Terrorists will use any tool available to them. Even MMORPGs? Yes, a new presentation given at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Conference in Washington gives a scenario on just how an MMO can be used to practice terrorist plots. First the White House... and then... the World! ...of Warcraft?

The Massachusetts legislature will be holding a hearing on Tuesday regarding House Bill 1423. It is a video game law which was introduced last year but never got acted upon.

This "games as porn" bill will restrict minors from acquiring violent games under the same notion of them being restricted from pornographic materials. Find out more on this issue in the full article.

Moral Kombat has finally been screened, and straight after was the panel discussion between Jack Thompson and Lorne Lanning, co-founder of Oddworld Inhabitants. The debate was heated and filled with solid (and not-so-solid) arguments (complete with friendly jests and banter) from both sides.

No hair pulling, no punches thrown (except verbal ones, maybe). Read the full article for more details on the debate.

With today's games being tailored for mature tastes and yielding graphic content, controversial lawyer Jack Thompson thinks America should be just as strict and as efficient as UK in rating titles and making sure those ratings stick.

This is after the entire hubbub of Rockstar's Manhunt 2, being refused a rating (which is tantamount to a ban) by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The following is Mr. Jack's statement, verbatim:

The UK does it much better than the U.S., which rates a game that's inappropriate for minors and then sells it to them. I think the U.K. has got it right. You rate a game and you can't sell it to people if it falls in a certain category - the rating actually has a sanction, whereas in the U.S. the rating means nothing.

Jack Thompson also cited the root cause of the problem in the U.S., being that the authorities' failure to punish or discipline those who ignore the ratings and continue to sell violent games to children. Whereas in UK, such acts mean paying up a hefty fine, or doing time behind bars.

He says that currently, there isn't a single law in the law books that prevent a ten-year-old child from purchasing a mature-rated game, and that other countries should do well to follow UK's system.

However, to be fair, shouldn't the first line of defense - if one considers exposure to mature-rated games as an assault to morality - for minors be their own parents or guardians? Perhaps, with responsible parenting and proper communication between the 'rents and the kids, this wouldn't be an issue.

Isn't that something to think about?

It's no secret that millions of online gamers get too involved with their business. Normally, uninformed people would look at these time-consuming games as evil and even blame them for their problems. Philadelphia's 6-ABC had something about MMORPGs on the news, but it was pretty fair.

The feature was about Greg Straff, a WoW player that spends much time with grinding and raids like other regular players. His mom Lori Straff, who now regulates his playing time, said "it's really not healthy just to focus on this computer game and not socialize with your friends and on your schoolwork."

Another mother, Elizabeth Woolley, believes that EverQuest caused her son to commit suicide. After skipping his ADD and epilepsy pills, quitting his job, and cutting off his phone along with any communications with friends and family, Shawn was found dead with a rifle in front of his computer with EverQuest on it.

Woolley thinks that companies are using gaming as drugs to get customers addicted for their own money. She created Online Gamers Anonymous to help gamers who get addicted to MMORPGs and "save" them. There, they share their experiences and help each other.

While psychologist Kristen Dudley believes that online games can draw you in to a life of isolation, she's skeptic about those games causing someone to commit suicide. "Millions of people play these games every day and they don't have a problem, but some are missing that connection with real life," said Dudley.

According to Dudley, games are just catalysts like drugs, alcohol or gambling. Those who get obsessed had problems with depression or anxiety before and they just put it out on video games. She advises parents to limit the playing time of their children and time spent on the TV.

Now, how long will it take before Jack Thompson or other lawyers come up on TV and say violent games taught Shawn how to use a rifle?

Online site Game Politics reports that beleaguered Miami attorney Jack Thompson emailed them the other day regarding the writ the Florida Supreme Court sent to him. Before this, Thompson was already having problems with the Florida bar with the latter denying his complaints time and time again.

Anyway, it seems that the writ is really aimed to silence Thompson as it demands the lawyer to acquiesce to a suspension. Part of the document reads,

The Bar has now demanded in writing that respondent Thompson accede to a 91-day suspension from the practice of law on the basis of his alleged unethical conduct in a) claiming that three families who are his clients are in fact his clients and b) preparing expert witnesses for their depositions.

We all know how determined Thompson is prompting him to sometimes cross the line when it comes to video games, so expect him to rebound. The document continues:

This demand that Thompson receive the vocational death penalty is based upon The Bar's secret collaboration with Blank Rome lawyers who represent Take-Two, the makers of the Grand Theft Auto murder simulation game. Blank Rome's lawyers are the authors of other actual Bar complaints filed against Thompson in order to facilitate their client's marketing of adult products to children.

Game Politics tried to speak with Thompson for clarifications but it seemed that the Miami attorney bounced around the questions as he answered,

I'm not suspended from the practice of law and won't be. I have no idea what The Bar is claiming in this absurd regard. I have no complaint in that regard because there is no complaint. This is all an over-reaching contrivance by The Florida Bar.

