Vol Opt OS
Aug 8th, 2005, 03:53 PM
If you already dont know about Jack (http://www.stopkill.com/) Thompson. You should really be ashamed of yourself. If you can recall teh vauge recollection of a memory that included the now AO sticker on GTA SA. This is the man to bitch to. Now calling out ot all you gammers, Newbs or l337. This same man has hitted hard on games such as Sims (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/7/25/154724/340), Killer 7 (http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000370053344/), and well.. so on..
alas this fucktard wants some recognition, and just recently has smashed himself into Scott, the one who created VGcats (http://vgcats.com/jack.php).
From: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
To: scott@vgcats.com
Subject: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 17:02:39 -0400
URGENT!
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
jackpeace@comcast.net
August 5, 2005
Patricia Vance
President
Entertainment Software Rating Board
[Address edited out]
Re: Killer 7
Dear Ms. Vance:
I have just learned facts that indicate the above violent game most likely deserves an “AO” rating rather than the “M” rating which your ESRB has given it.
As you may or may not know, more than forty states have “sexual material harmful to minors” statutes which prohibit the sale of sexually explicit material to anyone under 18 years of age. This hiatus between the “M” (age 17) rating and the statutory criminal standard (age 18) has always posed significant peril to the industry through games that contain sexual material, and it appears that those pigeons may come home to roost in Killer 7. “Hot Coffee” is a fairly recent example of the peril. As to Killer 7, please note:
The following is found in a review of Killer 7 by Matt Casamassina at http://cube.ign.com/articles/630/630908p1.html which contains the following observations at this pro-violent game Internet site:
“…profanity, sex and bloodshed are commonplace… We can't stress it enough: kids should not play Killer 7. Not just because there's an M on the box, but because for once that M really means something. There's much more than blood and guts in the game. Everything from the design of puzzles to the subject matter is designed for older players and it's really that simple…. And there are cinematics that feature full-blown sex sequences…. Killer 7's adult themes, which encapsulate extremely violent, profane and sexual situations, as well as a wide range of issues from terrorism to the sale of children, make the M on the box really mean something.”
Ms. Vance, this game was released on July 7, 2005. It may be that the stir caused by the “Hot Coffee” in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas distracted all of our attention from Killer 7.
There is no question in my mind that a video game containing “full-blown sex sequences” cannot be rated anything other than “AO” rather than “M.” The reviewer above in fact says that this game’s “M” actually means something, and he says it twice for emphasis.
There are those who would say that people such as I are “prudes” who have no problem with violence but get uptight about sexual content in games. That is a disingenuous charge, and you know why. I have been on national television programs, as early as the week before Columbine, complaining about 13-year-olds being enabled by the ESRB to violent “M” games. But it is your sister organization, the Entertainment Software Association, that is in court right this second in Illinois trying to prevent the extension of the “sex” argument to the “violence” argument. It is your industry, then, that thinks violence is okay for kids but that sex, given state laws already on the books, is not okay. Well, the Killer 7 game underscores the fact that your organization and the industry it fronts for appear to try to get away with anything that is harmful to kids, whether already illegal or not.
What it also means is that if jurors in a criminal prosecution were asked whether Killer 7 contains “sexual material harmful to minors” in violation of statutory standards, then, based upon the above enthusiastic review at IGN.com, the answer to that question would probably be “yes.”
That answer would put the Entertainment Software Rating Board, in my opinion, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy to distribute sexual material harmful to minors in violation of criminal statutes. This is not a situation in which the ESRB has been blind-sided by hidden or embedded content, Ms. Vance. You all have known that the “full-blown sex sequences” are patently present in the game, yet you chose to put an “M” rather than an “AO” rating on it. Big mistake.
If I were you, Ms. Vance, I would immediately ask the makers of this game, and all retailers, to pull it from store shelves. If you don’t, expect for others to use this latest scandal, which I am hereby officially kicking off, to call for a dismantling of the ESRB.
