Field Research Analysis Of Video Gamespeak: Jack Thompson
Video Game Violence Field Research Analysis
William Vitka, in his article “GameSpeak: Jack Thompson,” wrote an email interview to Jack Thompson about video game violence and what, in his opinion, course of action should be taken. Vitka used his field research method very effectively, which resulted in multiple questions and responses that are considered very valuable and reasonable to this ongoing debate about video game violence. One example of a very well-written question is: “Is there a correlation between playing violent video games and acting in a violent manner?” (Vitka, par. 9). This question allowed Thompson to support his answer with scientifically proved studies and statistics, including what should seem like common sense to most …show more content…
The first fallacy that he used unconsciously was Begging the Question. He incorporated this fallacy into one of the questions by writing “How many hate or violent crimes would you say are linked to or directly related to violence in video games?,” which leads Thompson towards answering the question in one direction or another, and forces the interviewee to answer a statistical question that he may not know the answer to. (Vitka, par. 7). Thompson replies to this question in the exact manner that the fallacy would emit, “I have no earthly idea, and no one can guess at that…” (Vitka, par. 7). This response in not beneficial to the interviewer, simply because an ‘I don’t know’ answer does not support or expand Vitka’s argument. The other fallacy that was found in the email was the Argument by Rhetorical Question fallacy. When Vitka asks the question “Where does the accountability lie? Are the parents responsible for their children’s behavior? Society?,” he implies that parents and society are to blame for a child’s exposure to violence through video games. This then leaves Thompson to answer the question of which societal group is to blame versus what, in general, is to blame. These two fallacious questions and answers could have been avoided by simply rewording the question; so instead of asking for certain statistics or placing the blame on a specific group, the questions would ask Thompson his opinion on the growing matter at
William Vitka, in his article “GameSpeak: Jack Thompson,” wrote an email interview to Jack Thompson about video game violence and what, in his opinion, course of action should be taken. Vitka used his field research method very effectively, which resulted in multiple questions and responses that are considered very valuable and reasonable to this ongoing debate about video game violence. One example of a very well-written question is: “Is there a correlation between playing violent video games and acting in a violent manner?” (Vitka, par. 9). This question allowed Thompson to support his answer with scientifically proved studies and statistics, including what should seem like common sense to most …show more content…
The first fallacy that he used unconsciously was Begging the Question. He incorporated this fallacy into one of the questions by writing “How many hate or violent crimes would you say are linked to or directly related to violence in video games?,” which leads Thompson towards answering the question in one direction or another, and forces the interviewee to answer a statistical question that he may not know the answer to. (Vitka, par. 7). Thompson replies to this question in the exact manner that the fallacy would emit, “I have no earthly idea, and no one can guess at that…” (Vitka, par. 7). This response in not beneficial to the interviewer, simply because an ‘I don’t know’ answer does not support or expand Vitka’s argument. The other fallacy that was found in the email was the Argument by Rhetorical Question fallacy. When Vitka asks the question “Where does the accountability lie? Are the parents responsible for their children’s behavior? Society?,” he implies that parents and society are to blame for a child’s exposure to violence through video games. This then leaves Thompson to answer the question of which societal group is to blame versus what, in general, is to blame. These two fallacious questions and answers could have been avoided by simply rewording the question; so instead of asking for certain statistics or placing the blame on a specific group, the questions would ask Thompson his opinion on the growing matter at