Thompson's idea for a game

By Ellie Gibson Published 12 October, 2005

We think he's trying to be funny.

Infamous videogame critic Jack Thompson - the man who thinks GTA is turning us all into murderers and once described The Sims as a "paedophile's paradise" - has come up with his very own idea for a game.

In an open letter to a load of US journalists, Thompson outlined the game concept and offered to donate $10,000 to the charity of Paul Eibeler's choice (Paul Eibeler being the chairman of Take Two) if someone actually goes ahead and develops it.

The game's main character is one Osaki Kim, the father of a high school student who was beaten to death by a 14 year old with a baseball bat. The murderer also happened to be into videogames, naturally, and had been obsessively playing one in which you kill people with - yep, a baseball bat.

The opening cut-scene takes place in the LA courtroom where the student awaits sentencing - and finds himself facing life in prison after psychology experts confirm the link between the game and the murder.

At this point, Thompson writes, "Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the videogame industry whom he is convinced contributed to his son's murder. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" he says. And boy, is O.K. not kidding."

O.K. arms himself with a huge arsenal of weapons, which includes machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, "Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats."

Then he hops on a plane and heads for "The Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son's killer trained," Thompson goes on.

"O.K. gets "justice" by taking out this female CEO, whose name is Paula Eibel, along with her husband and kids. "An eye for an eye," says O.K., as he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal 2."

That job taken care of, O.K. moves on to Philadephia where he pops into a law firm and "Goes floor by floor to wipe out the lawyers who protect Take This in its wrongful death law suits. "So sue me" O.K. spits, with singer Jackson Brown's 1980's hit Lawyers in Love blaring."

You can tell Thompson's getting into his stride now and it doesn't end there, oh no. "With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. "Game over," O.K. laughs." Genius!

"Of course, O.K. makes the obligatory runs to virtual versions of brick and mortar retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart to steal supplies and bludgeon store managers and cash register clerks. "You should have checked kids' IDs!""

Finally, for the game's climax, O.K. heads for Los Angeles - and he's in a race against time to get there for May 10, 2006, as Thompson explains.

"That is the beginning of "E3" - the Electronic Entertainment Expo - the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage."

Thompson's letter ends: "How about it, videogame industry? I've got the check and you've got the tech. It's all a fantasy, right? No harm can come from such a game, right? Go ahead, videogame moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you."

Who knows, perhaps this could be the start of a glittering new career in game development for Thompson. He didn't mention anything about an online mode or a levelling up system or rag doll physics or bloom effects, sadly, but it's early days. The question is, will he find a publisher? Nintendo was unavailable for comment.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Zomoniac #1 6 years ago

    What the???!!!

  • Thamuhacha #2 6 years ago

    Does it have m0t0r81k3s in it?

  • quantumsheep #3 6 years ago

    I'd buy that for a dollar.

    No more than that, mind.

  • AtomicBanana #4 6 years ago

    Old ;) Some people are already working on a few versions of such a project. Personally I think the games companies should just donate $10,001 and laugh at him.

  • Heds #5 6 years ago

    Bless 'im. He's bonkers!

    I mean, you could never get away with calling the main character 'O.K.'.

  • UncleLou #6 6 years ago

    . He didn't mention anything about an online mode or a levelling up system or rag doll physics or bloom effects, sadly, but it's early days. The question is, will he find a publisher? Nintendo was unavailable for comment


    :D

  • Eraser #7 6 years ago

    One way to utterly humiliate thompson is to actually go ahead and do it.
    No fancy engines required. Put a small team of four or five people on it for a month or two and you probably get the shittiest game ever, but Thompson can eat his hat :D

  • smelly #8 6 years ago

    ace.. i'll knock that up this sunday just to wind him up.. anyone want to pay for a domain name for me to put it on?

  • kangarootoo #9 6 years ago

    I'm really starting to wonder if Thompson hasn't outwitted us all. I can see him sitting on some private island 10 yrs from now saying "I love video games, but I made a fortune in fees from fighting this shit. Ahahahahahahaha".

    Either that or his madness, and apparent self amusement, is simply beyond my comprehension.

    Perhaps its a bit of both, and he is a genuine evil mad genius. Wow, I knew they existed, but I never thought I would actually see one in my lifetime.

  • CyberClaw #10 6 years ago

    I'm going to develop this game using a old text engine. (Like Hitchickers a Guide to the Galaxy, or Zork). I mean it's still a game, right? I know I love playing MUDs, and such, and since the turd doesn't bother specifying this is a graphic game, I guess a et game will be fine. Actually since he doesn't mention any kind of gameplay worth playing, it's specially good it is a text game.

  • Scurrminator #11 6 years ago

    i look forward to playing all the variations of this game that will no doubt pop up!

