Of All the People to Call a Tool of the Industry...

Jason Della Rocca is pretty low on my list. In my dealings with him, he's done more to earn enemies in the industry, but none the less has managed to be a spokesperson for developers around the world. Not really a person I'd expect to see being challenged as a talking head for the video game industry.

I think Jack's biggest problem is that he doesn't actually bother to read anything or actually pay attention to the world around him. Evidence is of no consequence, he's already reached his verdict before a case even begins. Take Jason for example.

Just look through the archives of RealityPanic, the IGDA, or at what he speaks about at events like GDC or the innumerable other events he attends. He talks about reading more / doing more (I heard what you meant...), it's about quality of life, it's about globalization, it's about real issues facing both developers and non-developers alike. To boil him down to "industry (scare quotes) 'spokesperson'" is just silly.

Jack really needs to just read a little bit more and flap his lips a lot less. Those brain scans he's talking about are unproven science. Most psych studies looking at violence and games are inconclusive at best. Most simply call for more studies because they didn't get good conclusive results.

Jason is right. This is a bigger issue than games. It's cultural. It's complicated. But obviously that doesn't please Jack, because he might have to actually read some of these studies then. What about other causes of violence, like religion? Don't see Jack on a crusade (no pun intended) there do we?

I wish we could just ignore him, but the truth is that media outlets like the attention they get from bringing extremists into full view. What it's really going to take is a concerted effort to review all of this material. Who's conducting the studies? Who's funding the studies? What kind of results do they have? Then at any moment he gets up to speak you simply bring these results to bear on his arguments.

Of Idiots, Jackasses and Red Herrings

Gotta say, being called an idiot (advisedly) and a jackass on national news by Jack Thompson feels like a special milestone for me. Not so much for the name calling, but just to see good old Jack get all flustered and frustrated.

Interestingly, despite his flat out attempt to ridicule, dismiss and discredit me (as a paid puppet mouthpiece for the game industry), he emailed me with a formal challenge to an on campus debate (see full text below). That, along with a half-dozen other emails with his thoughts and pointers to articles, etc.