The Master Control Program? That'd actually be quite cool. Where's me lightcycle?

Guys, I think I know what happened.

The MCP kidnapped him.

@ Brokenscope

I don't know what that has to do with anything here. The issue is that Jack Thompson is "HELPING" a family to find their lost relative who is a gamer. That doesn't sound right somehow and I think that he is up to no good here.

Wow...AMAZING!

He's not just a Lawyer! But a JUDGE in the making AND A P.I!

Before you know it he'll be an astronaught in space! :D

I can smell hypocrisy....not to bring up bad memories but remember how he has no remorse for that gamer who committed suicude?

What in gods name is going to make Jack Thompson truely care about finding their Gamer Child.

This is just shit waiting to hit the fan....no...a blender with no top on.

I know he's going to some how turn this all into some anti-game thing.

[...] A 20 year old player of an undisclosed MMO, Jacob Prybl, disappeared about a week ago. According to the news report on KARE-11 the 20 year old lived with his parents and never missed a dinner home with Mom and Dad, who are now worried sick about their son. His parents attribute his new found social life caused by playing an MMO as the reason for their child’s disappearance. [...]

Every Nations metaphorical road to hell is paved with good intentions, lined with bodies, and littered with the rights of the people.

Rember the Nazis thoguth they were doing what was right too,and thats what we must never forget about that, is he as bad as them? Proboly not, but still what he represents is, and more so the fact of his religious zelotry, and his intolerence, anyone ese rember the pair of gamers that wanted to send him flowers to prove were all not that bad, what did he do he retured them with many nasty remarks

Of course, JT isnt a Neo Nazi, though people in the past have claimed he is as racist as one from his past comments on the Japanese here.

Anyway, JT doesnt have any love for the gamer world, because of all the backlash on him (and his own immature responses brought it on). But it is no where near as close as that to a neo nazi. If the games you favor are sports games, Pokemon, and whatever else qualifies as non "harmful" by his criteria, he could care a less. He is not an anti gamer, nor does he actually belive games in GENERAL harm people. Anti-gamers are people who believe ALL video games are harmful and tend to generalize a lot more about people who play games (all male kids who lack literacy skills or something).

@ Arion

I didn't mean to call him a Neo Nazi directly. It was an analogy and I think his hatred for gamers is the same as a Neo Nazi's hatred for Jews. I didn't mean that he is a Neo Nazi.

@ Kincyr

Even though I meant it as an analogy, you're absolutely right.

Daniel,

I couldn't have said that better myself. Just like Hitler was trying to censor Judaism, Thompson is trying to censor gaming. Interestingly enough, they both claimed to do it in the name of God.

They're asking Jack Thompson to help them find their son? That's ridiculous. He is going to use this as an excuse to attack video games some more. How does playing a game have anything to do with going missing? These anit-game activists get weirder everyday. They're starting to get weirder than Cheech and Chong only they're not acting they're actually that retarded. What the hell is going on here? He couldn't care less about helping to find a missing gamer. I bet as far as he's concerned, the world is a better place without him. Asking Jack Thompson to rescue a gamer is like asking a neo nazi to rescue a Jew.

@ grls-r-gamers-2

JT was more than apothetic about the gamer's death, he was actually GLOATING about it. He wrote a lengthy letter to the gamer's friends about how he died because he didn't "embrace Christ" and shit. He also made sure to go on a tirade about gaming being "mastabutory behavior".

If memory serves, I think that might have been one of the final straws that led to JTs ban from GP...

WTF does JT have anything to do with a legal (assuming he's not under any sort of guardianship) adult who really likes to hang out in Ogrimmar (this has got to be WoW related). What could Jack possibly do about this one?

Ugh, thanks KARE11 for your worthless news. This is as awful as the morning clip they ran about dead puppies which ruined my morning commute.

So, they want to sue someone for $$ before bothering to use proper channels to find their kid? Am I missing something here?

Also, the guy is 20- legally an adult (probably a huge dork if his parents still rule him). I don't see how anti-game legislation would help here either.

Good Egbert recap, Verbinator.

