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I'm O.K. - Jack Thompson game

T

TekunoRobby

Tag of Excellence
UPDATE: I feel that I should point out that this game definitely isn't for the squeamish. You engage in various morally reprehensible acts of violence including public urination and the graphic slaughter of animals and children. I do not endorse the subject matter nor do I think it’s appropriate to give Jack Thompson more ammunition by producing a game of this nature but I felt it was an important release that will most likely cause debate. At the very least it'll cause some sort of shitstorm and at least a mention of a lawsuit.


For those of who you are unaware of Jack Thompson, he's an anti-videogame lawyer who's currently leading a crusade of against the videogame industry accusing them of being "murder simulators" and "sexual simulators." Here's the original challenge Jack Thompson gave the industry on October 25th 2005:

Jack Thompson said:
The video game industry says Sticks and stones can break my bones, but games can never hurt me. Fine. I have a modest proposal for the video game industry. I'll write a check for $10,000 to the favorite charity of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc's chairman, Paul Eibeler - a man Bernard Goldberg ranks as #43 in his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America - if any video game company will create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006 like the following:

Osaki Kim is the father of a high school boy beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The killer obsessively played a violent video game in which one of the favored ways of killing is with a bat. The opening scene, before the interactive game play begins, is the Los Angeles courtroom in which the killer is sentenced "only" to life in prison after the judge and the jury have heard experts explain the connection between the game and the murder.

Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the video game 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. is provided in his virtual reality playpen a panoply of weapons: machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, you name it. Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats.

O.K. first hops a plane from LAX to New York to reach the Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son's killer trained. 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 Postal2.

O.K. then works his way, methodically back to LA by car, but on his way makes a stop at the Philadelphia law firm of Blank, Stare 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.

With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. "Game over," O.K. laughs.

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!"

O.K. pushes on to Los Angeles. He must get there by May 10, 2006. 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.

How about it, video game 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, video game moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you.

- Jack Thompson
http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883
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Well now fast forward to February 2006 and the fine gentlemen at Thompsonsoft have responded to the challenge with aplomb. Their appropriately titled game “I’m O.K.” reenacts Thompson’s proposal with a few story “enhancers” here and there. Reminiscent of the classic action platformers from the golden days of the NES and PC (Metal Slug clone), "I’m O.K." is a frantic title with an endless supply of gore. Make sure you don't skip the story sequences to see the wonderful sprite work and the humorous cast of characters. Although I don't necessarily agree with the subject matter this game portrays it is however well done and the gameplay is solid. This game is Not Safe For Work for obvious reasons.

Download the game:
http://www.slutbear.com/thompsonsoft/download.html

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dog$ said:
keep it that way.
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I agree that we shouldn't even give the guy the time of day but that sure as hell doesn't convince the media to ignore him as well. I say keep giving him all the press he needs, he's doing a fantastic job of discrediting himself as it is. You could even argue that it benefits the industry to have such a failure leading the campaign against videogames, if he leaves what if someone competent takes his place? In any case this is an indie developed game (AND WE ALL LIVE INDIE DEVELOPERS RIGHT?) that responds to his challenge and provides a humorous parody.
 
Bet they get sued by Thompson for harassment...actually I'll stake my reputation for whatever you want if Thompson DOESN'T sue them in some way
 
This runs really strangely on my computer; it changes the resolution of my display but the Start menu bar and Office shortcut bar are overlaid onto the gameplay area, which makes it close to unplayable.

NEEDS WORK

6.8
 
Wow, that was surprisingly well done. I don't really care about people "provoking" Jack Thompson because I think its been proven he's not going to get anywhere anyway. Bring on the fun home-made games!
 
Haha, this game is awesome. It's a great tribute to the 2D era, with excellent animation and a nice sense of humor. The levels are fairly challenging, though it doesn't take too long to run through once you get a feel for how to play. I only wish that there was more than 4 levels to play through. Best uriniating character since Postal 2.

Runs fine on my XP box.
 
Killing children? Holy shit. I would never entertain such a thing on my machine.

Why the fuck would someone go and do something like this? Just to put it in JT's face? Seems stupid to me.
 
