Jack Attack on GamePolitics, Part 2: Game Industry Stooge
Jack Attack on GamePolitics, Part 2: Game Industry Stooge
July 21, 2007
(Part 2 of 4) Game-hatin' attorney Jack Thompson went verbally medieval on GamePolitics in an interview with the obscure PopZart site last week.
In my third year of running GamePolitics, I've grown accustomed to Thompson's criticism, but this attack was remarkably personal in nature, so I feel called upon to respond. Part one of my riposte may be found here. Part two follows:
JT: the worst example of [a game industry stooge] is GamePolitics and its owner Dennis McCauley. McCauley is now an operative for Hal Halpin's ECA, so the curtain behind which this Wizard of Odd, Mr. McCauley, has been rent asunder. McCauley has pretended, mightily, to be a journalist. He is not. He does put out a lot of information, some of it correct, about what is going on in the gaming world and industry. I commend him for that. He does a better job than most.
GP: Interesting... In a single paragraph, Thompson pegs me as both "the worst example" and doing "a better job than most." Go figure... As for being an "operative," gee, it sounds so very Splinter Cell-ish...
As far as the ECA goes, I think GP readers already know that the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) is NOT a game industry organization, despite Thompson's efforts to paint it that way. The ECA receives zero funding from the game industry, and wouldn't accept game industry money if it was offered. Hal Halpin has been very clear about that. Membership fees paid by gamer-members drive the ECA. Personally, I've always made it very clear that I have no connection to the industry. My record reinforces it.
To put it bluntly, I've pissed off a number of people in the game business over the years - Take Two people, ESRB people, ESA people, and more. I'm kind of proud of that fact, actually. As a journalist, when you're simultaneously angering Jack Thompson and Paul Eibeler, you know you're playing it right down the middle.
What's more, even a cursory glance at GamePolitics illustrates that Thompson's comments are dead wrong. In the past few weeks alone we've been all over Microsoft concerning the Xbox 360 red rings issue because A.) they deserve it and B.) it's an issue that's very important to game consumers. At other times we've taken Sony to task when they tried to bully Kotaku. We ripped inept former Take Two CEO Paul Eibeler on a regular basis. It's all in the GP record.
Oh, and don't forget that GP made its journalistic bones by breaking the Hot Coffee story in 2005. That little episode cost T2 close to $30 million and still reverberates through the business. Our person of the year for 2005 was Leland Yee, architect of the California video game law - not because we thought the law was a good idea, but because Yee was so skillful in maneuvering it to passage. By the way, can you guess which publicity hound complained about not being selected?
So, GP as a game industry stooge? I don't think so. We're after the truth here, wherever it leads us.
JT: McCauley gets money from the very industry that he is supposedly "fairly" reporting about. Look at his ads. Look at his now formal ECA affiliation. I get money, by the way, from nobody, nor have I ever accepted any in my twenty years of fighting the entertainment industry's marketing and sale of adult entertainment to children. I'm clean. These sites are not.
GP: What money from the video game industry? I work for the ECA. Once again, and I'll say it slowly this time, Jack. The ECA is a consumer group. We fight for gamers.
Ads? What ads? Prior to the ECA acquisition we had small Amazon and Commission Junction affiliate ads for things like games, books, DVDs and T-shirts. I personally selected and posted the ads. Never - as in not ever - did we have an ad paid for by a video game company.
Currently there are some issue-oriented banners - but nothing to buy - on the front page of GP that I picked myself because they are relevant to what we cover. We've also got links to every major - and several minor - video game watchdog organizations on the front page. My goal with GamePolitics is to be a comprehensive, one-stop shopping resource for information related to the politics of video games whether you're a gamer, a game company executive, a political staffer or an activist.
On the other hand, may I ask, Jack, how much you expect to receive from your video game debate tour? $3,000 per appearance, wasn't it? May I ask how much your combined lawsuits against the video game industry in Alabama and New Mexico are seeking? $1.2 billion, isn't it? That works out to a pretty hefty legal fee...
