StopKill.Com - jack thompson's web site

[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Nothing in the world can top the complete stoooopidity that is.....

The Lion & Lamb Project

Now these bitches are seriously disturbed.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Lion and Lamb Project']
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Action figure:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Casey Jones, Playmates, Ages 4+
Video Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Konami, rated E for Everyone.

The toy: From the Casey Jones action figure box: "Judge, jury and enforcer! … Casey has a unique sense of what’s right or wrong and you better be on the side of right or he’ll slapshot you upside your head with his hockey stick. This hockey mask-wearing vigilante roams the streets of New York City serving up his brand of quick justice to punks and thugs."
The brand:The seeminglycute Ninja Turtles – being "relaunched" in 2003 -- actually behave according to a vigilante code, where they (and not law enforcement officials) are "judge, jury and enforcer!" The box illustration of another toy in this brand -- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Combat Lair (for six-year-olds, by Mega Bloks) – depicts a scene of gleeful mayhem as the ninjas fight "bad guys" with ninja chains, swords and overturned barrels. In addition to the TV program, this brand is marketed by three movies and a video game.[font=&quot]
[/font]http://www.konami.com


Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Action figure: Ninja Training Playset,
Ban Dai, ages 4+
Video Game: Power Rangers Ninja Storm , THQ Inc., rated E for Everyone

The toy: This year’s version of the ubiquitous Power Rangers also focuses on ninjas. The current villain is Lothor, who "kidnapped students at 19 ninja schools in an evil plan to take over the world. Now the battle is on!" A frightening story line for four-year-olds, who don’t fully understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Yet the "Training Playset" urges pre-schoolers to "start Ninja Storm training today!"

The brand:Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this is another television-generated brand with the message that the best way to solve problems is through violence. While the Power Rangers are portrayed as "good guys," they solve problems through fighting. For example, the Tsunami Cycle toy features the Red Ranger and "Missile Firing Action!"[font=&quot]
[/font]
http://www.bandai.com


Transformers
Action figure:
Transformers Universe Razorclaw,
Hasbro, Ages 5+
Video Game: Beast Wars Transformers, Hasbro Interactive, rated E for Everyone

The toy:This robot has "projectile-launching attack wings, firing battle quills" and "launching cannons." Since this is a toy for pre-schoolers, it has "missiles [that] fit in hands for hand-to-hand battle!" To introduce even younger children to this brand, Hasbro markets a Playskool version called Transformer Go-Bots targeting three-year-olds and their parents.

The brand: This is another toy/TV program with a totally inappropriate story line for preschoolers. From the Razorclaw toy box: "In the distant future, the evil Unicron wages a final war for ultimate control of the Universe … As the enemy sides clash in the biggest war the Universe has ever seen, their bodies emit a powerful radiation known as Energon. Little do they know that Unicron is secretly harvesting this mysterious force to increase his own strength!" A tot prequel for The Matrix?
http://www.hasbro.com[/QUOTE]
Last time I looked, these were toys that kids have played with for decades. What's next, get rid of the old DC Batman classics because Batman gets into fisticuffs with villains? There are better causes for these people to go after.

 
Well, if a parent chooses not to buy this stuff for their kids that's fine. If they try to convince others to do the same, that's great too. The point is certainly valid. It's only when they try to hurt others (say, by trying to take away my freedom to legally sell toys) that they go over the line.
 
The very first paragraph of Thomson's site reads as follows:

"This site's purpose is to give you the means to contact Miami attorney Jack Thompson if you know of someone harmed as a result of violent entertainment, including violent video games."

There appears to be no room for discussion; he's created causality (video games leads to violence) with no verifiable proof. As a lawyer, he doesn't need to, and all he really relies on is anecdotal evidence in the form of a client looking to sue on behalf of game consumers.

I wouldn't mind if he took up this cause after major research studies show that, for instance, heavy gamers are 50% more likely to react to stressful situations with violence. That would be a damning indictment of games, don't you think? The problem is that this kind of research simply does not exist.

