Jack Thompson Gets Called Out, Now Says He Was Kidding

Surprises

from the oh-you-have-a-sense-of-humor? dept

Everybody’s favorite video-game-violence activist/lawyer Jack Thompson — he who likes to blame Grand Theft Auto and the like for crimes — last week said he’d donate $10,000 to charity if somebody would create a game for him. Strangely, Thompson’s request was for a violent game in which the father of a child beaten to death “by a 14-year-old gamer” goes on a rampage for revenge, killing the publisher of the video game, video game merchants, and so on. Not surprisingly, some programmers took him up on his offer, creating a GTA mod where “Banman” — designed to be a Thompson alter ego — plays the part of the vengeful father, calling it “Defamation of Character: A Jack Thompson Murder Simulator”. Thompson, of course, says his offer was “satire” and won’t pay out — so the people behind a popular online-gaming comic strip are donating $10,000 of their own to charity (in Thompson’s name, natch). Thompson says his effort (creatively titled “A Modest Video Game Proposal,” so it must have been satire) “was intended to highlight the patent hypocrisy and recklessness exhibited by the video game industry’s willingness to target cops, women, homosexuals, and other groups.” It’s hard to understand why Thompson feels his point has been proven, and other anti-violence creators are beginning to scratch their heads at his tactics and distance themselves from him too.