Yeah the whole killing kids thing was a bit too much for me considering how graphic it was. I know what some of you are probably saying: "stop being so sensitive" "its a badly animated and crudely drawn representation" etc. You guys may be right but I feel that it went too far for the sake of parody even if it kept in tune with Thompson's requests.
 
Asskicker064 said:
Stop getting so worked up. I've been slaughtering children since Fallout 2.
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Its better when you do it on Xbox Live. The neverending stream of cursing when they die is hysterical.
 
Penny-Arcade actually gave the $010,000 when Jacko changed his mind. They gave it in Jack Thompson's name.

Does anyone have a working moirror for the game?
 
mashoutposse said:
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Strongest lawyer ever
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Strongest mayor ever. They need to fight to the death.
 
I got to the end, but couldn't defeat the final boss.

(...and for those of you who are going to attack me because I generally think Rockstar's stuff is "Out of line"... I don't mind cartoon-style parodies of violence, like this game. It's realistic violence that irks me. This feels more like The Far Side.)
 
DavidDayton said:
I got to the end, but couldn't defeat the final boss.

(...and for those of you who are going to attack me because I generally think Rockstar's stuff is "Out of line"... I don't mind cartoon-style parodies of violence, like this game. It's realistic violence that irks me. This feels more like The Far Side.)
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wouldn't it just be easier to attack you for thinking GTA is out of line in any sense of the phrase in the first place?
 
Livejournal post on the game.

http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/197980.html?thread=12683356#t12683356

My favourite part is in this quote:

whittakerchambe said:
Jack Thompson's first response...

Fascinating, in a number of regards:

1. The creation of this "game" does not meet the terms and conditions of the Modest Proposal. Not even close; thus, no cigar.

2. Still waiting to hear from Paul Eibeler as to HIS favorite charity for the donation. Penny Arcade's nit wits can't read, obviously.

3. Fascinating, further, that Dennis McCauley, who is the freelance "columnist" who runs this site can't use his phone to call me at 305-666-4366 to interview me about my take on this. Any real journalist, despite his animus, would have done just that. So much for Mr. McCauley's "journalistic ethics," which is, of course, an oxymoron in the video game enthusiast press, such as this site.

4. Finally, the attorneys for these idiots will be contacted.

More importantly, if Dennis McCauley were really a news person, he would report the murderous rampage by Jacob Robida that stretched from New Bedford, Mass., to Arkansas over the last three days. Cop-killing games have been identified by the Mayor of New Bedford.

Now, kiddies, brace yourselves for this one. Jack Thompson
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His phone number? What the fuck...

Payphone frenzy!! :lol :lol
 
Amir0x said:
wouldn't it just be easier to attack you for thinking GTA is out of line in any sense of the phrase in the first place?
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Well, you COULD, I suppose... you'd be wrong, but that's another 300 post thread.
 
DavidDayton said:
Well, you COULD, I suppose... you'd be wrong, but that's another 300 post thread.
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:lol

It'd be another 300 post thread of people telling you how many different ways they disagree with you, of course, but that's besides the point. There's no hypothetical line to be crossed, and GTA is filled with brilliant satire. When you start imposing these "limitations" on games, you become Jack Thompson that nobody can ever take seriously.
 
Amir0x said:
:lol
It'd be another 300 post thread of people telling you how many different ways they disagree with you, of course, but that's besides the point. There's no hypothetical line to be crossed, and GTA is filled with brilliant satire. When you start imposing these "limitations" on games, you become Jack Thompson that nobody can ever take seriously.
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Doesn't there have to be a point at which most sane folks would find something worthy of being banned?

To be honest, I'm not as much anti-GTA as I am anti-"GAMES CAN NEVER DO ANY WRONG EVER, NO MATTER WHAT!" Games, like any other form of media, can encourage societal behaviour that is generally contrary to the common good. The question always is whether banning such things would conflict (enough) with the general freedom of expression.
 
DavidDayton said:
Doesn't there have to be a point at which most sane folks would find something worthy of being banned?
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Uh, not phenomenal games that have opened up huge doors in the world of game design with intelligent and brilliant satire about perfectly legitimate subject matters.