The fox has guarded the chickens long enough. Killer 7 seems to prove it.
Sincerely, Jack Thompson
Copies: Senator Clinton, Senator Lieberman, Senator Brownback, Senator Santorum
Assemblyman Yee
Federal Trade Commission
Congressman Upton
Class action counsel
Media
Others
[I could really care less about his email to the ESRB. Why he emailed it to me I do not know.]
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:24:04 +0100 (BST)
From: "Scott Ramsoomair" <sramsoomair@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
To: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
Hello, my name is parody it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m a literary or artistic device used in a jovial fashion for the purpose of comedic effect. Though my subject may be real my, I however do not have to be. For I exist as a mockery of that subject. Best wishes!
-Parody.
Now that you’ve met my good friend lets discus just what it is you’re trying to say.
“This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?”
When you can play the entire game, while using a strategy guide mind you, and not encounter this ‘hot coffee’ mini-game once. Yes I’d have to say that it is quite hidden. The content is there but not accessible. It’s like pirates gold, unless you have the map you’d never have known it was there.
I took this information and applied it to fictitious events through the comic. Even with the dreaded pixilated breasts. I can claim whatever I want in this because guess what, it’s not real! Once again it’s my good friend, parody.
There’s also my original assertion in which your rewording was derived. Where I state, you are in this for your personal goals and really couldn’t care less. Have you not launched class action lawsuits on behalf of families who are victims of violence? Do you not stand to receive your cut if any of these win?
Your crusade is nothing more than an attempt to sway the public to your side. You have your own greedy goals at heart. Stepping on the backs of these families is nothing short of despicable.
At the end of the day I can sleep at night knowing I’ve made someone laugh at your own egotism.
-See you space cowboy.
Scott Ramsoomair.
From: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
To: scott@vgcats.com
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 12:47:14 -0400
Get a name and a life
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:56:38 +0100 (BST)
From: "Scott Ramsoomair" <sramsoomair@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
To: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
Hit a little too close to home, did I?
{..... Continued on Scott's site. too big}
and now CAD online has his sayings over here (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/).
discuss!
alas this fucktard wants some recognition, and just recently has smashed himself into Scott, the one who created VGcats (http://vgcats.com/jack.php).
From: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
To: scott@vgcats.com
Subject: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 17:02:39 -0400
URGENT!
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 South Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
jackpeace@comcast.net
August 5, 2005
Patricia Vance
President
Entertainment Software Rating Board
[Address edited out]
Re: Killer 7
Dear Ms. Vance:
I have just learned facts that indicate the above violent game most likely deserves an “AO” rating rather than the “M” rating which your ESRB has given it.
As you may or may not know, more than forty states have “sexual material harmful to minors” statutes which prohibit the sale of sexually explicit material to anyone under 18 years of age. This hiatus between the “M” (age 17) rating and the statutory criminal standard (age 18) has always posed significant peril to the industry through games that contain sexual material, and it appears that those pigeons may come home to roost in Killer 7. “Hot Coffee” is a fairly recent example of the peril. As to Killer 7, please note:
The following is found in a review of Killer 7 by Matt Casamassina at http://cube.ign.com/articles/630/630908p1.html which contains the following observations at this pro-violent game Internet site:
“…profanity, sex and bloodshed are commonplace… We can't stress it enough: kids should not play Killer 7. Not just because there's an M on the box, but because for once that M really means something. There's much more than blood and guts in the game. Everything from the design of puzzles to the subject matter is designed for older players and it's really that simple…. And there are cinematics that feature full-blown sex sequences…. Killer 7's adult themes, which encapsulate extremely violent, profane and sexual situations, as well as a wide range of issues from terrorism to the sale of children, make the M on the box really mean something.”
Ms. Vance, this game was released on July 7, 2005. It may be that the stir caused by the “Hot Coffee” in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas distracted all of our attention from Killer 7.
