Be afraid...be very afraid.

Does the name "John Bruce (Jack) Thompson" ring a bell to any of you gamers out there?

Take this as a cautionary warning...Jack Thompson is out to ruin games for all of us.

For those of you unfamiliar with this man, Jack Thompson is an American activist who sets out against video games which contain content of sex or violence.

He refers to games such as Grand Theft Auto as "murder simulators" and that they train killers, using the first person view point within shooting games as evidence. Jack Thompson has even gone as far as holding creators of the video games responsible for shootings, such as the Columbine High School Massacre. This may seem ludicrous to some readers out there but he was one of the first people to use "the game made me do it" defense. Don't be alarmed gamers. He was unsuccessful in convincing any judges in court. In fact, he was disbarred from the courts altogether in 2008.

But (unfortunetly, it must be noted), he does bring up an interesting point. Jack Thompson attempted to change "Grand Theft Auto III: San Andreas" from a "mature" rating into an "adults only" rating. He challenged the rating system and how one makes a judgement on whether someone is "mature" enough to handle the content of the game and has the ability to process it or not. It is a heated and current topic of debate about the censorship of games...but what makes Jack Thompson's case study so interesting/hilarious is the extreme stance he takes against the games. He suggests that people absorb the information and skills of a killer whilst playing the game, and then enter the world as "murder simulators" - licensed and ready to kill. What is also interesting is that so many other people out there seem to have the same viewpoint and this allows a platform for Jack Thompson on channels such as MSNBC to speak his mind.

Jack Thompson employs scare mongering for society members who are not familiar with the gaming world. Within moments of the Virginia Tech shootings, Fox allowed him airtime to comment on the shooter himself, saying; "He (Cho) might have killed somebody but he wouldn't have killed 32 if he hadn't rehearsed it and trained himself like a warrior on virtual reality. It can't be done. It just doesn't happen." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/were-video-games-blame-massacre/.
He claims that there is a direct link between video game players and killers. If this is true, then wouldn't everyone be a murder simulator? Please forgive the generalisation, but I feel is is worthy to note; what 23 year old male hasn't played one of these games at least once?

All I can conclude is that it is a very complicated discourse with absolutely no easy answer. However, it is clear to me that it is not as black and white as Jack Thompson makes it out to be.

Here is a parody I found on youtube on Jack Thompson. Enjoy.

If you would like to read more about Jack Thompson - here is a website dedicated to his work. 

http://www.jackthompson.org/about_thompson/index.htm