Adam Sessler Confronts Jack Thompson

[Sr.Infierno]

On the top "Loop" link (http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/videos/index.html)

[Yash]

The other guy did a better job of arguing against him.

Sessler was just playing the part of "Insane internet fan", except he was a TV show host.

I thought it was funny at the end when the host was trying to end the segment and Jack apparently wanted to keep it going and started interrupting him.

[guerillacropoli]

I thought Adam did a very good job. Key points he made:

1) Teen violence existed before video games were being released (in fact, teen violence has actually gone down since video games emerged, although he didn't mention this)

2) The game has not yet come out, so it shouldn't be condemned until people have had a chance to see it and play it

3) Rockstar has denied a lot of the content that Thompson and others have used to attack the company

Videogames are such a stupid target for conservatives. I think Thompson is just out to make a buck; he doesn't give a $@#! about kids.

[Sr.Infierno]

The part that really got me was when Kevin switched over the the middleman, and Jack said something like, "Hey! I'm here too!"

Dude, let the guy get a word in. You're not the only one here...

[EscaflownePilot]

Pretty good, although I wish that either of the "defendants" were a tad more educated on studies and statistics to counter Thompson's points. Like Adam pointed out (and should've argued further) there are plenty of studies that show that violent people tend to play violent games, and there is very little in ANY of the studies out there that accurately says anything about a normal tempered person becoming significantly more violent and aggressive after playing video games - most studies tend to focus on the people who are more aggressive to begin with. Additionally, no study very accurately measures long-term aggression - the kind it would take for a video game to cause a Columbine. Instead, most only moniter short-term, which is pretty irrelevant because everyone comes off of a good, intense book, movie, or video game with a bit of a high from it, so an added appearance of "aggression" for a short term period can be expected in most people, especially those prone to aggression.

It also kind of annoys me that they just let Thompson make crime today out to be more than it is. What Thompson's arguments almost always boil down to is, teens are violent, and it must be because they all play video games, but the fact is, violence on the whole in the US is continuing to go down, even though video games are more popular than ever with teens. Nobody had those kind of stats to throw in Thompson's face like they should've, and instead came off, like someone else said, like an internet fanboy.

[Mek]

Videogames are such a stupid target for conservatives.

Why thank you for that awesome generalization. */sarcasm*

I'm a moderate-conservative (ahhh, I can smell the hate PMs now), and I'd like to think that as a gamer, I'm not in leauge with Thompson and his ilk. =|

[EscaflownePilot]

Why thank you for that awesome generalization. */sarcasm*

I'm a moderate-conservative (ahhh, I can smell the hate PMs now), and I'd like to think that as a gamer, I'm not in leauge with Thompson and his ilk. =|As a conservative myself, I have to quote this for emphasis. You all have to realize that people like Thompson are the extremists, completely lacking in sense, and don't by any means represent what most conservatives think. So, type your "OMG!ConservativesRtehSUCKS!!!" comments with care.

[Juu-kuchi]

Videogames are such a stupid target for conservatives. Wait wha? I thought videogames were a target for non-conservative folk like Joseph Lieberman and Hilary Clinton.

Comments on this later though.

[Nin-Nin69]

Welcome to another stupid rant with Jack where nobody gets anywhere with him!

On the left we have a mad man who is looked at from the government as the spokesman for video game violence. On the right we have a man who may be defending the rights to games, but he will be an jerk to other gamers out there while acting like he knows everything. In the middle we have the only man who has a real job in the industry who makes the most sense of the group and AOTS's hosts. Mark was even going back to music and cartoons which were the previous concern for Americans before video games. He doesn't sound like much of an expert either, but the man spoke more towards the feelings of the American public than Mr. Thompson or the gaming community.

Can't we just ignore Jack Thompson? He hasn't made any real moves against the industry for what 9 months? He's just making stupid random rants and is more worried about what Rockstar does. He couldn't even push a bill for video games which was turned down because other people understand how crazy he is. Everyone is better off ignoring him and Adam showing up so he can somehow 1-up him really shows how stupid even the gaming community looks.

[.Automatisch]

Regardless of whether or not the man is correct, he is entitlted to his own view of the world, as we all are. It should have been Sessler's job to fix this and give the man a better perspective; a gamer's perspective. Unfortunately, Sessler can't talk... He can only make stupid rants and yell over the other person talking, and this means that Jack likely learned nothing from this little meeting.

[TheMecca]

He didn't even PLAY Bully.
Mr. Thompson, play the game before you judge. Don't just look at exclusive screen shots.

[blee337]

Personally I thought the middle panelist was the only one that had his head on straight. Adam, while not an real idiot, blew his chance.
Below is a response from Penny Arcade. Pretty amusing.



