JT also wanted the attention good or bad

souljacker86

They're absolutely right. While it's all very well to say "pretend he's not there", and "don't give him any attention", there's more than enough sympathetic press out there willing to give him all the attention he craves. It really is the duty of gaming press to point out when Thompson was talking rot just to present a counter point for all the morons nodding and agreeing with his rants.

Of course, like GP says, it would have been nice if the ESA did their part but as Doug Lowenstein's comments have shown, they were being led by a fool at the time.

Mire

@Gouki4u: Yeah. Kotaku is totally what kept the mainstream media from latching onto Jack.
Absolutely...
And that tin foil hat will protect you against the martians.
We didn't do shit. Kotaku didn't do shit. Gamepolitics didn't do shit.
They reported to the gamers-who already knew that Thompson was an idiot.
The mainstream media would have ignored or followed Thompson, regardless of what the gaming press did.
What you're saying is a joke.

Ad-hominem

@TheBassKicks:

*A considerate amount of the profit was made because of the gaming industry.

TheBassKicks

Calling Thompson is a bully is really the wrong comparison.

He didn't actually care if video games were clamped down on or not. In fact, he was probably actually pro-violence in video games as it gave him an excuse to go on television as a "media expert." He was purely in the game for profit, and a considerable amount of the profit he made

There are dozens of authors who have and are writing books that are much more nonsensical then the shit Thompson says hoping that the gaming media will make them into a celebrity too.

He's not a bully, he's a troll for profit.

Remember, before Jack Thompson had a problem with video games, his issue was with rap music and before that with films. He's simply going where the money is.

TheBassKicks

@Ad-hominem:
When you say good points...

nickymouse

Maybe the gaming press gave him too much attention, and it probably encouraged JT, but it also undermined his credibility. The only news agency I recall acting like JT wasn't a raving lunatic was Fox News, and you can hardly call them the gaming press. Even if the gaming press had ignored him JT would have still gotten the attention of the mainstream media, and his influence there would have been more damaging if places like Kotaku weren't calling him out on his bullshit.

Gouki4u

OK...as interesting as the story is....I wanna see the iceberg he sent you guys.

Was it perhaps the tip of the iceberg?

Tom Clancy's Samuraidino

Aren't you supposed to ignore bullies?

psychobaka

I like how old JT is still causing drama even after being disbarred.

Mister Adequate

@TwilightKing: I tend to break their limbs, but I've been told I'm an odd one.

ggodo

Here, here!
This is my position succinctly outlined in a manner beyond my own ability.

ggodo

And that's why Kotaku is called the 'Gamer's Guide.' Thank you for existing.

Saigin

Ha. I disagree with Gamepolitics.

Thompson wasn't a bully. You know what Jack is- he's that guy out on the street corner yelling at people.
Sure, he might have a few good points, and even might otherwise be a rational man, and he'll even get a few other crazies to be his followers.
But, he's still just a guy standing on a street corner. He never got anything accomplished, and the best way to deal with him, and all people of those types- Ignore them.

Ad-hominem

GP once again demonstrates why I love them so: impartial when reporting the facts,but not afraid to say what needsto be said.

Kudos, boys, kudos.

Dejanus

That's what I always do when a bully comes by. I stick my head in the sand and tell him "I'm not here."

TwilightKing

I don't think the game media ever really embraced Thomspon (though I do recall EGM doing an open-minded feature on him years ago -- and why not, it takes time to figure out he's a loon), rather, I think the real blame is mainstream media. Fox, CNN, 60 minutes, whatever, they all took him on as an "expert". Now that he's disbarred, though, hopefully they will no longer consider him credible.

OmegaVader

JT is a man who id he did NOT get the attention he did, he could be VERY destructive to gaming and other forms of media if successful.

He needed the expose of attention to reveal his true extremist intentions. And how over the top and not sane that he was.

If he did NOT get attention, he would have silently worked with law makers, and other sheepish politicians to get laws passed right under our noses. Like many laws that get passed everyday [under our noses] that get no coverage, so they can slip through. No matter how asinine they may be.

So it was a good thing, the loon cracked.

EnigmaNemesis

It seems like Lowenstein was under the impression that giving JT press time somehow encouraged him. Perhaps it did. But if you look at what his reactions have been to people who fought back, you realize that he reveals himself all the more to be the lunatic he really is. An example:

[www.gamesindustry.biz]

gojirah

@Ad-hominem: Yeah I agree with you here. Usually when I read a Thompson article on Kotaku I would just ignore it because I was tired of hearing about him. I think you're description of the situation is pretty accurate.

Refused

@Ad-hominem: I disagree and think GP is right on the money. Thompson would have gone to the lawmakers with or without media coverage. One would hope the laws would have still been thrown out, but there would certainly have been a lot less scrutiny on his actions. A dangerous course of action in my view.

