Press Released: Lowenstein v. Kotaku ? 2008

[Sean Sands]

Press Released: Lowenstein v. Kotaku ? 2008

Doug Lowenstein blamed gaming sites like Kotaku for extending Jack Thompson's 15 minutes of fame, but weren't they really just doing their jobs?

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[The_root_of_all_evil]

Jack Thompson accuses us of institutionalised wannabe murderers.
We call him a tosser.

I think things would have been settled a long time ago if Thompson actually deigned to talk to any of us, especially Gabe and Tycho.

Or if the legal community had thrown his ass on the street when he started going fruit loop with the gay porn.

If things would get done without having to have this furor, then the furor would have died down ages ago.

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

Wow. They blame gamers for absolutely EVERYTHING don't they?

No don't blame the fear mongering senators and state officials for whom he drafted anti-videogame legislation. Don't blame the misinformed, lazy parents who believe whatever anyone with a suit and a "pro-children" stance tells them. Don't blame the BAR for continuing to let him practice law after literally hundreds of frivolous, time wasting lawsuits.
Blame the gamers.

Morons.

 

[Smokescreen]

Wow. They blame gamers for absolutely EVERYTHING don't they?

Blaming the gamers for giving Thompson attention, especially the kind of attention that creates a bigger ruckus than he would ever be able to cause on his own, is something that ought to be taken seriously. It's a legit comment, and one we'd be wise to remember.

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

Wow. They blame gamers for absolutely EVERYTHING don't they?

Blaming the gamers for giving Thompson attention, especially the kind of attention that creates a bigger ruckus than he would ever be able to cause on his own, is something that ought to be taken seriously. It's a legit comment, and one we'd be wise to remember.

So you're saying that the negative attention given to a lawyer by the gaming community caused everyone else in the world to become blind to his abject idiocy? If anything it informed the community about what he was doing and allowed them to fight back. If there's anything wrong with proliferation of information, especially when it concerns someone who nearly succeeded in throwing up legal blocks around the country for gamers in the USA, then I really need to change this whole system of thinking that humans have been working on for the last few hundred-thousand years. Not attacking you directly, just confused at your line of reasoning.

 

[zoozilla]

I completely agree with this article.

Jack Thompson was a monster - but maybe if the gaming press didn't spend so much time deriding him, he may not have become as big a monster as he ultimately came to be.

On the other hand, I can't imagine that today Jack Thompson would be disbarred if not for the exposure the gaming press have given him. In a way, feeding the monster made the monster so big that some people decided it was too big a problem to ignore and killed the monster - ultimately a happy ending.


Kotaku is not the most professional gaming news outlet, though, and I think their readers know this. When they read Kotaku, they want to be entertaining along with getting news, while a site like GamePolitics is very professional and takes its matters very seriously.

 

[Dogeman5]

Escapist= Judge of Internet sanity or umpire to the cries of the unnecessary?
The first one obviously!

 

[Dommyboy]

Geez, us gamers are such a bunch of bastards ey.

 

[Melaisis]

Usually I read Press Released and then post a comment barking at Sean for his misunderstood opinion. This week, however:

The price we pay for the value of entertainment, content and information that we get from gaming blogs is that occasionally we get a few extra weeks with someone like Jack Thompson.

I think you were playing it safe with this very general statement, but I do honestly agree. Besides, if people didn't enjoy reading about Jack's antics, then why would they stick with the bigger blogs anyway? Whilst many complain about the press anti-gaming figures get from the very industry they're against, people still choose to indulge themselves and read about it; even if Jack has been a bit of a straw man for the pill-popping, twitchy, easily offended Xbox Live generation to set fire to.

 

[Arbre]

I think things would have been settled a long time ago if Thompson actually deigned to talk to any of us, especially Gabe and Tycho.

I don't think these guys would have been the most interesting people to listen to if someone had to talk to Thompson.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I think things would have been settled a long time ago if Thompson actually deigned to talk to any of us, especially Gabe and Tycho.

I don't think these guys would have been the most interesting people to listen to if someone had to talk to Thompson.