There is ALWAYS more to these cases than first meets the eye. The young man's game obsession is one flashing red light. I'm sure there were others, noticed or not.

@AbsumZer0

I choose to give the parents the benefit of the doubt, until they sue. They might be just grasping at straws, because the police really can't help with a 20 year old - he's an adult.

@Jabr

We can hope for the best case scenario. I'd say the Burning Crusade scenario is very plausible, I know several people taking off work this week.

Or the bestest case - he met a girl. Go lil buddy!

Normally suicides have certain patterns, notes, phone calls, etc. This doesn't seem to fit that bill, from the little info we have.

But really, it's just as likely he got mugged and they haven't found the body. Pure speculation.

All we can say, FOR SURE, is that Jack Thompson will be of NO assistance in finding the young man. All he will do is muddy the waters with anti-game rhetoric, and file the lawsuit IF the worst happens. Look, I'm not discounting the fact that this guy MIGHT have been a game-addict, and this MIGHT have led to this disappearance. But seriously, Thompson only serves to narrow the 'case' into what he knows.

I really hope this family hires a professional PI, preferably ex law enforcement, with good reputation. If they are truly worried.

Really though, he's 20. I dissappeared in New York for a week with a girlfriend once. Didn't call home once. Wasn't quite 21 and went to bars! *gasp* I acted like a 20 year old! I hope this is true for Jacob . . .

Just when you think you've head everything from this guy...
I think we'll need to wait and hear what Jack has to say about this to see what's going on here. I can't really imagine how he's going to help, why do you need a lawyer to find some kid? Is Jack responsible for the whole MMO connection here? Jack claims to be an expert on "the effexcts violent games have on young children", so did he just throw "MMO addiction" in there as well? His position seems to be "games are bad, look at me!" Jack seems to be the only one benefiting from this whole thing.

An all new show on the USA today network. Senseless anti-video game Lawyer Jack Thompson turned PI is off to investigate the disapperance of 20 year old gamer. How he solves the case is a complete mystery. Watch Jack Thompson be Jack Thompson PI after Monk and Psych on Friday night. "Kuckleheads"


As 4 the Dallas Egbert thing I know Tom hanks started in a movie about it. I think it was Mazes and monsters.

As for him getting up and just leaving well I have done that many times. I get annoyed at my family and just leave. Hell I disappeard for months. For all we know this may not having anything to do with games as at all. All we know he is gamer with overprotective parents. We dont know if games played a factor for his disappearence. Its just believed to be one of da reasons.

@MaskedPixelante

I wouldnt believe that he spent 2k $ on the mmo alone, I spend a lot on my visa and my parents think its all related to mmo ( which only 20$ of it a month is ). And by them going to JT for help makes me firmly believe they have no clue what their son is spending the money on.

I really hope he met a girl or is spending over a week at someones place laning.

Either way JT was the worst move by far! wish the kid the best.

Not to get off the subject, but let's not jump to conclusions about what game it is he's been playing. We don't know if it was WoW (although it's highly likely given its popularity). For all we know, he might have been playing EQ2, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Anarchy Online, Guild Wars, Star Wars Galaxies or any number of other MMO's. Who says it has to be WoW, really?

The Burning Crusade theory might make sense if it came out last week, but he's been gone for a week already and it only just came out today (I'm personally planning to get it myself as soon as I get off work...provided there are any copies left!)

I'm with you guys, though. I'm hoping for the best and that what really happened is he left to meet a girl and they're screwing like rabbits now. Boy, wouldn't that make JT look ridiculous!

I see... well, if he's paying 2000 bucks to play an MMO, it's probably NOT World of Warcraft, unless he's buying gold. He could be playing Second Life, though that is really less of an MMO, more of a virtual chat client. We can rule out Guild Wars, since it's a free MMO, and we could probably rule out other free MMOs. Sorry, I was just trying to figure out what he was playing.

First, in seriousness: I hope his family finds him. And I hope they find him safe and sound. Do not let the following lend itself to bias against this former and more important statement.