It is the small but vocal minorities who tend to get changes pushed through the system. With a license to practice law, a case history to back him up and an agenda he had far more mainstream credibility than any guy shouting on a street corner.

MattB

@TwilightKing: Lol just dont try that in jail

kamfair55

Isn't the fact that this jackass was getting so much press from the start the reason why he kept getting more and more aggressive. Sure I guess exposing him as a fraud is great, but it's a fraud that the press (if not created) helped by feeding him the attention he wanted.

realjas

@EnigmaNemesis: The late George Carlin once said...

"It's the quiet ones you gotta watch. Every time I see a television news story about a mass murderer, the guy's neighbor always says, 'Well, he was very quiet.' And someone I'm with says, 'It's the quiet ones you gotta watch.' ... Suppose you're in a bar, and one guy is sitting over on the side, reading a book, not bothering anybody. And another guy is standing up at the front, bangin' a machete on the bar, screaming, 'I'm gonna kill the next motherfucker who pisses me off!' Who you gonna watch?"

Jack Thompson is the loud guy with the machete. The Florida Bar Association just took away his machete.

Eltigro

@Dragonzigg: So many typos...

Dragonzigg

Kudos to GamePolitics for calling the Lowenstein out on this one. i agree that sometimes Thompson's goal was to get the press to react to him, but better then industry stand up and fight its corner than role over and let him attack it.

Dragonzigg

if Game Media was the only place Jack Thompson was active, then yes, i would blame places like kotaku.

but the fact is, he was taking people to court, he was showing up on television in discussions..

he was very much out in the world, causing harm with his bizarre lies.

bizarre lies that DEMANDED a gaming media call him out... a group of journalists that understood that what was coming out of his mouth was utter bullshit.

...and because kotaku exists... because gaming websites exist, we can ALL be proud to see him lose his license for his foolishness.

joeloliol

@MattB: If he didn't have media coverage he would have moved on to something that did give him coverage. His family wasn't killed by some deranged gamer, he's not Batman. He was just trying to pay the bills or impose his views on others and was using the gaming industry toward that means. Do you think we're the first ones Thompson has played this game with? It's just what he does. He's been at it since the 80s with radio.

He was good fun though since he got nothing accomplished but me thinks game journalists might want to slow down on the circle jerk in reference to Lowenstsin. The man (Thompson) was bat shit crazy and should have been ignored. But he was a good story and media will be media.

AndroidKing

Honestly without all the Gamer "Pundits" and column writers I would have had no idea who Jack was, unless they needed some loud mouth jackass on Fox news to blame games for something. I am sure the line to fill that job is long any way, so I do think there is merit to the idea of you guys sensationalizing this moron. He sent you emails and you all did what he wanted you to do which was to either post it or spread it amongst the gamers.

ichibanjohnjon

@Ad-hominem: You're wrong. You should really familiarize yourself with the history of Jackhole. He's been a bully for a looong time.

Just check out the documentation on his disbarment proceedings. It's incredible what this "man" does. He's a textbook case for a bully.

Pixelantes Anonymous

I'm still of the persuasion that JT was the largest farce in history: an agent hired by Rockstar or what-have-you in an effort to get more publicity out of there games. Also, we never landed on the moon.

[ZTF]

@joeloliol: He wasn't disbarred because Kotaku showed he was lying on fox news.

Essentially, according to Kotaku, the court ruled that Thompson "made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order...communicated the subject of representation directly with clients of opposing counsel...engaged in prohibited ex parte communications...publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes and press releases to the affected individuals...targeted an individual who was not involved with (Thompson) in any way, merely due to 'the position (the individual) holds in state and national politics'...falsely, recklessly and publicly accused a judge of being amenable to the 'fixing' of cases," and so on.

He was disbarred cause he was an asshat who didn't know when to stop poking the bear and that bear was not the gaming industry. The game industry is the weird kid that no body cares about and everyone picks on or Boo Boo if you really want it to be a bear.

AndroidKing

Dear Mr. Lowenstein,

Unlike you, we're not paid to defend an industry that we love. You clearly have not done your job to stem the tide of negative press about the video game industry. So guess what? We'll do it for you.

No. There's no need to thank us. We'll continue doing so to play our favorite games. You can keep your job of keeping your head in your ass, because we know you need to pay your mortgage.

Sincerely,

Your friendly neighborhood gaming pundit

animeman59

Doesn't Gamepolitics and the ESA have some strange battle going on over some bullshit? Of course GP is going to disagree with what the ESA says if they already have some kind of feud going down.

DaveKap

I think Doug Lowenstein chose the right decision and the most mature decision.

The decision to ignore a fool makes you untouchable, professional and shows you to be the better person,

when you give them the time of day to draw you into their conflict you become the fool.

