However, by sometime around week 3 in basic training you’re already shooting at human shaped targets on the gun ranges. Already getting used to the idea of firing a real weapon at a possibly human target, something no game can do because a virtual weapon will never get a person ready for firing a real one.

By Jack Thompson’s reasoning, I can become a modern day ninja freely running across water and running up walls while fighting heavily armed and armored cyborgs just by playing Ninja Gaiden (at least that one guy on the blimp). I can become perfectly comfortable as an assassin if a freak accident sends me back in time to the crusades since I’ve played through assassins creed. I should also be able to use virtually every weapon ever made and many that haven’t been made yet simply because they’ve been in a game I’ve played. Should I test to find out if I learned how to respawn from playing video games?

No. Because unlike Jack, I’m neither stupid nor insane and I know that there is no was a video game can prepare a body to do any of that. Nothing ticks me off like people who thrive on the suffering of others, and I feel there is little that better shows someone is really an inhuman monster than this preying that JT and his kind do.

Apologies to any who find the respawn statement offensive in light of recent events, it is not meant to offend, only illustrate how wrong JT is.

I am writting to address Mr.Tompson’s foul statements done for the world of games, gamers and developers of em.
First of all let me express my sencere condolences to the community of NIU, teachers and students alike, for the terrible tragedy that occured. The loss of a human life, irrelevant to its origins, is always something to sad about.
Diving into the subject, let me state the following about myself.
I am a 30 year old person from Greece. I teach western european martial arts to kids and grown men of all ages (and physique) and I play ALOT of video games. I think I do that since I was like… 14? Dunno… it was at that time that I played Leasure Suit Larry.
The games that I play vary from strategy, to MMOs by mostly, FPS.
You name it. I have played em all.
I find the recent TF2 quite to my liking. Kudos to Valve.
BUT!
*looks around*
Where is it? Oh where is that crazy mania that will envelope me and send me into a blind rage of killing anything that moves?
Oh where is the black rage that will send me forward to make widows out of women and make mothers cry for their babies?
Ye Gods!
Its nowhere!
Wait…
Maybe its not supposed to be there! Maybe because its not existant!

Lets get a little real Mr. Tompson. The letter of the *fake* Samuel L. Jackson might be abit slanderous for its part but it pretty much hits the nail.
Games dont kill people.
Guns dont kill people… but they sure do help! You cannot possibly expect people to fall for the dish you are serving. You accusations are so vague and ill based that it really strikes me as odd as to why would anyone would host your person on a TV show. Dont TV journalists do their job? Oh riiiiight.. dont let me get started on them.
Anyhow.
Mr. Tompson and so many other that want to blame everything on gamers:
1) Find something CREATIVE to do in your free time? Thanks!
2) Do your damn research before start pointing you fingers at anyone? Thanks again!
3) For the love of all that is holy, do NOT, repeat DO NOT pray on the sorrow of the people that have lost someone to cash in. That should be a crime, in my opinion.
4) Just for a change. Play a damn game yourself. And see if you want to start shooting people.
5) Look at the person that commits the crime FIRST and then look the gamer in him.

Kind Regards
-KA

Spring 08 is when they decide.(not soon enough apparently)

Unless he truly is stupid enough to try to kiss arse and threaten to sue at the same time.

http://gamepolitics.com/2008/02/18/jack-thompson-seeking-killers-video-game-history-threatens-niu-with-lawsuit/

he was prolly cal-o anyway and got rick rolledddddd 24/7 BRO

(k so i posted this before but it was in the wrong one my bad lol )

Greetings,

First of all let you assure you that you have my sincere condolences regarding recent events. I am sure that I need not go into detail aside to say that my heart goes out to you.

I have been informed by an online news site [1] that an attorney by the name of Jack Thompson has recently contacted you in the wake of the terrible tragedy that has befallen your University.

I apologise for having to do this, but I feel that it is for the best that I warn you of this attorney’s infamous demeanour when it comes to such horrible events.

I would urge you not to allow this lawyer to take any action on behalf of yourself, your university, or your staff. He has, on multiple previous occasions, used a number of sources of public uncertainty (such as rap music, or video games) in order to promote what can only be described as a “state of fear” among viewers of news sources. Rather than investigating any and all matters carefully, he instead uses such aspects of public entertainment as scapegoats in order to promote his own fame.

In addition to this, he has very often become extremely rude, bordering on excessively so, when communicating with members of the public who may question or criticise his methods, stating such things as:

“oh, go buy a suicide game and get real good at it, won’t you?” [2]

“Get a name and a life”
“HOnestly, are all of you gamers on drugs, or what?” [3]

There are more than the above, however they can be found online with very little effort. I would recommend that you simply Google, or Wikipedia, Jack Thompson, the attorney.

Finally, this man has also had disbarment proceedings recently filed against him by the Florida Bar Association on the grounds that “separate grievances filed by people claiming that Thompson made defamatory, false statements and attempted to humiliate, embarrass, harass or intimidate them”. [4]

I understand that any decision made will be up to you, however, I would ask that you also put out an official public statement regarding your confirmation or denial of whether or not you wish to work with this man, as he has made it quite clear, publicly, that he intends to work with you.

Thank you for your time. If your have further questions, I would be very willing to answer them.

Sincerely,
Ross Mills

[1] http://news.filefront.com/jack-thompsons-letter-to-niu-president/
[2] http://www.jackthompson.org/thompsons_emails/index.htm
[3] http://www.vgcats.com/
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorney)#The_Florida_Bar

This guy’s so full of it, I can’t believe it’s not leaking out of his ears.

“You should be ashamed of yourself. There are kids inside our school fearing for their lives right now, terrified that someone’s going to put a gun in their face and pull the trigger, and you want to know how I’m feeling?! Our pain is not a commodity for you, it’s not a newsbite to boost your ratings, because tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week when we go back to school, changed forever by a day that will never leave us, where are you going to be? At the next tragedy, thrusting your microphone in the face of the next fractured person, asking them how they feel? Lady, that is not journalism. You are not contributing anything to society. You’re buzzards circling the carnage, but you prey on the living. That is how I’m feeling, but something tells me that you’re not going to hear that.”

And Jack Thompson, you can go to hell. Grow up and get a life.

Problem isn’t videogames, it’s motives of a fraction of people play videogames,
Where there are corroborative facts, there’s often evidence of links, but not as a guarantee.

We need to start a global survey asking the hundreds of millions of game players, why they play games, then we as the gaming public, should point at which ones have been likely to go this course.

People can use counter-strike to know how to tactically slaughter people, or grand theft auto for some ingenuitive way to steal a real life cop car, or a flight simulator to hijack a plane and crash it into a building.

BUT… The real underlying problem isn’t a videogame.. it’s the preference of how the user uses it.. Be realistic, you don’t sue Colt for gang violence with .45 handguns, or Boeing for 9/11, games don’t deserve the fallout, problems set people off to the point of going crazy, games sometimes just give the wrong individual with the wrong mindset the wrong idea at the wrong time, a movie could have just as easily done it to the individual.