Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modification

[Shawn Zipay]

General idiot and disbarred for life ex-lawyer, Jack Thompson is at it again. This time he's threatening Valve's Gabe Newell over the content in a third-party modification for Half-Life 2 called School Shooter: North American Tour 2012. A mod that, obviously, Valve has no control over and no affiliation with. However, let's go ahead and read the crazy together, shall we?

"Dear Mr. Newell:

You either know or should know that the more moral midgets who run Checkerboarded Studios have created a mod for your company's Half-Life which they call School Shooter: North American Tour 2012. This mod is a full-blown Columbine massacre simulator which cannot function without your company's assistance and acquiescence.

Attached herewith is a letter from FHE-ASAP that expresses their, my, and others' concerns about this Columbine massacre mod. As you either know or should know, your Half-Life murder simulator was obsessively played, and thus became a training aid, for a) teenaged Robert Steinhauser, who authored at Erfurt, Germany, the worst school shooting massacre in European history, and b) Seung-Hi Cho, who authored at Virginia Tech University the worst school shooting massacre in world history. As to the latter, the sources of this information are the Washington Post and the New York Times. Now some sociopaths have made reprises of Erfurt and Virginia Tech far more likely.

Given the fact that your company has the technological ability to stop the operation of School Shooter, you must undertake steps immediately to do so.

Speaking for myself alone (for now), you have until five o'clock pm Eastern standard time this Friday, March 18, 2011, to shut down this public safety hazard I predicted years ago this school massacre game would arrive. I hate being right all the time.

GOVERN YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY.

Regards, Jack Thompson"

Letters were also apparently sent to Checkerboarded Studios, FHE-ASAP (Florida Higher Education Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention), the United States Secretary of Education, and others. As The Escapist notes, the murders at Virginia Tech were not related to videogames, as per the official U.S. government report.

/facepalm

[K-16]

Re: Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modificatio

I'm going to try to see this from Mr. Thompson's perspective for the sake of fairness. Checkerboarded Studios was asked by Thompson to shut this mod down, because it really IS tasteless. The entire purpose of this mod is to accurately portray a school shooting without relying on shock value (as memorable games based on tragedies are usually intentionally half-a$$ed attempts), which to some people would be absolutely retarded since Checkerboarded Studios is working hard to abuse the right to free speech (through art) and offend on purpose. Apparently we're supposed to move on and find this game boring rather than upsetting (perhaps like a WWII shooter?). So Thompson wanted to stop this from being further developed and distributed. Checkboarded Studios obviously ignored this, so Thompson had to turn to a higher authority that Checkboarded Studios would probably listen to. VALVe Software and their legal representatives. Honestly, he probably should've carbon copied to Mr. Lombardi to prevent any confusion that he is only targetting Mr. Newell, rather than VALVe Software (and said lawyers) as a whole.

Next, as The Escapist pointed out, the report did in fact show no connection to violent video games at all. I mean, Mr. Cho has a roommate who claims they have never seen him play a video or computer game. I will completely discount the parents' claims that he plays Sonic The Hedgehog, as Mr. Cho can be hiding violent video games from his parents. However, hiding from his roommates? Unlikely, given there is no reason to.

So what about Mr. Steinhauser? I'm afraid I did find indication that violent video games can contribute to his inurement/desensitization. Television was also mentioned, though it didn't state whether the shows were violent-themed or not. As for the parents, they claim they did try to reduce his consumption of said entertainment, but implied the child refuses to listen (lets be honest, most of us would probably ignore our parents if they tell us to turn the XboxWiiPCS360 off because we were doing one too many headshots for too many hours). So this is a possibility that Mr. Steinhauser saw violence as an option for vengeance in retaliation to being expelled from school. We can argue that his primary reason for this horrible tragedy is due to his expulsion, but Mr. Thompson can easily argue that out of all the options Mr. Steinhauser could've chosen to cope with this issue, he chose this psychotic path. Well what made him feel numb and cold enough to do this? It didn't help that the firearm laws were becoming stricter (pressure to act now), and Mr. Steinhauser probably read Ines Geipel's book (unable to confirm, but a possibility given his final words matched the title of Mr. Geipel's book).

Why on Earth did I type all this that nobody will read, because it's a tl;dr message? Perhaps I'm trying to see through the unusual attitude of Mr. Thompson and understand his point of view rather than shutting him out... Or... I like feeding trolls for fun. Hmm... Probably the latter. Well, that was a fun waste of time.

[Linux]

Re: Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modificatio

Mr. Thompson needs to get off his high horse and find a hobby more than complaining about stupid trivial crap of this.

I'm going to stab at this in an odd direction. Yes I understand this mod is there just to piss people off in the world which I believe it made Mr. Thompson rage a bit when he saw this and started sending all his bull**** around to these people yet again. I personally think that if the government says one word about the dev. of this game or attempts to stop it I am going to be utter pissed, because the United States government has no right to say what can be made and what can't be made last I remember.
There are so many other games out there in the world that blow up children, cars, people, hostages, you name it and are just are gory as this mod is going to probably be. The game has a general purpose: Shot people => Points => Better stuff => You die => You lose. Nothing much more special than that, oh no we are putting teachers, students and janitors in the game and shotting them in a school setting. I know many other games that put you in school settings, and/or run down school settings that you shot up people. Why is everyone getting so damn worked up about this; if you don't like it don't play it. And people really got to stop blaming video games for killing people; so stupid to say that when it truly doesn't.

