Video Games, And Where Jack Thompson Should Stick It...

Two SACs today - one in Psych (which to be honest I'm regretting doing. I thought there would be more breaking people's minds), the other in Media (yes, I'm aware it's considered a "bludge", that's why I'm studying it).

Anyway, today we were doing the second part of a media SAC on different communication theories...I won't bore you with the details but the case study which we had to explain was an article regarding the Virginia Tech shootings, with some comments from everybody's favorite Florida Attorney and self-proclaimed "scourge" of the Video Game Industry, Jack Thompson.

For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Thompson's work, I'll quote his wikipedia page:

More recently, Thompson has heavily criticized a number of video games and campaigned against their producers and distributors. His basic argument is that violent video games have repeatedly been used by teenagers as "murder simulators" to rehearse violent plans. He has pointed to alleged connections between such games and a number of school massacres. According to Thompson, "In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers." Also, he claims that scientific studies show teenagers process the game environment differently from adults, leading to increased violence and copycat behavior. According to Thompson, "If some wacked-out adult wants to spend his time playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one has to wonder why he doesn't get a life, but when it comes to kids, it has a demonstrable impact on their behavior and the development of the frontal lobes of their brain." Thompson has described the proliferation of games by Sony, a Japanese company, as "Pearl Harbor 2." According to Thompson, "Many parents think that stores won’t sell an M-rated game to someone under 17. We know that's not true, and, in fact, kids roughly 50 percent of that time, all the studies show, are able to walk into any store and get any game regardless of the rating, no questions asked."

Thompson has rejected arguments that such video games are protected by freedom of expression, saying, "Murder simulators are not constitutionally protected speech. They’re not even speech. They’re dangerous physical appliances that teach a kid how to kill efficiently and to love it," as well as simply calling video games "mental masturbation". In addition, he has attributed part of the impetus for violent games to the military, saying that it was looking "for a way to disconnect in the soldier's mind the physical act of pulling the trigger from the awful reality that a life may end." Thompson further claims that some of these games are based on military training and simulation technologies, such as those being developed at the Institute for Creative Technologies, which, he suggests, were created by the Department of Defense to help overcome soldiers' inhibition to kill. He also claims that the PlayStation 2's DualShock controller "gives you a pleasurable buzz back into your hands with each kill. This is operant conditioning, behavior modification right out of B. F. Skinner's laboratory."

The argument that Video Games, and the violence occasionally contained within, may cause extreme violence in some people is hardly a revolutionary, or, indeed a startling one. I mean, the same can be said of violent movies, or how listening to Marilyn Manson makes you a bad person (zing!). Some people are going to respond in this way to anything you throw at them, but for every lone nutter out there, there's at least a hundred guys and girls who frequently frag, slash and pwn noobs but wouldn't hurt a fly.

Sure, by all means restrict who can purchase violent games (oh wait, we already do that. It's called RATINGS, you may have heard of them when you were kicked out of the Cinema for trying to see naughty films), put warnings on labels (already doing it), maybe even put some kind of filter so it's not too violent. But please, don't blame the game because you're a psychopath.

On to the case at hand:
Mr. Thompson has taken it upon himself to lead a crusade against video games - wait, I'll say that again. Not a crusade against violence in games, but games themselves. Apparently anyone who has ever seen Terminator is eventually going to act it out starring themselves as Arnie and go on a killing rampage. With regard to the Virginia Tech shootings, apparently Counter Strike, amongst other games, "trained" the shooter to be a "virtual soldier", and that without video-games, none of this would have ever happened. The shootings certainly had nothing to do with his history of mental illness. Not at all.

Oh, it's also irrelevant that when the police raided his apartment there was no sign of any video games, consoles, or any other form of gaming gadgetry. Please don't try and claim he got violent ideas from playing Snake on his mobile, surely even you can see that's crazy.

I'm all for protesting vehemently for what you believe in, lord knows I've punched people in the face for suggesting that maybe Connex is doing an okay job, but please, Mr. Thompson, let's at least have a little method in our madness, okay? You've obviously conducted research into the matter, but can I raise a valid counter-point? I'm pretty sure Hitler never played GTA 4, and he did some pretty terrible things. I'm sorry to cheapen the debate by relating it to Hitler, but you're obviously not after intelligent debate, are you? You just want controversy, 'cause controversy makes you money.

Video games are a form of escapism, which, actually, is quite good for you. I mean, when else can I be a mischievous Mage who hurls flame-balls at people? Where else can I ride unicorns? Without doing drugs? 'Cause, you know, you haven't said anything bad about them and I'm sure they create even more problems than video games. You know. People killing each other over them. I'll be perfectly honest, if someone took my copy of Red Alert 2 I might...you know...ask if I could have it back. Damn, I guess I wouldn't respond violently. Sorry.

Maybe Tim Buckley got it right:




Au Revoir.