  • PearOfAnguish #12 6 years ago

    The man seems to have some extremely violent fantasies. Has he been investigating too many games, I wonder? He should see a psychiatrist.

  • Stickman #13 6 years ago

    JT cracks me up! He's got such a tenuous grasp on fact it's funny. I can picture the board meeting at the game companies now;

    "Is this what we've been doing all these years? God, why did no-one tell me sooner? Praise the lord for Jack and his insightful, and may I say witty, dig at our industry, otherwise we'd have just carried on oblivious! When I think about it, murder and paedophilia have only started occuring since GTA came out...OK, men, call in the receivers, it's time we did something worthwhile, for the good of the population. I know! Let's all become lawyers like Jack, and charge 300 dollars an hour! That man is such a Samaritan...."

  • mad_caddy #14 6 years ago

    somebody should make it, then i'm sure a child will end up copying some of the evilness he's described and then he could get sued for outlining such an idea.......it's in black and white........he's left him self open here, sue the bastard!

  • skillian #15 6 years ago

    OK, so Jack Thompson is an asshole. But why doesn't the US deflect some of this criticism and implement a proper ratings system, with 18 certificates for games that are unsuitable for children. That seems like quite a reasonable request to me.

    /ducks flames

  • killyourtv #16 6 years ago

    peado

  • stonedben #17 6 years ago

    The world's gone mad I tell you.

  • sir_tripod #18 6 years ago

    My head hurts from being hit by the smell of irony on the right and down-right stupidity on the left.

  • mastertigurius #19 6 years ago

    We should send Jack Thompson to Japan.

    Would anyone make a site in which we can have a "signature campaign" (in lack of better words)? Maybe if we got more than 10.000 signatures, we could get Take 2, Rockstar or Running With Scissors to make the game!

  • Royal Fool #20 6 years ago

    It wouldn't be hard to do, I could do it with flash in a matter of days...

    But the fact that Mr. Thompson is not paying the people who would make it, but instead donating it to "a charity of Paul Eibeler's choice" is what ultimately makes his proposition stupid. I'd want that money for myself, thankyouverymuch. Or at least get to decide where it goes instead of some random publisher CEO.

  • w00t #21 6 years ago

    If it based on attacking EA, I'd get it. ;)

    I am sure that Jack Thompson actually is not a real person. He must be someone's sock on an epic scale. Tengu, is this you? ;)

  • MieZ™ #22 6 years ago

    :)

  • jellyhead #23 6 years ago

    I'd buy it if it contained likenesses (?) of the people who canned Sam and Max, you could have a mission where you try and gag Peter Molyneux or make Romero play Daikatana, a katamari level where you try and roll up as much Sick Filth as you can before the kids see it, a level where you have to stop parents buying Lula 3D and GTA so you can get the evidence to send the publishers to death row.

  • Kalinin #24 6 years ago

    "That is the beginning of "E3" - the Electronic Entertainment Expo - the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage."

    I hope the final boss is Larry Probst.

    The task could be to beat him like a giant cash pinata so that EA employees can gather up their overtime. His special move would be annual franshise release schedule and it would slowly rot your brain before he finished you off with a Sims add-on.

    Then again, Jack would probably demand you kill the EA employees afterwards.

  • Derblington #25 6 years ago

    The problem with Jack's game is that it sounds a bit naff. I'm fed up with GTA clones myself :(

    Also, isn't it kind of promoting the image that it's O.K. to murder people as long as it's for revenge and you *think* you're justified? Not the right message for the kids surely?

  • PES_Fanboy #26 6 years ago

    he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal 2.

    Erm, I never did this? I think Jack's the real sicko here, you don't *have* to 'urinate on the decapitated cops' to progress in the game, so lets pretend he's done this in the game, shall we? Because he's over a barrel on that one, as he'd either have to admit his gaming 'knowledge' was in fact hearsay, or admit that he'd pissed on a cop's brains in the game just for giggles.

    Ban this sick lawyer.

  • smelly #27 6 years ago

    The lord is vengeful.. and so is jack.

    Actually I've studied psychology, one theory is that people who REALLY enjoy something (such as pornography) but are disgusted by the fact they enjoy it, usually turn into the biggest protestors against it.

    Makes you think... :-)

  • Bezzy #28 6 years ago

    I'd make that! 10K is nothing, though.

  • El_MUERkO #29 6 years ago

    I WANT THAT GAME!!!

  • Xerx3s #30 6 years ago

    BAN THIS SICK FILTH! They should lock this guy up for his voilent thoughts, obviously he is a threath to everyone.

    He also kinda proves himself to be pointless. He clearly never played games, yet he has all this voilent crap in his head. That means that games dont put that crap in yer head, but thompson does!

