Is the videogame industry spineless?

This is my first blog post here!

How many years have Jack Thompson and other ill informed politicians, anti violence groups, and other been slandering the video game industry? Sure every time Wacky Jacky opens his mouth about Grand Theft Auto right as its being released, the game in question manages to sell millions of copies due in small part to the hatred of that man. That's one way of viewing the situation, and I think that's the route that the industry has been taking for all of these years. Here's my view of it though:

If you're walking down the street one day and you see someone with a similar stature and facial features as you rob a bank, and the cops arrest you and the real culprit is still at large, what are you going to do? YOU know you didn't rob the bank right? Are you going to remain silent about the ordeal and just hope that things work themselves out eventually, or stand up for yourself and say "That's not true!" I feel like the video game industry has been remaining silent, and for far too long. Sure, we've got the ESA and ECA, but where the hell were they when that dumb broad Cooper Lawrence was trashing Mass Effect? The only reason she ended up retracting her statments were because gamers flocked to Amaon to trash her book that she'd released. ANd she'd been quoted in saying that after she'd actually SEEN the "sex scenes" in Mass Effect, she didn't think they were that big of a deal. She went into the interview with an Agenda but ultimately we gamers and Geoff had to pick up the slack and do what the ESA and ECA  did not. Video game compainies need to take a stand and say that if you are going to slander our product without takking the time to find out more information about it, there will be reprocussions.

This is my first blog post here!

How many years have Jack Thompson and other ill informed politicians, anti violence groups, and other been slandering the video game industry? Sure every time Wacky Jacky opens his mouth about Grand Theft Auto right as its being released, the game in question manages to sell millions of copies due in small part to the hatred of that man. That's one way of viewing the situation, and I think that's the route that the industry has been taking for all of these years. Here's my view of it though:

If you're walking down the street one day and you see someone with a similar stature and facial features as you rob a bank, and the cops arrest you and the real culprit is still at large, what are you going to do? YOU know you didn't rob the bank right? Are you going to remain silent about the ordeal and just hope that things work themselves out eventually, or stand up for yourself and say "That's not true!" I feel like the video game industry has been remaining silent, and for far too long. Sure, we've got the ESA and ECA, but where the hell were they when that dumb broad Cooper Lawrence was trashing Mass Effect? The only reason she ended up retracting her statments were because gamers flocked to Amaon to trash her book that she'd released. ANd she'd been quoted in saying that after she'd actually SEEN the "sex scenes" in Mass Effect, she didn't think they were that big of a deal. She went into the interview with an Agenda but ultimately we gamers and Geoff had to pick up the slack and do what the ESA and ECA  did not. Video game compainies need to take a stand and say that if you are going to slander our product without takking the time to find out more information about it, there will be reprocussions.

Why would they silence that which, as you stated, generates so much revenue?
They are businesses attempting to make a profit, not to live up to a moral code.

Companies are scared to make any response to things like that. Anything they say these days can cause great controversy...It's a gamble most aren't willing to take. Unlike Rockstar, which has more balls than a golf course.

I don't understand why they'd be scared to go up against someone like Jack Thompson, who has no career yet still continues to threaten the industry.

cash rules everything around me, the videogame industry is no different.
get money get paid.

I don't think they need to be angry at these people, afterall, any publicity is good publicity. Especially when those fighting against the industry only appeal to the paranoid and ignorant, which aren't even going to be in anyway part of their target market.

@End_Boss- The controversy in and of itself is not the main reason why a game will sell so well, it's only a small part. People bought games like GTA 4, Bioshock and bully because of the hype around them.

"People bought games like GTA 4, Bioshock and bully because of the hype around them."

Business is business. Negative publicity harms business either way. The only difference is that the key difference between videogames and other forms of media(interactivity) is being pushed as something which makes it seem too real, so it's taking more flak. For now, anyway.

Even slander is advertising. As long as it's nothing but airy words, they I don't think they would need to stop them.

Jack Thompson is pure evil, and you NEVER fuck with pure evil. There was a time when I doubted that he was pure evil, but then I read a little more on him, and found out I was dead-on with the pure evil part. He will not rest until video games are purged from the very fabric of existence.

"Jack Thompson is pure evil, and you NEVER fuck with pure evil. There was a time when I doubted that he was pure evil, but then I read a little more on him, and found out I was dead-on with the pure evil part. He will not rest until video games are purged from the very fabric of existence."

"Why would they silence that which, as you stated, generates so much revenue?They are businesses attempting to make a profit, not to live up to a moral code."

Yes while we all love video games,it's a shameless,corporate business that for the most part doesn't care about the average user.But yes the video game industry is spineless,but there are a lot of developers out there who do care and try to do their best to make it awesome for the community and interact and gain information and just be nice to and make personal sacrifices to please the overall community because solid bonds between business' and customers go a long way in these trying times.