GP: Thompson’s attack on GamePolitics was extensive. So is our reply. Look for Part 3 soon…
A PUBLICATION OF THE ECA
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Posted 12/01/08 at 04:56pm
E. Zachary Knight: When securom realizes it is running in a virtual machine, then I will be done with PC gaming.
E. Zachary Knight: When securom realizes it is running in a virtual machine, then I will be done with PC gaming.
Posted 12/01/08 at 04:54pm
sqlrob: @zippy: versus DRM baloney trying to make my general purpose computer not general purpose. computer gaming=fail
sqlrob: @zippy: versus DRM baloney trying to make my general purpose computer not general purpose. computer gaming=fail
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:56pm
ZippyDSMlee: sqlrob:console=nofixes,control options,no choices=fail
ZippyDSMlee: sqlrob:console=nofixes,control options,no choices=fail
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:24pm
sqlrob: @DeepThorn: That's why I went to console years ago. Steam was the final straw. Windows = offline for my computers
sqlrob: @DeepThorn: That's why I went to console years ago. Steam was the final straw. Windows = offline for my computers
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn: KAspersky is all that I sue now, the rest suck,norton has its points but is a system hog.
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn: KAspersky is all that I sue now, the rest suck,norton has its points but is a system hog.
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:18pm
DeepThorn: yeah... I need to get rid of McFly or whatever it is called
DeepThorn: yeah... I need to get rid of McFly or whatever it is called
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:17pm
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn: I turn of file scanign while I paly a game,still ahve networking protection and whatnot on.
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn: I turn of file scanign while I paly a game,still ahve networking protection and whatnot on.
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:16pm
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn:Take out 2nd hand thier goes thier bigest custmer in EB...
ZippyDSMlee: DeepThorn:Take out 2nd hand thier goes thier bigest custmer in EB...
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:10pm
nelttab: @Deepthorn even then there are pirates out there that can get around that... the online thing anyway
nelttab: @Deepthorn even then there are pirates out there that can get around that... the online thing anyway
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:08pm
DeepThorn: So much for me wanting a gaming PC offline with no security software...
DeepThorn: So much for me wanting a gaming PC offline with no security software...
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:04pm
E. Zachary Knight: But it may require an internet connection to install.
E. Zachary Knight: But it may require an internet connection to install.
Posted 12/01/08 at 03:03pm
E. Zachary Knight: From the sound of it, it seems that once the disk is activated, it is activated forever.
E. Zachary Knight: From the sound of it, it seems that once the disk is activated, it is activated forever.
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:57pm
DeepThorn: EZK - Is the main focus secretly second hand market again, or do they just hate their legit consumers that much?
DeepThorn: EZK - Is the main focus secretly second hand market again, or do they just hate their legit consumers that much?
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:56pm
NovaBlack: yeah i said earlier.. gtaIV available literally the day they announced officially it had securom lol. ITs so pointless its untru
NovaBlack: yeah i said earlier.. gtaIV available literally the day they announced officially it had securom lol. ITs so pointless its untru
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:54pm
DeepThorn: And justifies pirating it in more people's minds. (and the crackers know it will tick off the publishers more)
DeepThorn: And justifies pirating it in more people's minds. (and the crackers know it will tick off the publishers more)
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:53pm
ZippyDSMlee: Zevorick: Correction Sicrom makes owning software inconvenant.....
ZippyDSMlee: Zevorick: Correction Sicrom makes owning software inconvenant.....
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:50pm
Zevorick: Does it honestly surprise you pin? It's not like SecuRom has EVER stopped Piracy before. It just makes it slightly inconvenient
Zevorick: Does it honestly surprise you pin? It's not like SecuRom has EVER stopped Piracy before. It just makes it slightly inconvenient
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:47pm
JDKJ: SeanB: There's been plenty new content and off-topic shouts. Ain't nobody ever get called out before for doing it. Relax.