"I hate to do it but let’s talk about Jack Thompson for just a moment. He’s been relatively quite since our last encounter (http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/10/17) but with Bully on the horizon he’s popped up again. His recent appearance on G4 (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/10/g4-jack-thompson-yell-at-each-other/) has everyone talking about him and that is exactly how Jack wants it. The man is a media whore and by putting him on television you’re just giving him what he wants. Not only that but G4 decided to put him on television with two people who are incapable of going toe to toe with him. Whatever you want to say about Jack, the guy is a lawyer and he knows how to handle himself in these sorts of debates. We all think Jack is nuts but Adam is the only person on that tape who comes off as being crazy. The guy can’t even preach to the choir for God’s sake. Mark seems like a decent guy and he stays calm but I don’t think he did any preparation for this. You can’t go up against someone like Jack and just “wing it”. Jack keeps is cool and essentially runs the show. G4 should have just given Jack his own half hour program. Maybe only schedule twelve re-runs of X-Play and then just slip in the Jack Thompson show.
So how do you fight Jack? Well first off all you don’t fight him directly. He’s like the ****ing Candy Man. Mention his name and you give him power. Arguing with him is a waste of time. Jack or someone like him will always be there beating their chest and begging for air time. You’ll never change his mind. What you can change is the validity of his arguments and we don’t do that during a televised debate. We do it through our actions as a community. Last year we took some of the money that came in for Child’s Play (http://www.childsplaycharity.org/) and we helped to fund a project called HOPE (http://www.hopeconnectskids.org/index.html). What is HOPE? Well, here is their mission statement: (http://forums.toonzone.net/)
HOPE gives chronically ill children the opportunity to escape stresses inherent in their conditions by providing distraction through gaming and comfort via peer contact. Through our virtual world we are able to ameliorate depression, reduce perceived pain, and improve the quality of our patients’ lives.
Arguing on TV with someone like Jack Thompson seems kind of stupid now don’t you think?
All we have to do, is not be who he says we are. "

[SirLemming]

As a conservative myself, I have to quote this for emphasis. You all have to realize that people like Thompson are the extremists, completely lacking in sense, and don't by any means represent what most conservatives think. So, type your "OMG!ConservativesRtehSUCKS!!!" comments with care. You don't even have to make that excuse. Most of the widely publicized people speaking about the dangers of gaming have been closer to the liberal end of the spectrum. Don't ask me why. I guess it's because violence has typically been the thing that THOSE extremists call for censorship against, whereas conservative extremists are more against profanity and sex. It's all pretty silly, really. Not that people are concerned about these things, but that censorship comes from both sides of the coin and we usually pretend it doesn't. It's all kind of the same thing when you think about it. The specifics are almost negligible.

[guerillacropoli]

Why thank you for that awesome generalization. */sarcasm*

I'm a moderate-conservative (ahhh, I can smell the hate PMs now), and I'd like to think that as a gamer, I'm not in leauge with Thompson and his ilk. =|

Joseph Lieberman is a conservative democrat. Hillary just trolls for votes on almost any issue. The democratic party has an ugly history of championing conservative causes (PMRC with the Gores in the late '80s to be a prime example) to gain moderate votes.

I'm sorry if I offended any conservatives (sort of), but I associate media censorship with conservative politics. I'm not saying Republican or Democrat, just conservative. Like I said, Joe Lieberman is a conservative democrat, not a liberal. And Jack Thompson is conservative. Radical/liberal politics would be embracing non-censorship, non-corporate media, etc.

Just wanted to clarify.

[Tanooki]

MODERATOR MESSAGE:
political discussion is banned on all of Toon Zone. i'm sorry, but this thread needs to lose the political debate and get on with the main topic at hand: how big an idiot is jack thompson/adam sesslar?

[Robin2099]

Well, the this topic will ultimately never be resolved as long as people like Jack Thompson are so firm in there beliefs. While Sessler did an ok job, the fact that he wasn't very articulate with his speaking(by stuttering constantly) did basically make him look like a crazy fan boy. This topic will be around for awhile as long as people who specialize in getting offended are around and it won't change until the kids who grew up playing these games become parents themselves. It was that way with comic books, movies like Friday the 13th and others, so until that time comes. nut jobs like Jack Thompson should just be ignored.

[Chrono1995]

Wait wha? I thought videogames were a target for non-conservative folk like Joseph Lieberman and Hilary Clinton.

Comments on this later though.

Joe Lieberman isn't a conservative? In the words of Dom Delouise from Blazing Saddles...
WRONG!

Great video, however. I do think Sessler should've shut up a bit more since he's neither an expert nor a particularly GREAT television host, but there do need more dialogues like this from the perspective of actual gamers. Unfortunately, there really isn't ever going to be a firm and fair compromise on this issue. As the technology gets better, the argument only grows more and more intense.

