Troy A. Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, Inc., and developer of the critically panned "convert or die" videogame Left Behind: Eternal Forces, claims to advocate free speech, but has instructed an attorney to foment a flurry of form letters threatening to sue bloggers and their readers into silence. Lyndon’s attorney is demanding that all blog posts and reader comments that contain unspecified information that Left Behind Games deems false or misleading be deleted immediately or bloggers will face legal action, including damages and requests for attorney’s fees.
Here’s what’s happening, why Lyndon is worried, and a revelation about the identity of the attorney and his "Administrator."
The game, based on the apocalyptic fiction series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, has spawned mostly mediocre to negative reviews from gamers. When the game launched in November 2006, religious leaders from conservative and liberal Muslim, Jewish, and Christian groups said the game should not be censored, but that consumers should leave it behind because it promotes faith-based killing of anyone who refuses to convert to conservative Christianity.
Lyndon told the Los Angeles Times’ Stephanie Simon that the controversy "has been great for the product." But to date, his company has yet to realize a profit and its stock price has collapsed from a high of $7.44 a share last November to as little as 14 cents in recent trading.
Gordon D. Katz, an attorney for Lyndon’s company, has recently sent letters – some via certified mail, and others via his Gmail account -- to blogs large and small which have either criticized the game, or linked to news reports on the eliminationist theology of the game, or even feature critiques, satirical statements, or harshly worded opinions from blog readers. Radical Congruency received two identical, saber-rattling letters. Here’s the complete text:
The Law Offices of Gordon D. Katz
452 Brookhurst Ave.
Narberth, PA 19144
PH: (610) 275-9000, Fax: (610) 672-9789
September 20, 2007
radicalcongruency.com
2907 S Byron St
Seattle, WA 98144
RE: False information posted on your site about the video game LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces
To whom this may concern:
I represent Left Behind Games Inc., the developer and publisher of the LEFT BEHIND series of video games. Your organization hosts a website that has information posted about this game. Unfortunately, there are many statements on your website which appear to be false and misleading. This type of misinformation may cause significant and irreparable harm to Left Behind Video Games Inc. and must be removed.
Left Behind Games Inc. generally supports free speech in the media and understands how important it is to have various opinions presented for public consumption. It will not, however, tolerate the publication of information regarding its products that is false or misleading.
Left Behind Games Inc. is demanding that you immediately remove any and all information contained on your site about the above stated game that is false and/or misleading, including any such statements or commentary and the responses thereto. This includes posted comments made by others in the context of reading the incorrect or misleading statements.
If you do not comply immediately, the company will be forced to pursue additional legal action which will include claims for damages, costs of suit and attorney’s fees. This may subject you and your organization to significant legal and financial damages.
If you need to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact my Administrator on this matter, Robilyn Lyndon at (951) 816-0901.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Gordon D. Katz, Esq.
Who Is Gordon D. Katz, and Why Is He Working Out of His Mom's House?
The letter does not specify which information posted by the blogger or by his readers is deemed by Troy Lyndon and Left Behind Games, Inc., to be "false and misleading."
Nor does the letter specify that the office address used on Mr. Katz’s letterhead is located in a private house. But an online search on the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Recorder of Deeds site shows that the address -- 452 Brookhurst Ave. – is a private house owned by Linda Ashley. And records on file with the SEC show that Mr. Katz is Ms. Ashley’s son.
The threatening letter from Left Behind Games, Inc., issues from an attorney whose office is located in his mother’s house. The letter instructs bloggers to "contact my Administrator on this matter, Robilyn Lyndon at (951) 816-0901." That would be the home number of Robilyn J. Lyndon, a/k/a Mrs. Troy Lyndon, a/k/a the Executive Vice President of Left Behind Games, Inc. The letter is misleading: the attorney is referring bloggers not to his "Administrator," but back to his client.
It remains to be seen how bloggers will respond to this sweepingly ambiguous form letter issued from an attorney who works out of his mother’s house and who instructs bloggers to follow up by calling his client’s wife at her house. Bloggers know that they're on safe legal ground; but they may still be intimidated by the looming possibility of an costly, protracted lawsuit. And that's why the threat of a SLAPP suit is already working.
To date, at least one blogger has responded with caution, and has removed large swaths of material, just in case the company decides to file a potentially costly SLAPP suit, however frivolous. For example, Dave Chandler’s Earthside.com has responded to receiving an identical form letter from Mr. Katz by removing several paragraphs of material quoting a piece by Max Blumenthal in The Nation ("Kill or Convert: Brought to You by the Pentagon"). Blumenthal reported that Operation Straight Up (OSU), an official arm of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, planned to send care packages including Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq. OSU had also scheduled to embark on a "Military Crusade in Iraq" in the near future. "We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war torn region," OSU stated on its site. "We'll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq." Blumenthal’s article spurred ABC News to query the Pentagon about sending the controversial game to American soldiers serving in a Muslim country; the Pentagon quickly reversed its decision.