Now I know some person is going to try to flame me on me supporting this game, but I'm sorry its just a game if you don't like it don't play it don't support it simple as that... Me personally I'm looking forward to seeing the end product of this, it sounds like an interesting concept. No wait, the game has been made 1024012984 before, we're just putting it in a school setting with TEACHERS and STUDENTS, what the hell difference does it matter if it was in a field of flowers with wild animals. We all know if it was that animal acitivist lovers are going to come poo all over it saying "oh no your killing wild animals it is wrong, stop making this game."

Any who, I don't think school shootings are funny at all, nor do I ever want to hear/see anymore of them, but this is a game for damn sake and it truly has done the sole purpose of pissing people off I believe. Which is pretty hilarious because you could just put w/e you want in a school setting and start shooting them and I'm sure no one is going to like it.

[Thortok2000]

Re: Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modificatio

'I hate being right all the time'? Seriously? This guy has completely lost any sense of how to make friends and influence enemies. While his logic may be right, and his predictions may be right (notice how I said 'may' be) if he keeps acting like this, nobody's going to treat him seriously or pay attention. He's got self-righteous written all over him.

This mod is completely tasteless and immature. It should never be on Steam and anyone with a conscience should blacklist it immediately.

There was a recent article on some war game that, in multiplayer, involved being able to play as Taliban (or similar terrorists) and therefore being able to attack and kill US troops (it obviously did not occur in the singleplayer storyline). It was banned from purchase on army bases. I forget what happened there, but as the game was made in the spirit of supporting the troops, there was at least some attempt at public relations and I believe if I recall correctly, even a change to the game in some way to attempt to appease the wives and children of those who died in the war. Forget what the change was, if I remember correctly, it was changing the Taliban to be less Taliban-ish? I don't remember.

This mod? Pure, unadulterated obscenity. I speak from a position of ignorance, but I cannot imagine a mod such as the one described having any positive value whatsoever. I can only conceive that the mod makers are immature jerks and/or out of their minds. Anything that can be done to shut it down should be, although letter's such as JT's are little more than ineffective.

In response to "It's just a game", let me quote 10 Things I Hate About You. "And Hell is just a sauna."

[K-16]

Re: Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modificatio

... [I]f he keeps acting like this, nobody's going to treat him seriously or pay attention...

Actually I'd say it's working for him. He was on CBS' 60 Minutes, he was interviewed as an "expert" by the media during the tragedy regarding Mr. Cho, and well... We're feeding this troll right now. I'd say we all completely failed (especially myself) to ignore him whatsoever. Just because we insult him, doesn't mean he's being ignored. It means he's getting attention regardless of how negative it is. The internet phrase "don't feed the trolls" really does apply here interestingly enough. However, I am not free from blame as my previous post has just proven (with several typos I can't fix).

... There was a recent article on some war game that, in multiplayer, involved being able to play as Taliban... I [f]orget what the change was, if I remember correctly, it was changing the Taliban to be less Taliban-ish?

EA/DICE's Medal of Honor had the terrorist team "Taliban" changed to "Opposing Forces." Nothing else was changed. I had to mention DICE here, since we're talking about the multiplayer portion here, and DICE was responsible for that. I don't know if the game was unbanned in U.S. military bases after that though.

I can only conceive that the mod makers are immature jerks and/or out of their minds.

The first question in this interview explains the motivation behind this mod.

In response to "It's just a game", let me quote 10 Things I Hate About You. "And Hell is just a sauna."

Well Manhunt had enough sales to warrant a sequel, MadWorld apparently succeeded on the Nintendo Wii, Mortal Kombat's reboot is something many of us are looking forward to, and Duke Nukem Forever allows you to enjoy an interactive bathroom glory hole and punch an alien in the nether regions. When we want to abuse the right of freedom of speech through art, we can. This game is no different. Don't forget, none of us are all that offended with World War II games. MoH changed the name of the terrorists? Well, the school shooting mod isn't based on any school whatsoever. The levels were completely designed with gameplay in mind, rather than authenticity towards any school. Point? Neither MoH nor the school shooting mod is authentic to the real thing (though some aspects are consistently similar to the real thing, which is intentionally part of the immersive experience by the developers). Yet, some of us (including myself, because this is flat out abuse of freedom of speech) are offended by the latter game. Interesting.


... I still can't believe I made that many typos in my previous post. I even forgot to use "Mr." in "Thompson" numerous times, automatically ruining my attempt at showing Mr. Thompson's perspective in a respectful way. Damn it.

[Thortok2000]

Re: Jack Thompson Threatens Gabe Newell over Third-Party "School Shooter" Modificatio

That's an interesting article you linked to. I'm particularly flabbergasted by this question and answer:

How did you feel when you personally heard about Columbine or the Virginia Tech shootings?
I think the media tried to cover it in a way that made the events more dramatic than they actually were. Even in my younger age, I saw right through most of it. The way the news victimized the victims and overplayed the evil of the shooters disgusted me more than the actual shootings themselves. The fact of the matter is, I never knew any of the victims, or anybody else who attended the schools. It affected me as much as hearing about the quakes in Haiti. Which is to say, not very much at all.

That kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?

The guy basically says he has no emotional connection and therefore it can be assumed that nobody else will have an emotional connection and that anyone that does have an emotional connection anyway is just silly and to be ignored and it's their fault for having an emotional connection when it's just a game.

That's just a slippery slope to saying that nobody should have an emotional connection about anything and that emotions are worthless. Reminds me a lot of a movie I recently saw: Unthinkable. There's always lines, and they'll always be crossed from time to time, but the kind of person who goes seeking to cross them without really caring that they're there is pretty despicable. And it's sad when we either can't or don't stop them for the sake of others who will be injured by it.