    And clearly he has no clue as to how much money goes around in the gaming industry. 10K wouldnt buy you shit.

    Anyway, they should lock this primitive save away. Hes becomming unstable and a threath for every sane person. Next thing you know it, hes shooting ppl and blaiming games.

    Anyway, why not make a game thats textonly with simple questions that make up the storyline (ie: do you wish to shoot the e3 crowd? > Yes > You just killed everyone and finished the game). One could fix that in a weekend, make jack look like an arse when he doesnt pay or actually make him do something good if he does pay. He never said how the game should look, just what the story should be. If he doesnt pay, then the foundation could sue him and expose him and his group of idiots as the vultures that they are.

    PS: http://www.stopkill.com/
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/05 @ 13:31

  • SteVader #31 6 years ago

    I'd just like to say

    EDIT: Ooops, just noticed MieZ™ posted the same link - well worth saying twice though ;)
    Edited by 2 at 12/10/05 @ 13:26

  • tratch #32 6 years ago

    Wow, that game sounds like it would blow on ice.

  • Hunam85 #33 6 years ago

    Heh, nice sick joke there Jack, the only other games on par with this that focus on personal persecution of a specific type of people are the anti-jew games nazi's make. Thus meaning Jack Thompson is a Nazi.
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/05 @ 15:48

  • Repsode #34 6 years ago

    Does he know how hypocrtical he sounds? His Atari 2600 probably blew up when he was a kid and he's hated videogames ever since, Either that or he's just another power and fame-hungry loon. Why doesn't he just go on The X Factor like everyone else?

    Also doesn't he sound like he used to work for the notorious Acclaim UK marketing team? (Let us put an ad for Shadowman on your newly dead's grave an we give you a grand)
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/05 @ 15:56

  • Sko #35 6 years ago

    The game industry would be mad not to take Jack up on his offer. I mean, investing mere millions to develop such game while Jack generously offers his 10k. It's obviously fear stopping them from accepting Jack's dare. Ha! Jack wins again. He's such a stud.

    So is it me or does anyone else think Jack has blown his recent moral highground from the Rockstar website incident by ranting about urinating on brain stems and making dopey proposals? Hmmm.

  • Repsode #36 6 years ago

    I suppose this shows how much worth he is as a lawyer and serious defender of morals. If he actually did some work and stop saying "Me good! Videogames bad!" then he might just find some evidence to back himself up. He's an uber-lawyer though.
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/05 @ 16:02

  • smelly #37 6 years ago

    "I hope someone makes it, and sticks his big fat name on the front cover.
    the best thing is, he could be the main character. "



    DESIGNED AND APPROVED BY JACK THOMPSON!!!

  • Darth_Flibble #38 6 years ago

    ctrlaltdel-online.com has a funny comic strip about this

    http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=20 05-10-12 (didn't see the other 2, worth saying a third time ;) )

    dickhead thompson is a fuck-tard and needs to get laid once in his life

    Oh yeah, i thought JT had is own line of bread with his name on it but it said on the side of the bread "THICK CUT"

    an easy mistake
    Edited by 2 at 12/10/05 @ 20:04

  • speedstars13 #39 6 years ago

    This guy got a big fat ego, it's got dented after he was mocked by GTA Liberty City.
    HIs deceptive message:"Vengeance is mine, I will repay."
    Edited by 1 at 12/10/05 @ 19:23

  • Sko #40 6 years ago

    SteVader & Darth_Flibble, that's spooky. :)

  • 360boy #41 6 years ago

    thompson is the biggest panzie in the world video games dont make killers. the really killers are people who get harrased every day of their life.

  • Mashum #42 6 years ago

    I -heart- Jack Thompson, the world's best Troll! I would rather have old gimmer Thompson as gaming's nemisis than someone who knew more about what they were doing.
    Edited by 2 at 13/10/05 @ 10:57

  • firefly #43 6 years ago

    I think this idea has potential but it could do with some improvement. What it could really use is the addition of a two-player co-operative mode. One player assumes the role of O.K. and the other plays as the mother of the young killer who actually teams up with O.K. to take out those who destroyed her son's innocence and turned him into a killer. This woman (I can't be bothered to come up with a name) is basically alcoholic, chain-smoking white trash, her husband left her a year earlier but in flashback sequences we learn that he actually used to beat up her and her son using (yes, you guessed it) a baseball bat - she still maintains that he really does love them and that he's coming back any day now. Deep down she realises that society, her husband and her own failings as a parent are to blame for her son's behaviour more than any video game and that he was never the innocent boy she believed him to be but it's easier to scapegoat the games industry than it is to actually deal with the real problem.
    Edited by 2 at 13/10/05 @ 11:15

  • urban #44 6 years ago

    what a prat.