In light of the controversy surrounding the ability to play as the Taliban in Electronic Arts’ upcoming Medal of Honor, Northern California’s Times-Herald solicited reader input on the title, in the form of letters to the editor, and listed them on their website.
The responses range from ambivalent to angry, and probably represent a decent enough cross-section of opinions. Samplings of the responses are shared below, led off with our personal favorite:
Aubrey Cosentino: I don't think they should have even made this game, let alone try and release it. I would never buy it. My brother is in the Navy and served over in Iraq. It's a slap in the face to Americans is what it is; first they want to build a temple, now this game, come on now ...
Linda Peterson: I would NOT buy it -- but I don't play or buy any war games at all. I think the Taliban option is in extremely bad taste. Offensive even.
Joe Riordan: In all fairness, I think all games dealing with wars or battles should be able to be experienced from either side. IT'S A GAME, PEOPLE. Get over it. We take everything way too seriously. Grow the heck up.
Rob Page: As an Iraqi freedom vet, I feel it is extremely offensive to have game players be the Taliban. I love playing all the first-person shooter games, but this one I am going to pass up and hope many others will, too.
Kevin K-rock Scruggs: What's the difference from Medal and Honor and Grand Theft Auto. I'm sure that police officers are not fans of that game.
Patty Kelly Morris: Sounds like it should be used for our soldiers to train with instead of releasing it to the general public.
Tina Fowler: It's certainly not a game I would play, but isn't the freedom to make and play it exactly what our troops have fought for through the years?
Fernando Vincent Sierra: Our best defense against this sort of marketing would be to not buy it. But to deny a company from producing anything is stepping on constitutional rights of opinion, armament. Hate to see products like this being sold and if I saw it on the shelves, I would say something to the manager and not shop at their establishment.
Amberly Stoddard Krupcznski: What a crock, that game should be burned off the shelves!!!!!!!!
Tacuma Alexander: Violence is violence. Does it really matter what side you're on? Whether you're a character fighting for the American side or fighting for the Taliban side, it's all the same effect.
Many more opinions over at the Times-Herald site.
Comments
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
"Connie Stancliff: We all have the right to our opinions and I personally hate the idea that they would create a game shooting and killing American soldiers."
Uh, this has been the case for quite some time now.
"I hate all the fighting games. I have two sons that play Modern Warfare 2, and when I see how intense they get into it, it literally makes my stomach turn.
What are you going to do when one of them is 22 years old? Unfortunately, those are the games that sell and so many younger children own them, even though you have to be an adult to buy them. It just makes me wonder, "If it's only a game, why do they get so mad playing it?" Games are supposed to be fun. They used to be, anyway."
This is a competitive thing, not a violent video game thing. Stop witch hunting where there are no witches.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
The game seems like a standard America/Allies vs somebody else. I don't know of anybody being offended by the ability to play as the Japanese or Nazis in World War Two games. The difference might just be time. Most WWII veterans are either dead or don't pay attention to video games, but almost all of the veterans of this war are still alive and a majority play video games in some capacity.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
As I tend to describe it, they're selfish. A conflict they're emotionally or physically involved with, they care about, but nobody cares about what came before them. Which is a bad sign, because those that don't remember history...
Back with the Fallujah game, someone was real angry about it because of the people that had died there, I think he was a veteran. I blew up at him about the millions and millions that had died in other wars, which he clearly didn't care about.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
For some reason, I suspect the press that did this looks like a professional lie. How come they never ask 1 gamer about this.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
I quite like how the last comment says, "we are fortunate BECAUSE we have freedom of speech, freedom of choice" and then goes on to say "We should take all the games of killing and mayhem off of the market". Some freedom of speech there....
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Chris Kimberley
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Chris Kimberley
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
'Amberly Stoddard Krupcznski: What a crock, that game should be burned off the shelves!!!!!!!!'
Oh the Irony...
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Yeah, this is just your standard media outlet taking advantage of the publics general ignorance of unreleased video games to blindside them with misleading questions. I bet the question went something like this:
"In the new version of a popular violent shooting game series, players can take on the role of the Taliban shooting American soldiers, how do you feel about that?"
That would explain the replies they got. But then again, I have recently lost a lot of respect for the average American. The media leads them around by the nose and they can't even see the most obvious logical holes. All they are looking for is someone to hate.
Also wanted to point out how some Americans seem to think that freedom of religion means you are free to practice any of the Christian religions. Religious tollerance is that Americans tolerate, for now, that people in other countries may have other religions... as long as they don't come over here. And remember, this was is a war on Muslims, not against an opressive regime in another country that happen to be exremists.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
People are idiots when it comes to the "news" they get from the media. This is just another example of a sensationalist headline. I doubt anyone commenting even heard anything beyond that.
