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Scandalous Games
Scandalous Games is a video game history podcast that takes a closer look at video game related controversies. Every episode, historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story about a scandalous event from gaming's past to his friends who offer commentary on moral panics, ill-advised advertising campaigns, unusual figures, and any and all topics related to video game scandals and how they shaped the medium. New episodes drop on the first and third Tuesdays of every month! Check out more info, including show notes and sources, at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.
Scandalous Games
Jack Thompson's A Modest Video Game Proposal (Scandalous Games Theater)
In today's installment of Scandalous Games Theatre, Dr. Kevin Impellizeri, PhD, recites Jack Thompson's "A Modest Video Game Proposal," delivered via open letter on October 10, 2005, in which the self proclaimed "only certified sane lawyer in the State of Florida" offered a $10,000 charitable donation in the name of then Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if a game company developed and distributed a game in which all Jack's personal enemies were brutally killed. However, when a company came forward to develop the game, titled I'm OK: A Murder Simulator (Thompsonsoft, PC, 2006) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_O.K_%E2%80%93_A_Murder_Simulator), Thompson reneged on the deal. When the makers of Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, made the donation in his name to the Entertainment Software Association Foundation (on a check with the memo, "For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won't"), Jack faxed the Seattle police department on October 18, 2005, accusing Penny Arcade of instigating “criminal harassment of me by various means.”
For more on Jack's antics, including how his mad crusade against video games led to him getting permanently disbarred, check out our two-part series on Mr. Jack Thompson.
Sources: "Paul Levinson vs. Jack Thompson on videogames and violence," Paul Levinson on YouTube, April 17, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XtWV-tIeVg.
Bach - Violin Concerto in A minor - Complete - BWV1041, by GregorQuendel via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/music/classical-string-quartet-bach-violin-concerto-in-a-minor-complete-bwv1041-289529/).
JackThompson.org: http://jackthompson.org/archives/index.htm#10_10_05_01. This is also a useful source for a bunch of Jack's other open letters and public correspondence.
All other sound effects in the public domain via Pixabay's license: https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/.
More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.