ABC News reported:
The game has inspired controversy among freedom of religion advocates since it was released last year.
"It's a horrible game," said the Rev. Timothy Simpson of the Christians Alliance for Progress. "You either kill or covert the other side. This is exactly what the Osama bin Ladens of the world have portrayed us."
Troy Lyndon, the producer of the game, said the game's "warfare" is not violent, and that it emphasizes "spiritual battles" over fighting with guns. The game gives incentives to recruit believers instead of killing the forces of the Antichrist, according to Lyndon.
Lyndon added, "There is no forcible conversion to Christianity, and killing is never an objective in any of the 40 missions in the game."
A team of researchers at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation discovered OSU Tour's plan to send the game to Iraq, and their discovery was first reported by Max Blumenthal in The Nation last week. MRFF President Mikey Weinstein said he is gratified the Pentagon "claims it is going to cease this provocative act" that emboldens organizations like the Taliban and al Qaeda.
"I doubt this will prevent unconstitutional activity in the Pentagon with regards to freedom of religion for more than just a few days," said Weinstein.
One of the sources quoted by ABC News, Rev. Timothy Simpson of Christian Alliance for Progress, has received the same threatening letter from attorney Gordon D. Katz. Here’s how Rev. Simpson responded on his blog, publictheologian.com:
The Left Behind folks, still reeling from their disastrous launch last year, are gearing up for the release of their expansion pack next month, which they have been telling investors would reverse their stock price from it's Nov 2006 price of $7.44 to its current average of less than two bits. As an offensive strategy, they are trying to intimidate the Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in the blogosphere who led the charge against this awful game, in which the object is for the Christian to kill or convert the other non-Christians in the game.
The hypocrisy of these people is incredible. Last year, the CEO of Left Behind Games, Troy Lyndon, tried to give me this song and dance out of the gospel of Matthew, that if I had "ought" against his game that it was my Christian duty to come to him as a "brother" and share my concerns with him, rather than taking them to the press. Now comes "Brother" Lyndon, however, with his LAWYER, threatening me with a lawsuit. Apparently his version of the Bible didn't have that little part about not taking your "brother" to court! I guess the Apostle Paul only meant that this was to be followed in cases involving matters other than retaining shareholder value!....
Christians should not sit silently while corporate money-grubbers make a buck out of perverting the Christian faith. Nor should we sit silently when a game is marketed to children promoting religious violence while American soldiers are dying overseas in the middle of a religious and ethnic civil war.
’Want to Talk Werewolves’
Troy Lyndon would like to blame the blogosphere for his company’s plummeting stock prices. But maybe he just puts out a crappy product; maybe he does not understand what kids want today. Case in point: last December, Left Behind Games, Inc., announced that it was launching the beta version of DreamWebSpace.com, billed as a clean, pure, filtered, safe alternative to MySpace.com. The full-fledged version is set to launch in October 2007. So far, only a few hundred people have joined. Why is that?
Maybe it’s because of the lame programming. The most popular group on DreamWebSpace.com, with 22 members, is "Christian trials" – a place for the faithful to moan about their tribulations (such as stock prices falling from heaven and rotting on the ground like manna?). The second most popular group, with 17 members, is "Wolves and Werewolves," billed as "For [sic] that love Wolves and are willing to talk about it and want to talk werewolves."
Actually, that does sound cool: a forum for those who love Christ, and wolves, and "want to talk werewolves." But why does DreamWebSpace categorize this group under "Science and History"? Is there a science and history of werewolves outside of Professor Lupin’s tutellage at Hogwarts Academy?
Wolves and werewolves is moderated by 15-year-old Ben, who says, "I like wolves and baseball and hockey and God. PC games like Half-Life 2 that’s so better then [sic] Halo 1 or 2." In other words, Ben likes cool video games: the evil shoot ’em ups. The ones that get good reviews on the gamers’ sites. The ones that, unlike Left Behind: Eternal Forces, don’t sell cheap on Amazon.com for $1.59; those that boast an Amazon.com sales rank higher than, say, 3,034.
Troy Lyndon is not cool. He does not want to talk werewolves. He is a member of a boring, inert DreamWebSpace group for game developers, and he has a stuffy personal profile. It states that Lyndon attended Moorpark College, where he studied Business Administration, but that he dropped out before receiving a degree. Maybe that explains the nose-diving share price.
Or maybe his blonde, teenaged daughter Jen can explain it best. She is a member of her Dad’s circle of friends, and she posts this testimonial on his personal profile: "Hi Dad! This is cool!"
But how cool does she think her Dad's social networking site is, really? Jen’s profile on DreamWebSpace features a photo of her kissing a pimply-faced boy, and prominent links to her personal pages on YouTube and MySpace. See, Dad? It’s not evil, and it can’t be stopped with a threatening form letter: it’s your daughter. Don't go yellin', but she's kissin', and tellin', in that big, bad blogos-you-fear.
UPDATE: Gamers Joystick It to Christian Bully in Free Speech Battle