JDKJ: SeanB: There's been plenty new content and off-topic shouts. Ain't nobody ever get called out before for doing it. Relax.
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:47pm
nelttab: @JDJK aye, i could see that... and you know what... im glad i found this site a coupla months ago
nelttab: @JDJK aye, i could see that... and you know what... im glad i found this site a coupla months ago
Posted 12/01/08 at 02:45pm
E. Zachary Knight: EMA is getting in on the anti-piracy racket: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21306
E. Zachary Knight: EMA is getting in on the anti-piracy racket: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21306
Comments
I remember reading in an issue of Gamepro that R*/TTwo blamed the mod community for uncovering it, but not for Hot Coffee itself.
Not everyone likes it, but T2 & Rockstar badly misplayed what happened. They went to ground and lied. They could have saved themselves and the industry a lot of trouble.
They tried to blame it on their biggest fans, the mod community, which is indefensible.
[Adult Swim] made one, 5 minutes to kill yourself, :p
Well he said that because he has this problem separating fantasy and fiction from reality. Therefore he think if you play a game involving suicide you will be forced to do so in real life.
So yes, Jack if you can point us in the direction of a suicide game I will get good at it. But guess what? Even if I get good at a suicide game I will remain alive and supporting the ECA long after you are eating pudding in a rest home.
"Yippie Ki Yay, Motherfucker"
damn loser
GP- 30
JT- 0
I award points based on truthfullness, style and Proper Punctuation.
I think if its JT that has been posting on the GP comments he is confusing some of our comments with articles written by Dennis. Its pretty irresponsible that he is allowed to do this. Jack is just acting irresponsible and foolish. It is a shame because a more than a few people ignorant on the entire issue will side with Jack Thompson just because he gets more exposure.
This is why we should support the ECA. Power in numbers so to speak. If the ECA becomes strong enough gamers and the game industry can more easily defeat those allied with Jack Thomson, Leeland Yee, and Lyndon LaRouche.
Gamers are the most important party in the Game Industry. What we say should go, period. No if, and, or, but about it. Without gamers the game industry wouldn't exist.
Do you mean Thompson or Dennis? As far as I know, PatrickW first reported the fact that it wasn't user-made content and that Rockstar had somewhat misled people with the statement it had made, to Dennis and it was first reported here and taken up by other sites, that's the Dennis link. Thompson, as he will happily tell you, allegedly briefed Hilary Clinton for her Press Release regarding Hot Coffee. I wasn't around here for either of them, so it's for others to confirm or deny them.
JackTompson.org is not affiliated with the man at all.
GP did not "go low"-he just hit back with the appropriate responses to John Bruce Thompson's cowardly attacks. Good on you, GP.
As far as i remember back when i joined this site, we've always been neutral, tearing at gaming industry and its opponents alike. If the gaming industry did something stupid, we'd call it out and tear it a new one.
JT, we gave him page space, we were open to his opinions, we may not have agreed with it 99.9% of the time, but we were willing to hear it out. Now i dont think he'll even get that anymore, even though tbh i never thought he deserved the page space in the beginning. Guys nothing more than a troll and hes pushing extremely close to slander
if he did then why did he pull that crap a year ago when he tried to get the cops to confiscate copies of gta san andreas from anyone regardless of age????
he wants to keep m rated games out of the hands of anyone
"...what does GamePolitics actually do?"
As of late? Proving what a delusional, massacre-chasing fraud JT is... at least that's what I've seen.
Keep it up!
Can't wait to read the next 2 Dennis!
"a while back when he did post but for someone who thought we were “children” and then post [saying] anyone that posted at all was required to post their name, phone number and address"
Ignoring the fact that asking for personal info is a violation of LJ's TOS, that alone would've gotten him tagged as a potential child molester
I think that was his strategy, he was praying one of us would go off and become a threat to his safety, thus becoming his poster child for his cause, like how he prays for bodybags within a mile of a game console.
