conservative Xn threatens to sue Tyndale b/c of Left Behind video game

[bobbieinok]

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/12/31011/1474

Apocalypse, Now a Lawsuit (Part 5)
By Jonathan Hutson Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 03:10:11 AM EST

The Christian supremacist video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces has drawn the wrath of conservative Christian attorney Jack Thompson. He has denounced and cut ties with Tyndale House, publisher of the Left Behind novels that inspired the video game, and he is now threatening a lawsuit over its licensing of the game. Talk to Action has obtained a letter from Mr. Thompson in which he has urged Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Ph.D., to join him in repudiating Tyndale House.

Mr. Thompson has charged that in licensing the game, Tyndale House, publisher of his own book against video game violence as well as the Living Word Bible and several of Mr. Dobson's titles on child-rearing, "has now become one of the mental molesters of minors for money."

The game immerses children in a post-Apocalyptic New York City setting evocative of 9/11. It simulates armed conflict between conservative Evangelical Christians and all New Yorkers who refuse to convert to their brand of Christianity. All "neutral" New Yorkers must ultimately convert or be killed. "They cannot remain neutral," states the game's creator, Left Behind Games. Bodies of slain New Yorkers litter the streets as the game builds to a final battle between the forces of absolute good and absolute evil. Christian militia fighters include a member of the Elite Forces, who is depicted lighting the fuse on a bundle of dynamite. The game's Christian supremacist theme and eliminationist rhetoric (militia members wielding modern military weapons shout "Praise the Lord!" as they blow infidels away) have elicited sharp criticism from many Christians, such as Paul Procter of the Christian Worldview Network; other people of faith; and people who believe in the separation of church and state. Greg Bauman played the game and reviewed it for WarCry Network. Bauman concluded: "The only way to accomplish anything positive in the game is to 'convert' nonbelievers into faithful believers, and the only alternative to this is outright killing them." Talk to Action has called not for censorship or prior restraint, but for protests and boycotts. Mr. Thompson is the first and only critic to threaten legal action.

"My words cannot fully describe what a betrayal this has been by Tyndale," Mr. Thompson wrote in a letter dated June 9, 2006, that he faxed to Mr. Dobson, "not just to me but to all of the Christian families out there who are trying to protect our kids from the corrosive, violent effects of violent media. A Christian organization has now become one of the mental molesters of minors for money."

"What is more," Mr. Thompson continued, "we as a nation are involved in a war on terror, and this game gives radical Islamists two arguments: that we indeed do export pop culture sewage to the rest of the world, and we Christians entertain ourselves with the notion of killing infidels, now in a `Christian game'."

more....

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Other talk2action articles on this video game:

The Purpose Driven Life Takers (Part 1)

Violent Video Marketed Through Mega-Churches (Part 2)

Revelation and Resignation (Part 3)

Christian Cadre's Layman: 'A Whopper of Being Wrong' (Part 4)

Apocalypse, Now a Lawsuit (Part 5)

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Problems with Thompson listed by dogemperor (has written a great deal at talk2action about dominionisme) in the comments to this article:

I'm torn. (5.00 / 1)
This is one of those instances where I'm really torn.
On the one hand, it's good to see someone in the "Conservative Christian" community go after the makers of the "Left Behind" game.

On the other hand, Jack Thomson is by no means any angel himself--if anything, he's probably best known in the gaming community as someone who's launched full-out jihads against most games. He originally started his career in an obscenity lawsuit against 2 Live Crew in regards to their parody version of "Pretty Woman".

He's also made quite the career of claiming games as disparate as Grand Theft Auto (a crime sim), Doom (a first-person shooter), Mech Warrior (a mecha simulation game based loosely on FASA's (later WizKids') miniatures game of the same name), Nightmare Creatures (a horror sim, in roughly the same vein as the Resident Evil games) and Final Fantasy 7 (no, I'm not making this up--a traditional videogame RPG) have caused kids to go on killing sprees and shoot up half their schools. (These claims were all in relation to a kid in Paducah who shot up a Bible club at his school in what may be an act of violence resulting from religiously motivated bullying; evidence in trial showed he was being harassed, among others, by the aforementioned Bible club which was linked with the football team as well as by many other students, and may have been specifically driven over the edge by claims in a school newspaper he was gay. Court testimony by Michael Carneal himself states he was hoping that the "Bible club" he shot at would "leave him alone" as he was being targeted by them for harassment as well.)

This included, in several cases, attempts to file RICO lawsuits.

Some of his claims re the ill effects of games are a bit bizarre, including the claim that the Playstation 2 DualShock controller gives a "pleasurable buzz" to reinforce play. (Can't speak for him, but last time I checked, AO rated games are pretty much only available in Japan or in adult bookstores :3)

In addition, Thompson has worked with known dominionist Oliver North in past; during this time, he literally attempted to have Ice-T investigated for sedition and incitement to riot for the song "Cop Killer". He's also attempted to get the US Armed Forces to pull advertising from MTV--not because of the "recruiting kids to violence" angle, but because they might see Madonna in undress.

Most of his lawsuits, unsurprisingly, have been on behalf of dominionist groups.

So I'm torn. In this case, I kind of look at this as a case of dominionists feeding on their own.

by dogemperor on Mon Jun 12, 2006 at 08:26:49 AM EST

more comments......

[Kutjara]

1. It's all publicity...

...which is the real point of the whole 'controversy'. From the screenshots and reviews I've seen, "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is pretty derivative fare. It breaks no new ground in design, gameplay or story. The developers have just taken a five year old game engine and slapped a Dominionist theme on it. It's basically 'Postal' for Christian whackos.

Now, of course, it'll be the biggest game of all time, just because everyone's climbing on the controversy bandwagon. Even I find it hard to resist the idea of taking to the virtual streets as an agent of darkness, blowing away fundies with wild abandon, although I know I'd be bored to death inside of five minutes.

Nope, this is another storm in a teacup, manufactured to generate sales. Tyndale will be laughing themselves all the way to the bank.

[TlalocW]

2. Jack Thompson is a nutcase amongst nutcases

He first gained publicity suing 2 Live Crew over obscenity in the late 80s or early 90s, and he's moved onto violent video games, always trying to link any gun violence to video games and get attached to the case to try and get the victims to sue video game manufacturers. He offered $10,000 to charity if someone would make a bloody video game where you're a video game addict who snaps and goes and starts killing the CEOs of various video game companies. Someone did, and he then claimed his offer was satire. The guys who do the online comic, "Penny Arcade," then donated the money in Thompson's name to the favorite charity of some video game CEO. That resulted in Jack somehow thinking he could sic the Seattle police department on Penny Arcade for some weird reason - intimidation or something.

Here's Penny Arcade's comic and commentary about it...

Cartoon
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/10/14

Commentary (Scroll down to "Yack Thompson")
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/10/17

More Commentary
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2005/10/14

TlalocW

[yurbud]

3. weird. sounds like fighting over the straightjacket in the nuthouse.

[PatGund]

4. *grin*

It's so nice when they start to eat their own......