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Controversy Arises Over Taliban Option In Medal of Honor
eldavojohn writes "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."
fighting is a big part of hockey and games without it will suck alot.
It's okay. drinkypoo is a known troll. He sometimes posts a good argument and then starts replying contradicting arguments and spews flamebait to try to get more responses under his thread. Once his thread has been replied to frequently, he is modded up as the parent/originator. Nice, cheap way to get a karma boost. Check his post frequency. You would think that he doesn't have anything else to do but troll Slashdot.
If we're going to have trolls they may as well be good at it. Beats the hell out of GNAA crapflooding.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
Do you get to stone American women, and take a kalashnikov to a gathering of gays ?
Because "Talibhans" don't exist, after all.
But, there is more than 76.4%* of American who can't write "Afghanistan" without making a mistake, so they will continue arguing.
*No reference available
Lol. Apparently members of the Taliban out modding in force today.
However, I'm pretty sure that does not destroy your capacity for thinking and rationality. This woman is like those crazy parents whose child dies in a freak drowning-in-a-bucket accident and then go on a lifelong crusade to ban buckets.
You know, it kinda does. A real world analogy to your bucket story: there was an incident in Australia where an inattentive couple lost a daughter in their pool because they either left a gate open or had a crappy gate, I forget which. They immediately started a crusade to demand the government begin mandatory pool gate monitoring by a government agency. The fact that it was their own lapse in whatever (responsibility, attention, take your pick) that caused their own personal tragedy was apparently lost on them. Their initial grief caused them to act in a way that would, externally, appear irrational, and also, quite frankly, in a way that would imply an attempt to remove the guilt resulting from the fact that they were responsible. I have no idea what they're like now; this was a couple of years ago I think.
These people have lost a child. And yes, it's a different kind of loss because of the fact that it was to a war, and a child that might have volunteered for it. But regardless of circumstance, it would stil have to be a heartbreaking experience. Unfortunately, as you say, it doesn't grant them any greater influence or control of the right to develop this game. The problem is though, again, exactly as you say even if you don't appreciate it, for now at least they have lost the capacity to think rationally, and just like the person stuck in the middle of a cyclone who thinks this could be the end of the world when a couple dozen miles in any direction someone is admiring the bright sunny day, it's a personal experience and one which greatly and undeniably affects the mindset of the one in the middle of it.
It just makes it hard because while it can be understood that they are obviously struggling, at the same time we can't simply pander to their demands simply because they are in an emotional state. Although I would presume that it would be difficultly to politely get the point across. If that's you're style, at least. To be honest I'm personally of the mind to put forward the arguments raised right at the beginning of the posting; that it's not just Americans that are dying. How many heartbroken parents in Germany have been upset at the long list of Medal of Honor games up until this point that have been purely about slaughtering the sons of German mothers and fathers. I can't remember when their voices were ever heard. Not on the other side of the pond from them, at least.
Problem is, these people can't be ignored, because there are plenty of people like Fox News who will be willing to listen and paint the soft devs or publishers as the bad guys who aren't taking the considerations of the suffering into account. But they can't be conceeded to because, well ...we're talking video games here, and we need to look at this realistically. You mourn the dead, you fight for the rights of the living. Unless we're talking about rights that would endanger said living people, but again, we're talking video games. But Fox will paint the picture using their skewed brush, and sadly enough the completely valid point that EA make about someone having to be the bad guy etc will fall of deaf ears of the "video games are evil" brigade. And at the end of the day, how was that ever not going to be the case. As always, we're on a hiding to nothing.
I'm going to feed the troll, I know I shouldn't, but I can't help myself.
Hatred toward ANY creed is toxic. Period. It will eat you up and leave just the filthy troll we all see before us. You are welcome to disdain religion in all it's flavors, but in this country, you are not welcome to attempt to remove, or stop them. Period. Freedom means FOR EVERYONE, not just the people you agree with. It's utterly dismal that I have to even trot that truism out in this day and age.
Furthermore, the idea that superstition deserves respect is FAR older than you are, and worth more too. Respect for other peoples points of view is the first step to enlightenment. I'm not talking about sunday morning sermon stuff here, I'm talking about coexisting with the rest of the human race. "I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death to protect your right to say it". I mean that. I will fight for your right to spew vile filth and lies, and I will fight for Islams right to spew their particular world view too. The problem isn't really the religion in question, it's the ZEALOTS there of that are a problem. Zealotry is vile. It leads to killings and wars and is the root cause of almost every major travesty this world has ever seen. Not to godwin the thread, but Zealotry, NATIONAL zealotry is what caused WWII. It's not just religion that is scary here.
If you and others like you fan enough anti-muslim sentiment to drive ANYONE out, you will have lost more than you are capable of understanding. I don't care if muslim people live near me, the few I know personally are very nice people. I don't mind christians either, some of them are very nice people. I don't even mind aesthetic trolls like yourself. There MUST be at least one of you that's a good guy. (I haven't met him, but I heard tell...) My problem is with the zealots. I'd be more than happy to get rid of them. Yourself included. Moderation, compromise and open mindedness will rule the world, or the world will burn. Those really are you choices, and some day, maybe you'll figure that out... hopefully before it's too late.