I think they were the first one's to call him on the "Murder Simulator" bet though.

 

[Smokescreen]

Wow. They blame gamers for absolutely EVERYTHING don't they?

Blaming the gamers for giving Thompson attention, especially the kind of attention that creates a bigger ruckus than he would ever be able to cause on his own, is something that ought to be taken seriously. It's a legit comment, and one we'd be wise to remember.

So you're saying that the negative attention given to a lawyer by the gaming community caused everyone else in the world to become blind to his abject idiocy?

No, I'm saying that his 15 minutes of fame was extended to a couple years because of the abject idiocy of those who gave him negative attention.

If anything it informed the community about what he was doing and allowed them to fight back. If there's anything wrong with proliferation of information, especially when it concerns someone who nearly succeeded in throwing up legal blocks around the country for gamers in the USA,

Pretty sure that's hyperbole, and is just the kind of thing that had people emailing/calling/otherwise fucking with this man in ways that were wholly inappropriate. The fear of those gamers was manipulated (rightly or wrongly) and the reaction was to turn him into this boogeyman who should be purged at all costs. Instead of someone who should just be watched, but otherwise ignored until his actions became worth responding to-and even then, that response should have not fed into Thompson's martyr complex.

then I really need to change this whole system of thinking that humans have been working on for the last few hundred-thousand years. Not attacking you directly, just confused at your line of reasoning.

What system of thinking?
/laughs

Factually reporting on the man and his activities; fine. Making him the Wicked Witch of the East of gaming; foolish.

 

[Arbre]

I think things would have been settled a long time ago if Thompson actually deigned to talk to any of us, especially Gabe and Tycho.

I don't think these guys would have been the most interesting people to listen to if someone had to talk to Thompson.

I think they were the first one's to call him on the "Murder Simulator" bet though.

Yes, I suppose that it doesn't exist until Gabe and Tick say it does, right?
I'd rather have people who know their stuff talk with Thompson.

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

Smokescreen. I live in one of the states where Thompson helped to draft anti videogame legislation long before he became the martyr and first holy saint of the videogame crusade. He only went up the legal ladder from there and it wasn't long before his antics were noticed by the videogame press and brought to light so that we could fight back, even in some small way. Had he remained under the radar he could have helped to pass legislation in many more, if not all states. Hyperbole was not intended but the threat was real and I'm glad that someone turned the searchlight on him. He could have done MUCH more damage to the freedom of gamers in this country than he already had. Personally I think that while it may have increased his viability in the public eye, it was as a lunatic and a professional tyrant. You think it led him to fame and prosperity? Look at him now, disgraced and disbarred. I'm sure that while there's no such thing as bad publicity, being a ranting nutjob isn't exactly publicity.

 

[Smokescreen]

Yes, but what I'm trying to point out is that there is a difference between putting the spotlight on his activities to make people aware, and feeding him the kind of attention that feeds into his bullshit. Call it the Phelps factor.

One gives people the information they need to resist and prevent, the other prolongs the attention that he gets, giving him power, increasing his platform, and causing people who don't know about videogames (except that they are new and thus scary) to agree with him, because look at what those gamers are doing to him.

See?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I think things would have been settled a long time ago if Thompson actually deigned to talk to any of us, especially Gabe and Tycho.

I don't think these guys would have been the most interesting people to listen to if someone had to talk to Thompson.

I think they were the first one's to call him on the "Murder Simulator" bet though.

Yes, I suppose that it doesn't exist until Gabe and Tick say it does, right?

I don't know where your implication was there, but given that he said that he'd donate a large sum of money to the first person to write a murder simulator that targetted games manufacturers, someone made it, he denied it, and then Gabe/Tycho sent the same amount of money to a charity in his name and THEN he threatened to have them arrested for it; perhaps they should be the first he'd talk to.

Then he can apologise to Take 2, Janet Reno, Will Wright, Omaha and others.

I'd rather have people who know their stuff talk with Thompson.

So would I, but I'd rather have apologies given to those he's swindled, perjured or libelled.