There's a new development around here, which is verrrrrrrrrrry interesting. Thompson did an eighty, that's right <i>80</i>, minute interview with the ChatterBox internet radio station, which can be downloaded <a href="
http://chatterboxgameshow.com/archives/ ... ">here.</a>
The interesting thing about it is that throughout the majority of the interview, Thompson is calm, cogent, and actually makes a lot of good points. In fact, the pro-gaming hosts were forced to make many concessions and ended up being quite flustered - which should have been expected, really, since Thompson is an experienced lawyer and it's not surprising that he destroyed the hosts in the debate.
Now, while he didn't sound like a complete nutter and laid off the "you should seek mental help, go get real good at a suicide game, 'gamers' idea' is an oxymoron" kinds of things he's known for in his email replies, he did end up making some mistakes. In the discussion of Rockstar's upcoming game <i>Bully</i>, Thompson repeatedly referred to it as a "school murder simulator", however the preview of the game in last month's Game Informer says that "there is no blood or graphic violence" in the game. (It must be said, though, that the preview also mentions that the playable character in one scene administers a beatdown of some preppies with a cricket bat.) Anyway, the point is is that Thompson is deliberately exaggerating the content of an unreleased game that he has not seen beyond the few screens that have been released to the public (the Game Informer article said that they were shown a demo). Let us also note that Thompson is known to treat articles by gaming publications as sufficient sources for his arguments - see the case of him using the IGN review of Killer7 to base his denouncement of that game, even though it turned out that his interpretation of the article and the actual content of the game were way off.
Also, at one point Thompson decries Take Two Interactive's disseminating of racial sterotypes in games such as GTA:SA while calling them "a bunch of Scots sitting in Edinborough wearing kilts and drinking their single malt whiskey." The ironing is delicious, isn't it?
Late in the interview, Thompson reaches quite a bit by saying that EA allowing (and in some cases encouraging, citing something once said by Will Wright) the mod community to mod games such as The Sims 2 is tantamount to a conspiracy or collaboration with the porn industry to distribute pornographic games to children. (Thompson makes a good point regarding how the modding of games is a violation of copyright, but the "porn conspiracy" is a bit farfetched.)
Finally, Thompson's credibility takes a huge hit when he throws one of his motives right out in the open: "I'm going to destroy Rockstar." Say what you will about the mistakes RS/TT have made in the past month - leaving the hot coffee content on GTA:SA discs, lying that the content was native to the disc in the first place, etc. - I don't believe they've done anything illegal, per se. All they've done is produce some interesting, thought-provoking games with excessively mature content and intriguing gameplay while being incredibly stupid about it - but being stupid, last time I checked, is not a crime.
To be honest, it's a shame that Thompson is presented (and, in some ways, presents himself) as one who is against all violent and obscene media in general - and these days especially video games - instead of someone who is championing the case for regulation of the industry and the simple prevention of the dissemination of mature content to minors. Because I think we can all agree that if there were laws and regulations in place to prevent things like 14-year-olds buying GTA:SA, then we as mature gamers could relax (so to speak) when something like a kid copycatting something he saw in a game and killing/injuring someone else happens, as that way it can possibly only be the fault of either the parents buying the game for their child (thus acting irresponsibly) or the retailer breaking the law and selling the game to the child (thus acting irresponsibly) - leaving the only places the blame can be put as squarely on those who we gamers feel should have been the ones to be blamed all along.