I expect a certain someone to try and get this man's law license yanked soon.

Anyway, on topic, I agree.

"The video game industry needs to clearly and overwhelmingly debunk these theories with its own extensive research"

while i agree with that it needs to be debunked, i do not see that industry research in any field paid for or performed by that industry is very credible to begin with

"This battle can’t be won in the courts. It’s really a battle for the hearts and minds of consumers."

THats all well and good, but I still say until the industry uses the courts to hold accountable the media, that battle is forever lost. Until such time as the industry has the lies and bullshit silenced in the media, then your happy world of "Counter Science" means nothing. Facts don't mean shit if you can't force the Media to report them. Look at jack thompson. he's Living proof of that.

I agree with Yuki.

The Game Biz has big money to hire intelligent lawyers, not ones who would try to argue that porn is good or something but people who will cause Thompson to be thrown out of the courtoom just by standing next to him.

We also need to seek a lot of support from celebrities and other prominent figures. The PR front is important and it shouldn't be difficult to one up Faux Nooz, Cooper Lawrence and Witty Jack.

You're absolutely right. What the industry is missing at this time is a VOICE.
JT and his feverbrained/harebrained croneys are the only ones being heard.
Its ok for us on these websites reading about the industry, but for average Joe, and average mum and dad all they see is JT and school shootings.

We need a real, honest, believable face of the industry so that media can show both sides.
Here in the UK we get alot of media where the opposition sit next to each other in the studio and are questioned directly. We need more of that, so that the lies and 'psudo (sp) science' and outright lies can be debunked in full view of our Countries.

I really have nothing to add here. I agree with this man. And I agree that we need a face to the industry, but I think we already have people in place who could do this. Hal Halpin, Jason Della Rocca, even Gallagher, as the heads of the ECA, IGDA, and ESA, respectively. There are already prominent people out there who are the de facto heads of this industry, on both the industry side and the consumer side. So now all we have to do is get them out there.
Of course, when it comes to the hearts and minds of people, the most effective person to reach them is the person standing next to them. So, all of you, be good gamers. Show everyone around you that you can be a normal, social person who they wouldn't want to pass legislation against. If you know anyone who thinks all vidja games are murder simulators, politely disagree and attempt to show them our side of reality.

Florida Attorney Larry Walters? Wow, Larry Walters and Jack Thompson must of been roommates at law school.

Wow. 0_o
I think we've just found Jacko's new arch-nemisis.

In other news, something good finally comes out of Florida. :D

@KayleL
Nah, Larry Walter obviously went to a college with higher graduation reqirements than Jack's college (as if it wasn't blatantly obvious already :P) !

I like Walters' statements and all but...

..Do all suits in Florida look like JT?

I swear he's probably from some Bizarro world, where JT's actually one of the good guys.

@ BedLamBob

nice suggestion


it would actually be nice of the ECA had a dedicated spokesperson perhaps, who's sole job was PR related, so whenever an asshat got on tv spreading lies, they could a) get the lies retracted and the truth heard, or at least B) appear as a relevant participant in the main broadcasted debates to make sure our side was fairly heard.

We seriously need to be heard. People out there who isn't familiar with the game industry does not understand how big it really is. All they hear is the random bullshit from people like a certain senile man whose name I rather not mention here on places like... a certain "Fair and Balanced" news channel which I also rather not mention here.

I'm shocked to see we don't even have a big "voice" out there. The game industry is so damn big.

Hell, I've seen what little people know about us. It's sickening to see some of them to be on the side of these garbage-spewing morons. Though, I am glad to see that some people out there who isn't familiar with this topic is rather fair and objective...able to understand the difference between lies/slander and the truth.

Granted...that's few and far between...

What we need is a new breed of psychologists to do research on violence and video games. One really needs to look long and hard at the studies.

"Junk Science" studies do show unequivocally that playing a violent game increases one's violent thoughts and desensitizes them. The researchers leave it at that and let the media and the politicians work it out.

The question that remains: What does that mean?

So what if have a more violent attitude? Does that mean we will become more violent. Instead, we have people like Jack Thompson outright lying about CAUSAL relationships between video games and violence, when the nearest they have is correlational. People believe this, mostly due to the fact that the APA response was hardly noticed.

Until the research can say that violent media has little effect on a person's actions and will not make them a crazy, psycho killer, people like Jack Thompson and legislatures will have ammunition to argue for censorship and whatnot.

I'm trying to work a way to test these things for my MA thesis, but I am encountering so much resistance from professors that it is nearly impossible to get any headway.

Then let us prepare for this battle

This problem stems from the utter lack of BALLS in the games industry. The ESA, ESRB, developers, etc. just let the media & liars walk all over them.

- Dough Lowenstein spent his entire term with his head in the sand. This new guy hasn't done much either.

- Bioware didn't say shit over the Fox News report. EA only issued words, and not actions. They seem to have let it go now.

- Gamers are the ones defending videogames. Its utterly bizzare that the consumers are more vocal in defense of an artform/product than the actual producers. WTF?

I have little doubt that the games industry will be regulated content in the US- the christians have too much influence...and the liberal socialists here are just as bad.

When that happens, it is the fault of the games industry for being a bunch of weak-willed PANSYS.

The media is biased and goes for mass market appeal... they will choose the most interesting stories they get, and it's a lot more interesting to say that video games are harmful than to say that video games are actually ok and don't really do any harm (and certainly no more than TV/movies/books/comics/music/news)

The game developers are gonna have to challenge the claims of the media through the courts and force them to either use real science or STFU.