Second, to mock: Anyone else feel a Fox after-school cartoon/live action show coming based on the crazy antics of Jack Thompson, lawyer by day/PI by night, as he tracks video game criminals by digitizing himself and his friends, the Latchkey Kids?

Later, the family said they'd be hiring David Duke to help with their MLK themed party and Bill Clinton would be chaperoning a chubby intern friend of thiers.

Uhh.. I dont know why it spaced the first sentence out like that but... ok.

Yeah, there's a bright idea. Go to the person who thinks it's far worse to play a violent video game than to be mentally, verbally, physically, and almost sexually abused by one's own parent (see the Cody Posey case).
Or the person who disrepects those who've committed suicide, just to push a personal agenda. Or who uses the tragedies of families and communitties just to push an agenda.

How hard is he actually helping to find out the truth? Not very.

The story showed images of online video games. But no where did ANYONE specifically state WHAT online game he played, what his ID might be, or even SUGGEST that anyone in the online community, who most likely knew him, contact them or the authorities with any information. After all, if he played any particular game for any time, he'd most likely be a part of a group or multiple groups. Even the news story admitted he TALKED to others online. Playing that much time, he must have opened himself up to.

So what would you do do if you were the person the parents came to?

Go on TV and verbally abuse the entire community, including those who may actually have an idea of what he was thinking before he left?

Or would you:
(1) Without being publically insulting and malicious, legally file to obtain cell phone records (did anyone catch the bit about that in the interview) and online game records necessary to find out who he had contact with, etc etc (both cell phone companies and online companies protect identity information to keep casual investigations by unknown people from obtaining private information, so just file for the info).
(2) Go to online communities where he may have been, begging for information from people who had contact with him. You want to find him? Beg if you have to. What's more important? Finding the guy or your pride?
(3) Go on TV, tell what you can about him and beg for people to contact you also.
(4) Anything else you can to find your son, whether he is safe and sound or otherwise.

Which action do you think will get you closer to finding him?

nightwng2000
NW2K Software

This is rather eerie. It reminds me of an old D&D controversy that happened a long time back. Take a read on "The Egbert Incident":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_tunnel_incident

"Find out what his name was online. Find out who he talked to. Ask some of the people in the game if they know anything. Clearly these are the people he talked to."
@squigs

That's the line of thinking a detective would have. Jack would never turn to a game for help, even if it was for someone else's sake. He puts his crusade before the well-being of his 'explotations of the week.'
He's taking this poor family for a ride, using their grief to promote himself. He's a very sick man.

For everyone posting "he's an adult, what's the big deal", think on this. If you were living in a shared house and one of your housemates went missing for a week with no contact, what would you think? How would you feel if it was your brother or sister?

Not having a car doesn't mean he can't drive. It could mean he's spent all his money on computer stuff or in-game upgrades and his parents aren't hard-assed enough to make him catch the bus. ("But Mom, I'll miss my class!")

As regards checking out his recent websites, etc, it sounds as though his parents may not know how to go about that.

I don't want to make an unfair assumption about these people, but there is another possibility that nobody has mentioned yet.

It's always possible that they approached JT [i]because[/i] he is a lawyer... there are people out there that would care more about suing and getting the money from Blizzard than actually finding the kid. Again, I don't want to assume that these people are like that but it would explain hiring a lawyer instead of a P.I.

In a less conspiracy-ish tone, many people who become game addicts do so to escape from a life that they don't like into a world that accepts them. It is possible that this kid found something in WoW that he wanted to be a part of, like a cult, or eloped with some Tauren chick. These are not the fault of Blizzard so a lawyer would have no case. Or maybe he found something non-WoW related and these parents are chasing a red herring.

Or maybe, just maybe, Blizzard kidnapped him and is now subjecting him to stress tests of "World of Warcraft II: Mo' Loot, Mo' Problems"

No matter what the case is, I would think that even JT knows there is no case here.

Wonderful.

In any case, I don’t see what Thompson could do that the police couldn’t.

The words "fail utterly" come to mind.