I'd love to get my hands on some of the money from the CAMRA Act (google it, or check thomas.loc.gov) to do some research on games and children, and good thing the appropriations don't begin until 2006. Something like this could serve as a fantastic post-dissertation project. My first book, perhaps? I could write about games until the fuckin' cows come home.

In the meantime, there's not much to debate about Thomson. He believes he's right, and as a lawyer, he's free to make that claim and cash his lawyer checks. Most gamers believe that he's undoubtedly wrong, and that games don't have any negative effect on people whatsoever.

I happen to have the only opinion out there that borders on truth: we don't know shit. These studies haven't been done in depth, and even if we do, the demographics keep changing, circumstances keep changing, etc.; researchers need to get off their ass to do this kind of work.

For instance, at a conference in April, I saw a fucking tenured professor present "research'' on WoW. I say "research" because it is evident that he wasted his entire Winter break playing WoW instead of writing something substantive about the game. I came up severely disappointed in the presentation, but I jotted down about a dozen highly important topics that stem from the social world of MMORPGs: off the top o' my head, a few were:

1) Gender Roles: (56% of characters were female, and the professor claimed that 80% of players were male when I asked, and I personally believe it is higher than that)
2) Division of Labor: People who "specialize" in MMORPGs, such as Cantina Musicians in Star Wars Galaxies. It seems more like labor than a game, does that not?
3) Economics: Some people make a fuckton of real-life money selling virtual goods online
4) Racial Profiling: There are stereotypes that those people in #3 are all of some Asian ethnic group
5) Crime (My Favorite): It's somewhat common knowledge that a woman, upset that her boyfriend split up with her, deleted his MMORPG account for a game called Lineage. Now, she was later arrested for theft/destruction of property. Combined with #3, in the future people could be potentially charged with felonies for this kind of behavior.

There are other ideas in my "to do never" folder; however, I think that looking into the effects of games is excellent, and given its popularity, a necessity. However, the approach Jack Thomson takes is wrong and logically flawed; this does not mean, on the contrary, that a reactionary approach to Thomson's rhetoric (games don't effect people!) is any more correct.
 
The very first paragraph of Thomson's site reads as follows:

"This site's purpose is to give you the means to contact Miami attorney Jack Thompson if you know of someone harmed as a result of violent entertainment, including violent video games."

There appears to be no room for discussion; he's created causality (video games leads to violence) with no verifiable proof. As a lawyer, he doesn't need to, and all he really relies on is anecdotal evidence in the form of a client looking to sue on behalf of game consumers.

I wouldn't mind if he took up this cause after major research studies show that, for instance, heavy gamers are 50% more likely to react to stressful situations with violence. That would be a damning indictment of games, don't you think? The problem is that this kind of research simply does not exist.

I'd love to get my hands on some of the money from the CAMRA Act (google it, or check thomas.loc.gov) to do some research on games and children, and good thing the appropriations don't begin until 2006. Something like this could serve as a fantastic post-dissertation project. My first book, perhaps? I could write about games until the fuckin' cows come home.

In the meantime, there's not much to debate about Thomson. He believes he's right, and as a lawyer, he's free to make that claim and cash his lawyer checks. Most gamers believe that he's undoubtedly wrong, and that games don't have any negative effect on people whatsoever.

I happen to have the only opinion out there that borders on truth: we don't know shit. These studies haven't been done in depth, and even if we do, the demographics keep changing, circumstances keep changing, etc.; researchers need to get off their ass to do this kind of work.

