[General Discussion] My father goes to town on Jack Thompson

I'm probably the only gamer on earth who stands in Jack's corner. He may take it a little too far in calling violent videogames murder simulations, however he has a good cause which I support. The only reason why gamers dislike Thompson so much is because it's our toes being stepped on. I don't see anyone complaining about the tactics other groups use such as MADD or Pro-Life. That twat acted very unprofessionally aswell. I mean was he actually attempting to make a point when talked about his own two sons.

Seriously though, acting like that does nothing to help developers or gamers. Thompson is raising a serious issue and the only way gamers have responded so far is by lashing out in hatred instead of sensibly and maturely.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think we're trying to over simplify biology and the psychology of young children. If were so easy for a parent to shape their infants to become a golden child then it stands for reason it must also be easy for different forms of media to also take affect. Be it positively or negatively. Unfortunately in the case of probably most North American families, it's not easy for a parent to keep a leash up their child's ass 'round the clock.

In my case when I was younger my mother dreaded me going to the local arcade because she was convinced arcardes were nothing more than havens for youth criminals and that I would become corrupted. Of course this did not prevent me from going to the arcade every saturday afternoon with a mate. Now, had I ended up in trouble with the justice system, what you want to say is that it was my parents' fault for not doing their job.

This is what makes the bad parenting angle a weak defense for the gaming industry. This is not an answer to the problem but a simple way of side stepping the issue and shifting blame. When incidents such as the Columbine shooting occur the immediate reaction from the public is to understand why it happened and what's the cause of it so it can be prevented. Videogames are targetted because they are mostly still viewed as childish activity. I mean if it's teenagers who are taking firearms to school and teenagers playing violent videogames... Well...

Surely most users on these forums aren't old enough to forget that most teens are rather rebellious and don't exactly follow rules. Especially rules their parents impose. I think the cause of today's teen violence is a little more complicated than parents not doing their job.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by PattyNBK

Jack Thompson is a total douchebag! As I usually do, I point to Japan. They have far more stuff in video games than we do (both with violence and sexuality), and yet they aren't any worse off than we are when it comes to real-life violence. Heck, if anything, they're doing better than we are!

Plain and simple, good parenting can prevent most of the problems. The real reason behind violence with kids is a lack of good parenting, not violence in video games. There just isn't any proof supporting the theory that video game violence causes real-life violence. None.

This viewpoint is flawed because it doesn't explain why there are some instances of families with two or more children where only one of the children grow up to be aggresive or violent whereas the remaining children all grow up to be "normal".

As for your comment about Japan, that's well known to be a matter of culture. North America uses retribution as punishment where Japan uses shaming. And believe you me, little boys and girls do not want to piss off poppa bear.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.