Ravel

@AndroidKing: Thompson does seem to have always reveled in the publicity. No disagreement from me there. I don't believe he'd move on so quickly and without getting into a few scuffles first though. It's not his way. If it wasn't the gaming press reporting on him it would have been someone else. Most likely the mainstream press.

It's a fair call you make regarding the media as a whole, and I think Dennis at GP does verge off into "making the news" at times rather than simply "reporting it". That said I don't feel this provides any credence to the position of the Lowenstein-run ESA.

MattB

@Ad-hominem: I would say otherwise. You may be able to ignore him, but the fact is that the politicians and such who listen to him when he tries to author bills regarding the sale of games don't know what kind of antics he's up to. Sites like GP are a good way of chronicling all of that. Eventually someone will do some research on the guy before wasting taxpayer dollars and realize he's not worth it.

LoopyChew

And Game Politics is a website that has a disbarment timeline... [www.gamepolitics.com]

Gloating much?

Games Politics is one of the most biased and most inaccurate games journalist websites online.

They never bother to research the stories they post, never follow up with the people involved in the stories, simply cut and paste and then shove their little opinion at the end.

FunkyJ

Jack Thompson is so disbarred even Pheonix Wright has no objections.

...

Yeah, i missed the other thread.

Phantasos

Sorry, but Lowenstein is right.

1Up, Joystiq, Kotaku and Gamepolitics are *all* guilty of hyping up Thompson stories for extra traffic.

Fact.

GrandfatherParadox

It's six of one, half a doxen of the other. Responding to Thompson just gives him coverage, not responding gives him validation.

EmeraldDragon

@Ad-hominem: That's true. Does anyone really think Fox News cares or even knows about Kotaku or Gamepolitics or any of the other sites? No. They don't read the gaming press, and even if they did, they'd believe the exact opposite, nutbag JT or no. If you told them there IS a gaming press, they'd just laugh at you the way we all laugh at JT.

Evil Tortie's Mom

JT is a troll and the only way to get rid of a troll is to ignore it. Does anyone really think anything we do here affects his ability to get attention from MSM?

Mr. Fluffykins

@FunkyJ: Jack Thompson, is that you? You must have alot of time now that you're disbarred.

Ashkihyena

To everyone who says ignoring a bully is the best way to get rid of them, wrong, and I applaud GamePolitics for saying this.

Of course though, I'm pretty sure I agree with them on Thompson's getting disbarred not shutting him up.

Ashkihyena

@AndroidKing: Basically, he was disbarred for pissing off judges.

They didn't care about his stance on games -- hell, a lot of them probably agree -- but when he turned against his own kind, he had to go.

Evil Tortie's Mom

Depends on the bullying activity. If it's only words, than ignoring said bully works, because you're denying them an enjoyable reaction. But if the bullying consists of actions that have consequences beyond your own reaction, then you must respond. For example, said bully steals your lunch money forcibly. Ignoring that is just making yourself a victim. If the bully simply mocks you, ignoring it is valid, because you determine whether you choose to be offended or not.

AllegraStreit

@TwilightKing: Yeah that always happens to me when I'm bullying, the victim just ignores me. It's really annoying, I still kick his ass but still it's annoying.

Spiderbait

@AndroidKing:

i didn't mean that the judges disbarred him because of kotaku.

i mean that we would be totally ignorant of this development; being able to celebrate that GUY who said stupid shit about games on tv, being disbarred.

we wouldn't know about it if it weren't for the game-website coverage.

don't expect the tv channel who used him as an expert to start announcing it.

joeloliol

I have to say, I gave up on GamePolitics ever since it became associated with the ECA. That was the moment McCauley became an impartial player and began going after the general industry more and more. The industry is not exempt from criticism - it does more than enough foolish things - but GP began to nag on every little thing as if the industry could do nothing right while at the same time espousing the charitable gamer-centric tendencies of the ECA. Today, I believe it's merely shilling for the ECA and a hollow shell of its former legitimate self.

Plus, anyone unfamiliar with GamePolitics would probably go there now and wonder what kind of relationship was going on between McCauley and Thompson. We know Thompson is a nut, but McCauley comes off as a sane person being downright obsessive about this particular subject. It's like watching the rivalry between Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly.

Kyouryuu

@psychobaka: No, you are supposed to pummel them until they realize the error of their ways...and then, while they contemplate on their mistakes, you crack them over the head with a frozen rod of Iron Justice.

General-Parabola

im glad someone came out and disagreed with the ESA. i too disagree with them, i think giving him press is what helped lead to his disbarment. and 1up.com's 1up show did a good interview with Hal Halpin about this, which you can watch here, [gamevideos.1up.com] .

BankyEdwards015