But I mean, maybe there'd be a line if we're talking about a game that exists for the sole purpose of being racist or promoting pedophilia or something. Still, I'd even like to see games tackle to subject of racism (without being atrociously written shallow bullshit events like Tales of Symphonia etc) and pedophilia in appropriate circumstances.

In my view, the only "line" that can be crossed is when you're rating games incorrectly. A MATURE game is rated M, an ADULT game is rated A+. If there's content in the titles with mean it should get a different rating, then that's the only time something should be changed.

I view games no different than movies, television or comics. And there a billion movies and tv shows which tackle FAR more controversial subjects than gaming has yet even imagined. An interactive element does not change how important it is to keep our freedoms open. A game like GTA crosses absolutely no lines and in fact goes to show how far we need to go when something like THAT gets on peoples nerves. I've read comics where Jesus had a retard blood line and God is killed, seen movies where we painfully watch a pedophile trying to 'recover', watched shows where racism is promoted.

Just because games started with spaceships and plumbers doesn't mean we need to stay in this line, or watch out for whatever hypothetical "damage" we might be doing to fucktarded kids who have shitty parents.
 
Eh -- I still think that there is a difference in that games are interactive media. Other forms of media can explore topics by letting you see or understand what happens -- games let you reenact what happens. It's the difference between seeing a Nazi gas a room full of people and playing the Nazi and gassing the people. I can think of dozens of reasons why a book or movie would show the former, but I can't think of any non-sickening reason why a game would let you do the latter.
 
DavidDayton said:
Eh -- I still think that there is a difference in that games are interactive media. Other forms of media can explore topics by letting you see or understand what happens -- games let you reenact what happens. It's the difference between seeing a Nazi gas a room full of people and playing the Nazi and gassing the people. I can think of dozens of reasons why a book or movie would show the former, but I can't think of any non-sickening reason why a game would let you do the latter.
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I can think of a few scenarios where this would be good (albeit still controversial). I've always wanted to play a game where for the first part I'm a soldier tackling towns the weeks following D-Day, but where eventually I roll into concentration camps to see the horror first hand. Handled with sensitivity, I think it would be amazingly effective in a way only interactive media can be. Similarly, I can imagine playing a Nazi soldier who has just been given the order to gas people would seriously nag at my conscience and would be terrifyingly haunting. These sorts of questions are appropriate, though. And while certainly this would attract nutjobs as well, I don't think it's fair to limit our options because of people like that.

It's all about the way it's handled. I've watched movies where Hitler was essentially deified, and it was horrible and gut wrenching all the same. But it made for fascinating cinema. It's not for everyone, though, and it still stirs controversy. By that same token, a movie that looks at how people thought of Hitler is fine. I think the same thing can be applied to videogames, albeit with somewhat more care.
 
Stop, stop, stop, stop!

Stop giviving fuel this man for god´s shake. He has been already humillated in the court. He is no a lawyer capable enough to do anything.

It´s not worth your time or your attention anymore, seriously.
 
Amir0x said:
I can think of a few scenarios where this would be good (albeit still controversial). I've always wanted to play a game where for the first part I'm a soldier tackling towns the weeks following D-Day, but where eventually I roll into concentration camps to see the horror first hand. Handled with sensitivity, I think it would be amazingly effective in a way only interactive media can be.
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See, that idea is interesting. I'm not saying we should shy away from portrayals of any kind of real world evil...

Amir0x said:
Similarly, I can imagine playing a Nazi soldier who has just been given the order to gas people would seriously nag at my conscience and would be terrifyingly haunting. These sorts of questions are appropriate, though. And while certainly this would attract nutjobs as well, I don't think it's fair to limit our options because of people like that.
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Again, I'm opposed to games being designed where the player is prompted/allowed to act out things which are blatantly evil... or, perhaps, "personally evil".

I mean, the idea of being able to play as a Nazi soldier killing innocents is sickening. However, playing as a random cartoon character who drops a bomb on a city of cartoon characters might be quite fun. It's a matter of the portrayal and meaning behind the actions, really...
 
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