The controversial debate over video game violence has been raging on for some time now, with Hillary Clinton's crusade against Grand Theft Auto (GTA) not too long ago and the recent, highly publicized law passed in California banning the sale of mature-rated games to minors. As many of you here at Brandeis are avid gamers-or at least proponents of free speech-I feel it is my duty to relate to you the issues you may not read about in the New York Times. The recent saga of outspoken video game critic Jack Thompson is just one particularly funny episode dealing with the pressing issue of games coming under attack by conservative politicians and interest groups.

A Miami lawyer, Jack Thompson, is best know for his fanatical denouncement of video games during appearances on CNN and 60 Minutes, and for the wrongful death suit he brought against Take-Two Interactive after a young GTA fan killed two cops. Thompson recently ignited publicity on the web with a letter he sent to various publications and game companies called "A Modest Video Game Proposal". In it, Thompson claimed he would donate $10,000 to charity if someone made a game where the objective is to kill game industry executives, lobbyists, and their families. A GTA hacker named Hellfish responded to the challenge, making a game called "Defamation of Character" where the player controls Jack Thompson himself as he plays an anti-game lawyer by day and massacres industry execs by night.

When asked to live up to his end of the deal, Thompson backed out, claiming that his letter was just satire. This was met with much outrage on the web, and the owners of Penny Arcade, an extremely popular online tech comic, donated the $10,000 for him in his name. The guys from PA had had run-ins with Thompson before, and had been threatened with lawsuits; now Thompson is trying to have them arrested by the police for harassment because of their donation to charity. You can't make this stuff up.

As a young industry, video games are facing the same unconstitutional attempts at being censored as music, movies, TV and books before them. As I stated earlier, there have already been laws passed pulling GTA from store shelves and restricting the sale of violent games, even though studies are still contradictory over whether or not violence affects kids.

Personally, I believe this is part of an unfortunate trend in America, that of people not taking responsibility for their actions. Game ratings are clearly marked for the convenience of parents, whose job it is to monitor what their kids are exposed to. And if you go out and kill two cops, it's your fault, not GTA; you're just a psycho, end of story.