[guerillacropoli]

If Rockstar encouraged the controversy, does anybody think they would sell more games? It seems if Bully became a media hot topic, people would buy it out of curiosity (just like I'm sure there was a boost in Sales of GTA3:SA after the hot coffee mod was released).

In that sense, Thompson is just helping them out.

PS: Sorry for the political commentary; I'll keep it in the PM's from now on.

[Conan-san]

He didn't even PLAY Bully.
Mr. Thompson, play the game before you judge. Don't just look at exclusive screen shots. Ah, but that would require him to sully his virgin hands on the sinnned controller of the demons.

I of course talk in hyperbole

[Noukon]

Sessler comes off as even more of a wacko than Thompson. Good show.

[Zach]

Adam was coked out or something, because he screaming and rambling and acting like a complete idiot. The Gamedaily guy was the best debater there, Kevin should have let him do all the debating with Jack.

[Artimus Gigan]

Sessler comes off as even more of a wacko than Thompson. Good show.
It was pretty much a live action internet debate

Personally I'd like to see Jack debate with some of the creators of the games themselves

[Nin-Nin69]

Again like everyone said and I said before, Sessler really needs to keep his mouth shut. He may host a show about games, but that doesn't make him an expert. And we've seen this theroy proven time and time again.

The best example being the 1 hour special on the Hot Coffee mod and sex in video games. He even got to talk to the CEO of the ESRB and asked the most basic questions that you could find on their site while wasting such a great oppertunity to crack their terrible rating methods. Instead we heard every friggen basic question and conversation already said on the net and it ended the special with bashing female gamers. Wow I learned a lot, Adam. Too bad I have the internet and a large and wandering imagination that can think up better stuff than yourself. Maybe the rest of North America isn't as fortunate as myself and they all grew up eating Lucky Charms and smashing into trees face first all day long. Otherwise we could've done something better and not wasted our time.

I still don't understand how this jerk and that viking got a job where they somehow have the ultimate authority on what the gaming community thinks. Yes please tell me more about Digital Devil Saga and why it's bad when you turn around and give it RPG Game of the Year. Yes Morgan we really care more about 100% accurate history when we're playing Shadows of Rome. We don't want any names or facts mixed up in between the gore and action. Oh, but you got some stuff wrong and that's ok because interns will fix that for the online review. :shrug:


Ah, but that would require him to sully his virgin hands on the sinnned controller of the demons.

I of course talk in hyperbole
He will play the game when it comes out because he's said in recent interviews he's played a majority of the games that he has complained about. He also mentioned in this interview he will play Bully.

Too bad he doesn't have a better sense of humor. Otherwise I'd like to have him play a game of deathmatch with me and some friends on Doom II. :)

edit: Bully has been on the front page of You Tube for over a week now. Which I find really funny. And I must say that is a really cool trailer. http://youtube.com/watch?v=88KNf0MtU14&IA

[Robin2099]

the internet and a large and wandering imagination that can think up better stuff than yourself. [/B]Maybe the rest of North America isn't as fortunate as myself and they all grew up eating Lucky Charms and smashing into trees face first all day long. Otherwise we could've done something better and not wasted our time.

I still don't understand how this jerk and that viking got a job where they somehow have the ultimate authority on what the gaming community thinks. Yes please tell me more about Digital Devil Saga and why it's bad when you turn around and give it RPG Game of the Year. Yes Morgan we really care more about 100% accurate history when we're playing Shadows of Rome. We don't want any names or facts mixed up in between the gore and action. Oh, but you got some stuff wrong and that's ok because interns will fix that for the online review. :shrug:
Uhmm Sessler was just the person who was picked to host the show, he wasn't the person who was making up questions for the ESRB to answer, the questions were the result of the producers. And yes, Sessler did come across a bit crazy in the segment, but he has been playing games for his whole life and it's not like he was just picked for his looks like Olivia Munn was for Attack of the Show. And maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it almost seems like Sessler could of been the most intellegent, articulate person on who appeared to be a master debater and you still would of been bitter because you just have a vendetta against Adam and Morgan.

[Zach]

No, I don't think that he's saying that just to be anti-Adam, it's just that Adam was guinely insane that entire debate.

[Nin-Nin69]

Uhmm Sessler was just the person who was picked to host the show, he wasn't the person who was making up questions for the ESRB to answer, the questions were the result of the producers.
He was picked because he's the gaming icon of G4 since they crossed with Tech TV. Tommy Tallarico wasn't the top choice and neither was Victor Lucas. I'd also love to see some proof about the questions not being his.