Until then, JT I'll have to see how the indusrty, as well as GP and the ESA will play thos one out (sorry if it seems like I am saying GP and the ESA are part of the indusrty, which I kno they are not) as well as JT.
I love the phrasing "I am sure I have been guilty of that at times..." it's such a muddy, uncertain admonition. Like he's trying to be humble. It's especially flavorful after that whole "I'm so Christian" diatribe.
I don't think I've ever read or heard an interview with Thompson that didn't involve him accusing all gamers of being slavering madmen.
i think he know's that but he may not since he truly believes that every single person that posts on gp is just a 5 year old "kid"
not sure if u were here a while back when he did post but for osmeone who thought we were "children" and then post and say anyone that posted at all was required to post there name phone number and address
he needs to be put away in a mental institiution
When is he gonna get it through his thick skull that WE DONT WANT THAT EITHER.
He was interested in the stabbing incident not so long ago because they were playing a game at the time. When it was revealed that the game was just an innocent sports title, he was interested because they might have played violent games in the past - in other words, the fact that they were playing a game at the time was of no consequence and they could've been playing on a swing set instead. So why is he not interested in all cases of violent minors?
The big kicker for me is that the GP readership, and everyone else he speaks out against, are mainly gamers. Most of us here spend hours at a time training on masturbatory murder simulators, being brainwashed and turned into mindless killers who only need the slightest trigger to go postal. Yet he insults us, openly and sometimes individually by name, without fear for his own safety. We're evidently homicidal maniacs who don't pose a threat to anyone.
he really needs a few games of gta to vent his anger
You (and the ECA) should just get used to being called industry operatives or whatever. By the time it's all over, you'll probably be labeled as the "violent game lobby" by the game haters. This type of marginalization is pretty much par for the course..
He talks about the fact that the posters on Kotaku violated the sites terms of service and yet when he was violating livejournal's terms of service it was ok because he was being censored.
Then there is his constant changing of just what censorship is. Apparently censorship is anyone who doesn't like Jack and censorship isn't violating the first amendment by having the government regulate free speech.
if he still has his panties in a bunch from getting banned then maybe he shouldnt have acted like a moron then maybe he wouldnt have gotten booted
I guess Dennis has a lot to say about Whacky Jacky. Just rememeber Dennis, you've gained recognition, while he's just some conspiracy nutjob; and apparently he hates you for receiving recognition and considers it unfair and a conspiracy that he didn't get any.
"Sorry, but your random bitchings about minor topics that noone actually cares about..."
Good, then I guess you don't have to read it, then, huh?
I'm sure you would usually have something to say in response when somebody attacks your character in public. Why? Because...well...you would care about it. Just like Dennis cares now, and, judging by the enormous amount of positive response to this, he isn't the only one. So take your moronic generalization elsewhere, or just drop the piss and vinegar attitude.
I think uninformed is a more accurate description. Considering how frequently he states that "xxx study by the University of yyy" reached "zzz conclusion" when the study says nothing of the sort, the obvious conclusion is that he didn't read past the title. He has no actual facts to back him up, and every piece of credible evidence refutes him, so I find it unlikely he knows anything at all about media violence effects.
Keep it up.
Jacky Boy never learned to practice what he preached.
In the interview, he talks his usual rant, accusing Dennis of being an industry whore, and a product of the game companies. He blamed him, and us, about the critical responses to his book in Amazon. He insinuates that there's another agenda involved here in GP, and that we describe him as "insane" or a "Nazi", and that if he was like the person described here or in Wikipedia, stated "would have killed myself a very long time ago."
I'm sure he really had to dig deep into his name calling pocket to pull out that we GP people like to "hide behind anonymity, like big tough guys, casting their stones and then whining when I respond with what I think is the truth, with my name attached, kind of tells anyone who is willing to listen and hear who the mean-spirited anonymous cowards are."
