincerely,
Jeremy Prine
A Gamer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Void Games (http://www.void-games.com) Amen.