The video game violence debate
Mark Androvich of GamesIndustry.biz has interviewed Lorne Lanning following his Moral Kombat panel debate with Jack Thompson, on the reasons why violence in video gaming is still generating debate. In the first part of the interview, published today, Lorne blames press sensationalism, ‘the opportunity‐seeking politicians and the Jack Thompsons of the world,’ for keeping alive a contention that science and the courts have repeatedly dismissed as a non‐issue.
Jack Thompson recently claimed to have been asked by ‘the man who organizes’ the Game Developers Conference to reprise the Moral Kombat debate at GDC 2008, although it later transpired (after investigation by GamePolitics.com) that Thompson had not been invited to GDC by either its director, Jamil Moledina, who did not attend VGXPO, or video game composer Tommy Tallarico, with whom Thompson actually spoke after the initial debate.
It was documentary filmmaker Spencer Halpin’s wife who broached the possibility of repising the debate at GDC to Thompson over the ’phone, after the idea was discussed by Lorne, Halpin, and Tallarico over dinner after the Moral Kombat debate at VGXPO. The GDC team has released a preliminary list of sessions and speakers for GDC 2008, and although neither Lorne nor Thompson are yet announced to be in attendance, attorny Lawrence Walters will be speaking on the topic of Jack Thompson’s antics, and other legislative attempts to restrict the sale of video games.
Sources: GameIndustry.biz, GamePolitics.com, Game Developers Conference website