Beat him at his own game?

I’ve been thinking.

Jack Thompson is a real thorn in gamers’ sides. If you’ve never seen it, I suggest you check out his page on Wikipedia.

We’re talking about a guy who would send an opponent a copy of his ID card with Batman’s picture pasted over his own to let his opponents “know who they where dealing with”. A guy who attempted to take a political opponent to court for battery because she placed her hand on his shoulder. A guy who posts insulting, ill-informed attacks in public forums, and then cries foul and attempts to sue for slander or ‘harassment’ when the people he attacks respond.

Luckily, the world at large has started to see that he’s just a big ball o’ crazy.

Basically, the gaming industry’s tactics so far in dealing with Thompson are to just ignore him. By attempting to fight or answer him we’d just be fueling the fire.

But then I had a different idea.

Thompson loves to sue for harassment and slander every time someone publicly expresses a viewpoint that opposes his. It’s fine for him to blame the VT shootings on gamers before the shooter was even identified…but if Gabe and Tycho donate the $10,000 to charity that Thompson promised to donate before reneging, he accuses them of being an ‘extortion factory’…now that’s harassment and slander.

I know this is likely never to happen, but how great would it be to beat him at his own game?

So far, Thompson has called gamers everything from idiots to drug addicts. In other words, he’s not shy about throwing around slander and libel of his own.

If we look at the average gamer, you’ll see that most are pretty much like me. We’ve played pretty much every ‘murder simulator’ that’s been released, but we have completely clean criminal records, college degrees, good jobs and aren’t on drugs.

I’ve ‘killed’ over 10,000 computer generated enemies on Battlefront 2 alone. I even own a gun…but I’ve never shot anyone and have absolutely no desire to…odd that, isn’t it? By Thompson’s reasoning, I should have mowed down everyone I know by now.

But, thanks to our good friend Jack Thompson, we’re represented in the media as murderers who don’t understand the difference between a joypad and a shotgun.

So, what I’d like to see is a class-action lawsuit. Gamers vs. Thompson.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being ‘harassed’ and ‘slandered’ thanks to Thompson. I’m tired of being told to ‘get a life’, being accused of being on drugs and above all being publicly accused of being an unbalanced psychopath who’s just itching to go shoot up a school.

You see, you can put all the facts you like in front of Thompson. The VT shooter didn’t have a single video-game in his dorm room. We could point out that most gamers are completely behind attempts to stop Little Timmy from playing GTA…we could also point out that if every fatal incident that has been tenuously linked to gaming was in fact, caused by gaming…that that would mean only about every one in two-million gamers have gone postal…which is a statistical abnormality, not grounds to claim a causal effect.

Well never shut him up or make him go away by being rational. You only have to see some of the things he’s written and said to see that:

"Honestly, are all of you gamers on drugs, or what?"

"Any letter from a video gamer like you would deepen his concern. Are you actually so confused that you think gamers have any influence on anyone. Gamers are considered by normal people to be cretins. Get used to it."

"I love the smell of burning gamers in the morning." (I love this one…we’re unbalanced and crazy?)

"With enemies like you Pixelantes and like Game Daily Biz, why, I don't need any friends. You honor me with your hatred. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and you hate me because the world first hated Him. I follow the Creator of the Universe, and He has taken me to the Gates of Hell, and I kind of like it in here."

"Ah, video gamer/pixelantes are the domestic version of radical Islamists as you continually threaten with violence those who simply disagree with you. How terribly revealing."

"Nobody gets to designate the charity except Paul Eibeler. Can you read? Are you on drugs? Have the games fried your frontal lobes so thoroughly that even a "Dead Kenny" has more grey matter than you? Jack Thompson"

"Nobody shoots anybody in the face unless you're a hit man or a video gamer."

Ok, that’s enough. The point I’m trying to make here is that pretty much all of these statements can be regarded as slander against you and me, the gamer. Thompson has stated that the only reason for anyone to shoot anyone is because they play video games.

We’re druggies, cretins, he ‘threatened’ us by saying he’s ‘love to smell us burning’ and we’re the equivalent of radical, car-bombing Islamists…and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We’ll never shut him up with reason. How about being sued by 50,000 gamers for slander and defamation?

I won’t pretend to be a lawyer or understand the ins and outs of the legal system (Despite the fact I’ve played Phoenix Wright – Ace Attorney on the DS…again by JT’s ideas, I should be a qualified lawyer by now)…but this seems to be a lot more clear cut than the gaming industry taking on JT.

He’s publicly harassed us, slandered and defamed us.

What do you think?