Welcome to the internet, Jack. Anonymity and mean-spiritedness run high here. It's a playground full of glass and nails. While it can certainly be quite fun, if you aren't wearing the big boots, your play time is over. But for some reason, you keep coming back, barefooted, with your scabs and lies about how we are bringing you down. Like we are cramping your style or something. You keep doing it yourself.
Right now, all your are doing is making interesting headlines, is all. We will get bored with it soon, though, so think of something else, quick. I've got an idea, Jack. Make your own website! Oh, wait, you already did that and it didn't work out. Guess I'll just go to jackthompson.org/ to read up on all your latest.
Well, the thing is, some of the falsehoods he keeps pushing out are ones that have been explained to him as otherwise from more than one source, and not just on GP itself.
In many ways it's not his fault, I genuinely think he percieves that because the site is well presented and has links and images on the main page, which is light years beyond Thompsons' old Web-site, that it MUST therefore be a company-run site. He doesn't understand the technologies involved and doesn't realise that it's quite easy to produce professional websites with a little bit of knowledge and a good program.
Thompson will never accept because it doesn't suit his purpose, if he ever had to accept that this Website was completely unfunded by the Video Game Industry, and that the opinions on here are not merely the braindead echoings' of lackeys, but real concerned people who don't want to see their rights as adults sent into a 'slippery slope' situation by the likes of Thompson, then he'd have to accept how wrong he'd been about a lot of things. Thompson will never, ever do that.
Regarding the interview I like when Jack says that he isn't the person that wikipedia describes him as. Too bad his wikipedia entry is made up of almost exclusively his own words and actions...
I look forward to part 3 soon.
Also, how is he fighting the sale of inappropriate material to minors? By supporting the UK in banning video games that are clearly marketed to Adults? That pretty much just supports telling able minded adults that they can't play or view something because a child might get their hands on it some day. Which is bullshit. Why not rally to remove all "inappropriate" TV shows from the air because a child might see it? Or how about all those ads for Viagra and condoms during the daytime that children can see at any time? No, it's all focused on video games that are clearly marked for it's age appropriateness.
Jack Thompson is a fucking moron and scum bag lawyer who hides behind a facade of morality. Jack Thompson is only out for two things, money and fame. That's it. His claims of wanting to protect anything is bullshit. Also, want to talk about violence and disgusting entertainment? Read your Bible sometime, I guarantee it's a whole like worse than most video games or even movies on the market today when it comes to violence. The whole thing is pro slavery, pro degradation of women, pro murder for various stupid reasons, etc. So don't talk to us about violence and inappropriate material when we still have Churches forces your smut called "The Holy Bible" onto children.
Fuck off!
Sometimes I used to get upset that GP gave him so much credibility compared to other websites. Now I see there is no pleasing this man at all. He misses the main point of everything too; I don't think many, if any at all, are against the idea of limiting sales of violent games to minors. We just think there are better, more legal ways to do it than legislation.
Jack just managed to make GP a JT enemy when they weren't in the first place. I wouldn't have called this site one of his allies, but it wasn't a hostile site before his comments.
Keep up the amazing work!! I was so happy to find this site 6 months ago and have checked it daily since!
However, I refuse to be Doug Lowenstein. That is, I will not allow this man to call my character into question. Doug always let him get away with it, although I believe the former ESA certainly had other options available to him.
I agree with you. We must not let this dirtbag get away with it, he has shunned you many times in public and now it's our time to stand up and for him to be shunned at.
Not in it for the money huh?
Just 3 words John Bruce:
Jason Della Rocca.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
I'm glad to see you refusing to take this lying down, Dennis. I've never been of the school of thought that the best way to deal with Jack is to ignore him. He should be refuted at every turn, because as has been stated before, there are too many people out there ignorant enough to take his trash as gospel.
This quote from Jack Thompson cracks me up. I think the only thing that is clean is his own ass.