And if that's the case about the producers, then what he said during this interview wasn't his fault either. Why else would he not jump at the CEO's throat like he did with Jack Thompson? Heck he has nothing to do with the scripts or comments of the games he reviews either. He's got no time to play games. Let someone else write the skits from their crappy perspective. If we want to use this excuse with almost every interview he's done, then his producers are supposedly the worst speech writers in the history of video game interviews. Yet I don't believe that.

He may have a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, but the farthest you can get with that is a job placement for communication skills within a company. This guy is supose to be a hardcore gamer. I'm a hardcore gamer. Why the Hell are we not communicating on the same level? He should've went for that Master's so he could teach me and his auidence a thing or two. :p


And yes, Sessler did come across a bit crazy in the segment, but he has been playing games for his whole life and it's not like he was just picked for his looks like Olivia Munn was for Attack of the Show. And maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it almost seems like Sessler could of been the most intellegent, articulate person on who appeared to be a master debater and you still would of been bitter because you just have a vendetta against Adam and Morgan.
He's not a master debater. He's not even worthy of going on the school debating team unless everyone is an internet blogger. He's no better than over 1/2 of the blogger blog university of videoblog garbage that's spewing all over the net. Random attacks. Not sticking with the same guideline. Trying to get the last word against a guy who feeds on hate. He should know better when doing an interview since he has the degree to prove it. The quality of education in this country has slowly been on the uprise outside of rural areas and a few big cities where there is an overpopulation of students with a lack of faculty. And what the Hell do kids starting fights have to do Health Care costs? I doubt you'd be starting a fight over who's got Blue Cross Blue Shield. ;)

Watch the interview again and look at Mark who's calm and collect. This guy is the CEO of a company so he's been taught busniess ethics and has to understand how to reason with people and speak professonal in front of a large auidence. The man doesn't need to raise his voice to state a point. He can do subtle low blows while stating the facts. He says "uh" a couple times too many, but this guy would get a higher grade in speech class than both Jack and Adam since he's more informative and straight foward.

And no I wasn't bitter with Adam when I first saw this. I'm giving this guy every week to prove me wrong and he's only done short moments of genius. You would say "Look there it is!" and then it's gone. So it's easier to pick on this guy when he's numero uno on a channel for gamers.

Yet I'm harder on Morgan due to the fact that she's a super model which takes you out of the geek phase forever. They're also trying to vote her in to pose nude in Playboy. In Playboy! Who comes back from Playboy and goes "Wanna play Counter Strike? lol ;) " Can you look into the eyes of a woman who was on the cover of Playboy and have her tell you what games are good and what are bad? Hell no! Above all her viking nature to the show (which I'm not getting into again) really shows how stupid she can be. :yawn:

[GrantM]

He was picked because he's the gaming icon of G4 since they crossed with Tech TV. Tommy Tallarico wasn't the top choice and neither was Victor Lucas. I'd also love to see some proof about the questions not being his.


Funny, I thought Morgan Webb was the gaming icon of G4

[MM54]

Adam is not crazy. He was simply sticking up for his beliefs, whether he was good at it or not. Jack Thompson takes everything too far, and kept cutting off Adam and the other guy. In my opinion, Jack trying to take all the credit and interupting makes him a worse debater than Sessler. That's my liberal and possibly biased opinion. Just because you're a representitive in Congress doesn't make you an expert on video games, especially if you're attacking a game you haven't even played yet.

Oh and BTW, that Playboy thing happened way back in the days of TechTV. Morgan wasn't the only one involved, and she chose not to pose.

[Sr.Infierno]

Funny, I thought Morgan Webb was the gaming icon of G4

She's a girl.

Girls don't play videogames :p

[Nin-Nin69]

Adam is not crazy. He was simply sticking up for his beliefs, whether he was good at it or not. Jack Thompson takes everything too far, and kept cutting off Adam and the other guy. In my opinion, Jack trying to take all the credit and interupting makes him a worse debater than Sessler. That's my liberal and possibly biased opinion. Just because you're a representitive in Congress doesn't make you an expert on video games, especially if you're attacking a game you haven't even played yet.
Yes Adam is trying to stand up for his beliefs and for other gamers. Too bad he does such a poor job of showing off our side. Don't forget that bloggers tell you their beliefs against your will. And if they can't get enough people to lissen to them, then they pass a message around the net about a false suicide to get attention. I'm waiting for Sessler to do seppuku live on the air. ;)


Oh and BTW, that Playboy thing happened way back in the days of TechTV. Morgan wasn't the only one involved, and she chose not to pose.
They've still left the offer on the table not too long ago. So yeah I'm gonna stay with this gesture.


She's a girl.

Girls don't play videogames :p
I know! Who would've ever thought such a silly concept like that would exist? :p