The "three families" mentioned above is believed to be the plaintiffs of Thompson's lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive and other game industry defendants that would amount to US$ 600 million.

When it comes to the tragic event concerning the shootout at the Virginia Tech Campus the other day, we know that it is still the time to grieve, mourn, and feel sorry. But Jack Thompson just won't let up. Because you see, the "school shootings expert" connected the killings to video games which he defined as "killing simulators".

As a response, online site Empire Arcadia declared recently a protest that will take place in New York City at Bryan Park on Saturday May 5 at 1 p.m. According to the site, everyone is invited but the focus is to gather as many gamers as possible to show the world how real gamers play peacefully and responsibly.

Of course, the death of the 33 young individuals will be commemorated and due respect will be given them. There will also be shows and protests to declare that gamers shouldn't be blamed for things like this. According to the site's head, known as Emperor TriforceGameMaster,

I'm tired of the complaining and displacing of blame to tragic stuff like this. Since they will do nothing about it then I guess us gamers will have to. If need be we'll gather the largest force of gamers on the planet to protest against random violence in schools and in the world period. I wonder at times who is worst the psycho’s doing this crazy stuff or the politicians that want to place blame on a videogame.

What more can we say but this, fellow gamers, is for a good cause and for a bigger battle.

And the battle between Mr. Jack Thompson and the gaming community wages on. Circulating the internet is a petition asking the Florida Bar Association for the punishment or disbarment of Mr. Thompson from practicing law on the grounds of "severe lack of professionalism, downright bigotry and stereotypical view of what is known as a "gamer."

It is also alleged in the petition that Mr. Jack Thompson exercises his right to free speech in excess by forcing his views against gamers and utilizing these views to defend stereotyping or bigotry.

We who are known as 'gamers' are people from all walks of life, positions of authority, race, creed, gender, culture and nationality. While some people give a bad example to the rest of us, the whole should not be held accountable for the actions of a few troubled individuals.

The petition was created by those from the gaming community and written by Robert Maillet.

The Salt Lake Tribune's Rebecca Walsh used her column to examine Salt Lake City mall shooter, Sulejman Talovic's motives for executing such a violent act. Walsh writes:

Others speculate that Talovic played violent video games. Attorney Jack Thompson, who is lobbying Utah lawmakers to punish those who provide games that make child’s play out of murder and mayhem, sent an e-mail to reporters with the headline: "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game." That rumor was stated as fact Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

Unfortunately, the ace-attorney's assertions prove to be false for this particular case. GamePolitics alerts all of us that a later February 15th report on Salt Lake tribune says:

Salt Lake City police... have not discerned a motive... With the permission of Talovic's parents, detectives searched their home but did not take any computers or video games...

There's more confirmation on this as Salt Lake City's Desert News reports that Police Chief Chris Burbank officially rules out video games. The report says:

For instance, detectives as of Friday had found no evidence that violent video games may have influenced Talovic. In fact, Talovic did not even own a computer or a video-game system, Burbank said.

Having said all this to you folks, we'd like to ask: Why is it that with every high-profile youth-involved act of violence, videogames are always looked at? Nevermind the ace-attorney that a lot of you would love to despise. Let's keep him out of this. Let's just look at the rest of the elements in the equation. Why is it that when something like this happens, videogames are always considered?

Is this telling us anything about how the gaming community conducts itself? Is this indicative of how the rest of society sees things? We'd love to hear your take on this. But, as always, please keep things civil.

Oh, and before we leave this to you folks, kudos to the SLCPD for their superb job at handling the situation.

As much as some of you might dislike Jack Thompson, you have to give the man credit for being very proactive when it comes to his cause. Now, it seems that he is about to take his fight to one of the places where his efforts are most likely unpopular: college campuses.

The Post-Gazette reports that Jack Thompson is set to debate with Gerard Jones on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at the University of Pennsylvania campus. Gerard Jones is a comic book writer, and author of Killing Monsters, Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make-Believe Violence.

Thompson was originally scheduled to debate Bob Guccione Jr, the former owner and publisher of Spin magazine, and the current owner of the science magazine Discover. Guccione had to cancel because a family member fell ill.

According to Mr. Thompson he will argue that the First Amendment laws governing free speech "do not protect the sale of adult video games to kids and minors." The post-gazette emphasizes that Mr. Thompson doesn't want to ban video games like the Grand Theft Auto series, he just doesn't want them sold to underage children.

Others would like to argue though, that it is the manner in which Thompson has gone about in his crusade that has caused him to earn his "reputation" in video game blogs and forums. Thompson seems unmoved, though. In a Miami phone interview he has said:

I'd be disappointed if video gamers as a group of people didn't despise me. You can't do this work and hope people like you.

The free 7 p. m. debate was arranged through Wolfman Productions of Connecticut.