GP why dont you debate him on PWNED Radio ??
He can boast, claim, troll and flame, but once someone puts printed paper fact in his face - as opposed to the 'sources' he calls his imaginary friends - he blocks out.
Pathetic...
I wish sites would not even mention his name, but every time I read an article about this numb-nuts, I get a good laugh.
I like laughing.
Also as someone else here pinted out, he may be in violation of his agreement with Take 2. If that's the case as well, then he's really stepped in it this time. Once again, he's gone and shot his mouth off with no thought to the consequences of what he says. Once mor I marvel that this guy continues to have his law license (which will hopefully be taken away one day).
Between this and his constant ban evasions here (which could constitute harassment), I think you have a strong case this time. Time to finally take him to task and put the smackdown on him. Strike while the iron is hot!
I'm suddenly reminding of conspiracy theorists calling anyone that debunks the bad science and logic behind the claims that we didn't land on the moon a "NASA disinformation officer".
So take heart Dennis, you've got some good company on the list of people that get called liars for simply speaking the truth.
You decline to be in this interview. Jack spouts off stuff about you. And you post your reactions here.
I ask because Mr. Thompson here seems to consider you some sort of major threat to the world at large, spreading propaganda and injecting liquid aluminium melted from GTA discs into the eyes of five-year-olds. I thought it was only schoolgirls on LiveJournal who scream, "Wah, wah, some people on the internet are disagreeing with me!"
Take a moment to focus, Jack. The reason you keep failing isn't because GamePolitics and its cabal are spending millions of dollars on a public smear campaign against you. It's because you're wrong.
The Meow Media case? completely destroyed pre-trial.
Alabama? That may (or may not, depending on if and how far they've gotten into summary judgment proceedings) go to trial in January, but by order of the Court, Jack is NOT representing the Plaintiffs there.
And here in New Mexico? There's a gigantic dismissal hearing set for September 13--Jack will be lucky if he even has a law license to stand on by then.
Five bucks says he calls this piece a pack of lies and whatnot, though. XD
Are you denying that the site is obscure? Being linked on GP likely generated more hits than that site has seen in its entire history.
www.alexa.com Traffic Rankings
IGN.com: 185
GameFAQs.com: 226
Xbox.com: 799
Playstation.com: 898
Nintendo.com: 2071
RockstarGames.com: 4323
Take2Games.com: 69,453
GamePolitics.com: 70,522
JackThompson.org: 1,164,069
Alexa Traffic Ranking
PopZart.com: 6,232,789
Clearly, "obscure" is the most accurate adjective to describe PopZart. Getting linked on GP is the best thing to ever happen to that site. Of course, Jacky would have been better served to post the interview on his own wesbite, where it's apparently 6 times more likely to be read.
Jack "Video games cause violence"
Gamepolitics "Why?"
Jack "Because"
Gamepolitics "Whoa...deep."
Basically go for the fearmongering route in total lieu of any evidence. Just follow these simple steps and you will be just like every other sensationalist, fearmongering news outlet that puts out and doesn't question the mad masturbation fantasies/rants of our favorite bat-shit crazy florida lawyer.
http://www.strouperman.com/Archive/052_Whaambulance.jpg
Very Christian.
Nice rebuttals, mang
The real, enormous irony is that Jack Thompson got thrown out of a court case for doing precisely what Thompson believes that Dennis is doing, maybe Dennis has a better idea of what professionalism is, the Bar complaint was nothing to do with the disagreement on Video games, it was to do with Jacks' own behaviour and the threats he was making, that does NOT relate to Game Politics. This is NOT a site about Jack Thompson, therefore Dennis is NOT compelled to post every little thing about him on it, whether personally involved or not.
yes, Games are looking like GamePolitics and some other game like online games also looking Online Gamepolitics somthing cartoon games casino online Games, they are some part of games. This time game industry going top and getting lots of online games. This games business growing faster then other business.