[...] A couple of days ago, GamePolitics.com wrote about a family that has hired Jack Thompson, the gaming world’s favorite “attorney”, after their son disappeared. The reason for hiring Jack? He played a lot of games online, including WoW and Lineage. It is always sad when young people disappear, and I feel with the family, but was that really the rational choice? Jack Thompson has his own agenda, and I doubt that he is actually in it to help anyone but himself. But then, all was explained when GamePolitics, together with SOE, managed to track the boy down. And oh, we are all panting and sycophantic. Just so you know. [...]

Wait wait wait, so now Jack thinks he's Phoenix Wright or something? What is this world coming to?

Does anyone have a link to this press release?

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? If a gamer you knew from the internet disappeared for a week, you'd probably ask some of the other people in your group if they had seen him. Has he logged on lately? Anyone in his guild seen him? Anyone got any emails? That sort of thing.

Now, what if none of his online group were known to the parents? What if they don't know the name of his guild? What if they don't know how to find his character name(s) on his computer?

Assuming he's the reclusive type, the interesting point here is that there are two groups of people involved. One is the people he sees on a day to day basis but probably doesn't talk to much. They don't know what's going on with him and want to know where he is. The second is his online friends, who he talks to for hours a day and would know (in some detail at least) of any plans he had, what was going through his mind recently, and ultimately might know where he is. But the first group know his real name and real picture, while the second group know his online nicks and avatars. Neither has a very good way of getting in touch with the other.

You've seen his picture now and know his name, but you could talk to him tonight in Everquest and be none the wiser.

First thing is he's 20. They should probably give him a bit more leeway. Second thing, dont call Thompson PI, call Magnum PI. We all know he's better.

Interesting, it appears he WAS going to meet a friend at the college where he was taking classes. His parents even drove him to school for the meet.

Going to Jack Thompson is the wrong move. He has absolutely no understanding of games or gamers. What are they expecting? Retribution against the industry? We don't even know what's happened yet.

It is true that online games can be addictive. In extreme cases, this can be harmful. There might be connection. But it could be completely unrelated. His disappearance might have nothing to do with the game.

Find out what his name was online. Find out who he talked to. Ask some of the people in the game if they know anything. Clearly these are the people he talked to.

Um...I'm gonna post an obvious question, and I hope this gets down to JT. The kid said he was going to meet a friend and that's what he did. How the fuck does JT know that the kid didn't know these people from before. He could have met them at a game convention, someone from school might have told him about them, or met them through some other way. Why leap to the assumption that the kid didn't know who he was meeting? Anyways, the kid isn't dead and is probably at a lanning party or something for the Burning Crusade release, so, HOPEFULLY, everything will get better, and the guy's parents will learn to let him make his own life decisions as a 20 year-old adult. Honestly, the man is 20, back up off him and let him breathe on his own. However I doubt that JT will back off of this thing, and he's probably gonna spin it into another dumbass media hype-fest.

What, Keith Mars wasn't available? Mike Hammer?

Seriously, though, the parents made a huge mistake hiring the Metropolitian Moron of Miami, who has, to my knowledge, zero private investigation training(and zero lawyer ability, but that's another discussion).

All he'll do is grandstand and do nothing to help find the 20-year old, instead choosing to promote himself. They were better off asking America's Most Wanted or something.

Did they skip the foot work to find out what happend to there son and go strate to thompson first or something? I'm hopeing They didn't do that and achually looked around, asked friends, and if they could, look around his favorites for forums and see if they can find where he went by his last posts. Any thing and i mean ANY THING would be better than seeking out this half-baked lawyer first.

I've forgotten to eat while playing games before. Typically when I take a break I realize I'm hungry then binge for the next 3 hours. It's not because of addiction, but because of distraction. I can't tell you the number of times I fixed a meal, then played some game, then an hour later look to my left and say "Aw crap, there was food there!" Really, the real indicator of addiction is the priority a game takes as far as time/money invested.

Also the guy is 20 years old. He can go where he damn well pleases. Kind of an ass for taking off like that and not telling anybody though.

In short, I do not see a problem. Except for the parents. The way they act, I'd be surprised if he wasn't just trying to get the hell away from them.

