Controversy Arises Over Taliban Option In Medal of Honor

CVG is covering the controversy surrounding players' ability to play as a member of the Taliban in EA's Medal of Honor multiplayer. Fox News hopped on the wagon, interviewing a Gold Star mom whose son died in Iraq. She said, 'My son didn't get to start over when he was killed. His life was over and I had to deal with that every day. There's 1200 families from Afghanistan that have to live with this every day. And we live it — it's not a game... EA is very cavalier about it: "Well, it's just a game." But it isn't a game to the people who are suffering from the loss of the children and loved ones.' EA's response to this criticism of giving players the objective to 'gun down American troops' was this: 'Medal Of Honor is set in today's war, putting players in the boots of today's soldier... We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides. Most of us have been doing this since we were seven. If someone's the cop, someone's got to be the robber, someone's got to be the pirate, somebody's got to be the alien. In Medal Of Honor multiplayer, someone has to be the Taliban.' Of course the story recalls Six Days in Fallujah, which was dropped by Konami following similar controversy. It's clear at least a few people take issue with games surrounding modern conflicts.

http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/0...Medal-of-Honor

It's understandable people are gonna be upset by things like this, but it's just not right that people are given too much influence when they play the victim card and try to block anything that portrays a certain culture in a light they don't like, or try to block building a mosque because it's too close to a sensitive area.

Yeah, they're totally right. Ignorant bozos... It's okay killing -or, at least, "portraying the deaths of..."- Afghans, Germans, Italians, whatever in games, but when it's time for Americans to die or there's an option "to play the opposing side", it's a big no-no, right?

Because, aww, dear Gaaawd, what'll happen if the virtual Afghans, Palestinians or whatever win? Chaos will rule the Earth!

May I propose that from now on, ALL games on EVERY platform will have the player assuming the role of an invincible American, killing only people from other nations?

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Originally Posted by Ducklord

Yeah, they're totally right. Ignorant bozos... It's okay killing -or, at least, "portraying the deaths of..."- Afghans, Germans, Italians, whatever in games, but when it's time for Americans to die or there's an option "to play the opposing side", it's a big no-no, right?

Because, aww, dear Gaaawd, what'll happen if the virtual Afghans, Palestinians or whatever win? Chaos will rule the Earth!

May I propose that from now on, ALL games on EVERY platform will have the player assuming the role of an invincible American, killing only people from other nations?

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Well, you are kind of disregarding the fact that you can play as the Nazis and Soviets in many war FPS games.

It's controversial because it's still pretty recent. While I don't personally care, some people that experienced tragedy on 9/11 may because it probably brings back horrifying memories.

As for the mosque thing, it's like rubbing salt in a wound. It's like building a giant Japanese shrine on Pearl Harbor just a few years after WWII. The only difference here is that a lot of mosques are funded by Islamic extremists.

Yeah it may be like rubbing salt in a wound but right now America's the one with the biggest responsibilitly to quickly take the high ground on these issues, so the Government has to make decisions that people might hate because not building it would make America look worse and cause even more global issues, and America and some other western countries have this massive superiority complex and if you leave the people to their own devices they'll keep playing the victim card like some people use religion.

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Originally Posted by symbal

Yeah it may be like rubbing salt in a wound but right now America's the one with the biggest responsibilitly to quickly take the high ground on these issues, so the Government has to make decisions that people might hate because not building it would make America look worse and cause even more global issues, and America and some other western countries have this massive superiority complex and if you leave the people to their own devices they'll keep playing the victim card like some people use religion.

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Well, why the hell is the government getting involved? Dare I say, Seperation of Church and State?

If people bitch about it whenever Christianity gets involved, then surely they would if it were related to Islam.

Remember folks... All those people who died during WWII yet we still have plenty of games where we can be the Nazi's. :) Never heard a big fuss over all those games.

Was it just me or was the most satisfying game of recent time command & conquer when i could play as the commies blitzing the yanks. Just awesome I say bring on more!

Ever heard the expression don't mention the war? Well that's to do with the Germans in WWII because there is a sense of shame for what happened, and they just don't dwell on it and don't make much of an issue about things like games.