For instance, at a conference in April, I saw a fucking tenured professor present "research'' on WoW. I say "research" because it is evident that he wasted his entire Winter break playing WoW instead of writing something substantive about the game. I came up severely disappointed in the presentation, but I jotted down about a dozen highly important topics that stem from the social world of MMORPGs: off the top o' my head, a few were:

1) Gender Roles: (56% of characters were female, and the professor claimed that 80% of players were male when I asked, and I personally believe it is higher than that)
2) Division of Labor: People who "specialize" in MMORPGs, such as Cantina Musicians in Star Wars Galaxies. It seems more like labor than a game, does that not?
3) Economics: Some people make a fuckton of real-life money selling virtual goods online
4) Racial Profiling: There are stereotypes that those people in #3 are all of some Asian ethnic group
5) Crime (My Favorite): It's somewhat common knowledge that a woman, upset that her boyfriend split up with her, deleted his MMORPG account for a game called Lineage. Now, she was later arrested for theft/destruction of property. Combined with #3, in the future people could be potentially charged with felonies for this kind of behavior.

There are other ideas in my "to do never" folder; however, I think that looking into the effects of games is excellent, and given its popularity, a necessity. However, the approach Jack Thomson takes is wrong and logically flawed; this does not mean, on the contrary, that a reactionary approach to Thomson's rhetoric (games don't effect people!) is any more correct.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']

For instance, at a conference in April, I saw a fucking tenured professor present "research'' on WoW. I say "research" because it is evident that he wasted his entire Winter break playing WoW instead of writing something substantive about the game. I came up severely disappointed in the presentation, but I jotted down about a dozen highly important topics that stem from the social world of MMORPGs: off the top o' my head, a few were:

1) Gender Roles: (56% of characters were female, and the professor claimed that 80% of players were male when I asked, and I personally believe it is higher than that)
2) Division of Labor: People who "specialize" in MMORPGs, such as Cantina Musicians in Star Wars Galaxies. It seems more like labor than a game, does that not?
3) Economics: Some people make a fuckton of real-life money selling virtual goods online
4) Racial Profiling: There are stereotypes that those people in #3 are all of some Asian ethnic group
5) Crime (My Favorite): It's somewhat common knowledge that a woman, upset that her boyfriend split up with her, deleted his MMORPG account for a game called Lineage. Now, she was later arrested for theft/destruction of property. Combined with #3, in the future people could be potentially charged with felonies for this kind of behavior.
[/QUOTE]

I basically ignored the rest of your post (sorry...). But I'm curious what university he taught at? If it's the one I'm thinking of I may have had his class.
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']I basically ignored the rest of your post (sorry...). But I'm curious what university he taught at? If it's the one I'm thinking of I may have had his class.[/QUOTE]

PM me with your university and your professor's name; I'll see if I can't find the program to identify his name. I'd rather not mention his name here.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Nothing in the world can top the complete stoooopidity that is.....

The Lion & Lamb Project

Now these bitches are seriously disturbed.[/QUOTE]

From their "Dirty Dozen" Violent Toys list regarding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
The brand: The seemingly cute Ninja Turtles – being "relaunched" in 2003 -- actually behave according to a vigilante code, where they (and not law enforcement officials) are "judge, jury and enforcer!" The box illustration of another toy in this brand -- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Combat Lair (for six-year-olds, by Mega Bloks) – depicts a scene of gleeful mayhem as the ninjas fight "bad guys" with ninja chains, swords and overturned barrels. In addition to the TV program, this brand is marketed by three movies and a video game.

Oh shit! Not overturned barrels!!
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Having checked the program, the professor is from Tennessee Tech University. Could it be the same person?[/QUOTE]

Sorry I forgot to PM you...

But no I doubt that's him, unless he taught at two separate schools in the same year. I had a profeesor for a "history of video games and interactive media" class last year that was always going to conferences and doing lots of research on MMORPGs. And for the last month of the semester (which is when we got into the MMORPG section) he would talk about WoW at least a couple times each class.

Thought it may have been him, but now that I think a little more about it he was only at IU for a year or two prior to this IIRC, so I doubt he had tenure.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Indiana or Illinois? What was his name?[/QUOTE]

Indiana, I think it was Castrosova (or something like that). He actually has a book coming out later this year called Synthetic Worlds (which is another word for MMOG I guess) or so I'm told.... talked about the economics and public policy of the games alot.
 
"In this game you have sex with a prostitute and then kill her grotesquely to get your money back and win the game faster. "

Classic.
 
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