As unfortunate as this is, I'm going to have to say that they're foolish for calling Thompson in. Not only has he never actually accomplished anything in court, but he tends to put his personal campaign ahead of all else.

@~the1jeffy

Thompson may not be a P.I., but he is obviously willing and eager to blame the video game industry and file a lawsuit if-and-when it does turn-out something tragic has happened to the guy. They're probably hoping to get a settlement and you can't expect just any lawyer to fight a frivolous case against a billion-dollar industry.

He's a 20 year-old man who never leaves his house except for school and work, and since his parents drive him to college I assume he can't drive. The MMORPG 'obsession' was obviously just a form of escapism used to alleviate depression, probably stemming from an anxiety disorder. Sadly, it's probably a suicide. Another case of imbeciles blaming obsessive gaming as a cause rather than a visible symptom/warning-sign.

Either that or he's schizo and his parents genuinely think he's run-away to join a guild and slay dragons.

I think about the only potentially helpful thing Thumper could offer here is his inside access to the police. The police, apparently, from what I've read, is quite the fan of our favorite ambulance chaser. Probably due to his "work" regarding Body Count and Cop Killer.

But since this is in Minnesota and not in Miami, I'm quite sure he doesn't have the relationships required to make a positive contribution in the case. And he most certainly does NOT have the relationships with FBI.

I just don't see anything good come out of this to the family. Unless, of course, they want to file a few "strategic" (read: gold-digging) lawsuits against gaming companies. Thumper is real good at that.

Well, that's good news.

We all know that Jack Thompson is just gonna use this to bolster his growing career of infamy and contempt.

Speaking of contempt, isn't he going to jail yet?!

Oh, the link to that story is here:
http://news.spong.com/article/11528

nightwng2000
NW2K Software

@Lucifitias
I've read through most of the posts in this huge board, and most of the people don't exactly seem to be insulting either this guy or his parents. Most of them actually seem to hope that he is getting some or lanning with his buddies. A few people have made some rather uncalled for remarks on his parents, but many of the posts that mention the parents really criticize, not them, but their choic of calling in JT. Of these many posts, many of them are not insulting the parents. I agree with you that insulting the victim or his parents is pointless, and I'm sure that most of the people on this board would agree with you too. Mostly, this board is insulting of JT and his rampant self-aggrandizement, not the ACTUAL victims of this disappearance.

What if this guy met a chick and is getting laid, and decided it's time to move on. When I was in college my mom would freak out if I didn't call her every 3 or 4 days. Basically twice a week. One time after a crazy finals week and a bunch of party'in, a few of us took an unexpected Mexico trip to party the weekend away. I crawled into bed at like 0500 monday morning and my parents were banging on my apartment door at around 1000, because my mom was worried, I hadn't called or returned her calls in a week. Hell I hadn't been home in a week.. I showed her the machine, that I hadn't heard the messages yet.

That was the time that broke her though. After that she just asked me if I would call her once every 2 weeks to let her know I was alive. I mean.. he's 20.. .it's a free country, maybe he took a trip to vegas and is boozing it up with some strippers.. .
Trust me.. you'll lose track of time and people for a while.. :)

Hopefully he'll show up with an empty wallet and some good memories.

Oh, and Jacob.. if you read this. .call you're mom already... You're 15 minutes are up, and I'm sure you hate Jack T as much as the rest of us, don't let him corrupt your parents.

[...] MMO Gamer’s Family Turns to Jack Thompson (GamePolitics) Enlace Permanente | Enviar por email a un amigo Más anotaciones de: Noticias, Juegos,Internet [...]

@Zerodash

You wouldn't happen to have more information on this letter to the boy's friends/ his representing the family? I've heard quite a few Thompson tales, but this is the first time hearing this one.

Trust me, having been in this situation (only a few days, and he was fine, fortunately), you will grab at ANYTHING you can that even has the slightest possibility that someone could help you get your child back.

Jack may not be able to do much, but he probably has a HUGE network of contacts, and some influence as well. I do commend him for his compassion in this case. When this happens, EVERYTHING helps.