There is no question in my mind that a video game containing “full-blown sex sequences” cannot be rated anything other than “AO” rather than “M.” The reviewer above in fact says that this game’s “M” actually means something, and he says it twice for emphasis.
There are those who would say that people such as I are “prudes” who have no problem with violence but get uptight about sexual content in games. That is a disingenuous charge, and you know why. I have been on national television programs, as early as the week before Columbine, complaining about 13-year-olds being enabled by the ESRB to violent “M” games. But it is your sister organization, the Entertainment Software Association, that is in court right this second in Illinois trying to prevent the extension of the “sex” argument to the “violence” argument. It is your industry, then, that thinks violence is okay for kids but that sex, given state laws already on the books, is not okay. Well, the Killer 7 game underscores the fact that your organization and the industry it fronts for appear to try to get away with anything that is harmful to kids, whether already illegal or not.
What it also means is that if jurors in a criminal prosecution were asked whether Killer 7 contains “sexual material harmful to minors” in violation of statutory standards, then, based upon the above enthusiastic review at IGN.com, the answer to that question would probably be “yes.”
That answer would put the Entertainment Software Rating Board, in my opinion, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy to distribute sexual material harmful to minors in violation of criminal statutes. This is not a situation in which the ESRB has been blind-sided by hidden or embedded content, Ms. Vance. You all have known that the “full-blown sex sequences” are patently present in the game, yet you chose to put an “M” rather than an “AO” rating on it. Big mistake.
If I were you, Ms. Vance, I would immediately ask the makers of this game, and all retailers, to pull it from store shelves. If you don’t, expect for others to use this latest scandal, which I am hereby officially kicking off, to call for a dismantling of the ESRB.
The fox has guarded the chickens long enough. Killer 7 seems to prove it.
Sincerely, Jack Thompson
Copies: Senator Clinton, Senator Lieberman, Senator Brownback, Senator Santorum
Assemblyman Yee
Federal Trade Commission
Congressman Upton
Class action counsel
Media
Others
[I could really care less about his email to the ESRB. Why he emailed it to me I do not know.]
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:24:04 +0100 (BST)
From: "Scott Ramsoomair" <sramsoomair@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
To: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
Hello, my name is parody it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m a literary or artistic device used in a jovial fashion for the purpose of comedic effect. Though my subject may be real my, I however do not have to be. For I exist as a mockery of that subject. Best wishes!
-Parody.
Now that you’ve met my good friend lets discus just what it is you’re trying to say.
“This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?”
When you can play the entire game, while using a strategy guide mind you, and not encounter this ‘hot coffee’ mini-game once. Yes I’d have to say that it is quite hidden. The content is there but not accessible. It’s like pirates gold, unless you have the map you’d never have known it was there.
I took this information and applied it to fictitious events through the comic. Even with the dreaded pixilated breasts. I can claim whatever I want in this because guess what, it’s not real! Once again it’s my good friend, parody.
There’s also my original assertion in which your rewording was derived. Where I state, you are in this for your personal goals and really couldn’t care less. Have you not launched class action lawsuits on behalf of families who are victims of violence? Do you not stand to receive your cut if any of these win?
Your crusade is nothing more than an attempt to sway the public to your side. You have your own greedy goals at heart. Stepping on the backs of these families is nothing short of despicable.
At the end of the day I can sleep at night knowing I’ve made someone laugh at your own egotism.
-See you space cowboy.
Scott Ramsoomair.
From: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
To: scott@vgcats.com
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 12:47:14 -0400
Get a name and a life
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:56:38 +0100 (BST)
From: "Scott Ramsoomair" <sramsoomair@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: This sex isn't hidden, Scott. Wouldn't want the facts to get in the way or your drawing, now would you?
To: "Jack Thompson" <jackpeace@comcast.net>
Hit a little too close to home, did I?
{..... Continued on Scott's site. too big}
and now CAD online has his sayings over here (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/).
discuss!