Pwnage of Empires Xbox 360 Indie RTS
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
"Aubrey Cosentino: I don't think they should have even made this game, let alone try and release it. I would never buy it. My brother is in the Navy and served over in Iraq. It's a slap in the face to Americans is what it is; first they want to build a temple, now this game, come on now ..."
This one interested me. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but this guy thinks muslims made this game or that this is some how related to the mosque issue. What did they put in their paper exactly? Was there a story the put out before this?
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
They likely haven't been told anything... one of the commenters is completely unfamiliar with the game asking the incredibly ignorant question "do you get to play the americans aswell?"... most like the only thing they were ask was "how do you feel about being able to play as part of the taliban in the next Medal of Honor game?"
Frankly i would imagine that it's good ol' racism. He's heard about the mosque near ground zero and hates the muslims for it because the terrorists were muslim. And now he's extended that hatred to this game, being quick to blame muslims for the ability to play as the taliban; he likely assumes this game was made by muslims...
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
And what exactly WOULD BE the problem if it had been made by muslims? I seem to have missed the moment where muslims == evil. Silly me, still thinking (murderers | rapist | terrorists) == evil.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
I'm sorry, how lazy of me. I should have elaborated. This person had a negative stereotypes of muslims, and thought that only they could make such a game, not considering any possibility that non muslims might not care and make such a feature.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Thanks for the clarification, yet I was mostly talking to the person who replied to you ^^
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
It sounds like these people think you actually play as the Taliban in the story mode, it's just one side for the multiplayer! Morons!
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
If you're going to have a game of cops and robbers someone has to be the robbers. Likewise you need someone to play the bad guy in these games or else it's just generic soldiers shooting generic soldiers.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
"Sounds like it should be used for our soldiers to train with instead of releasing it to the general public."
Please never handle a fire arm by yourself. Or did you mean it could help them with teamwork and strategy?
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Even then, they have VBS2 for that...
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
While I agree that the game may be offensive to some - not me personally, but others - I have yet to hear any argument as to why the first amendment rights of the creators of the game should be infringed.
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With the first link, the chain is forged.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
But I thought you said the Muslims were evil, they beat women and eat babies, shouldn't you be supporting a ban on the game that lets you play as the Taliban?
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
I never said that. I DID say that the muslim religion - in it's most strict form - makes women property and non-muslims targets.
Even so, the First Amendment is the First Amendment is the First Amendment.
Ass.
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With the first link, the chain is forged.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Same shit about the christianism, but there's no one freaking out about that...
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
That's only because no nation in the world today that is predominantly Christian actually stones women to death for the "crime" of being the victim of rape. Nor do any Christian nations actively deny the right of other religions to exist.
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With the first link, the chain is forged.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Ahm, no first world nations no, but have you seen some of the Christian nations in Africa? Some of them can be pretty brutal.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
I hope they don't pull the game off of too many shelves so it doesn't make enough money back.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
What makes you think it's going to be pulled from any shelves?
Andrew Eisen
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
The power of fools in large numbers.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
I presume the Taliban is basically little more than "skins" for multiplayer, correct? It's not like you will be pressing "Y" to pray to Mecca, "X" to behead a civilian, or "L1" to stone a woman to death.
Personally, I still have no real objection to this, but for people to give people shit for thinking it's in bad taste are acting, as it were, in bad taste. These quotes might be absurd, and certainly cherry-picked, but I guarantee you that there are many perfectly nice and smart people who find this offensive- and they don't deserve to be mocked for this. The gloves only should come off when people are lying or trying to get the media banned.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Yes, it is just multiplayer skins to present an opposing side in multiplayer, exactly the same as how Counter Strike has various enforcement agency from different countries teaming up against various Terrorist characters from different countries.
It makes me wonder if we'd have a different kind of uproar had they not included this, and the multiplayer was just american soldiers killing american soldiers.
I don't intend to play it as I'm so sick and tired of the genre at the moment, but I really don't have any issues wtih it. The sales will be sky high due to all this free publicity idiots like Liam Fox are generating.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
The depressing part of these comments, it sounds like a lot of them have no idea what they are talking about or what the game actually is. One example:
Barbie Shearer: Do you also get to be Americans, shooting Taliban soldiers? Are we only getting one side of the story here?
Which tells me much of the debate around this is based off having no idea what the game actually is. Why does this sound so familiar....
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
Wow. Just wow. I haven't seen much of the controversy over the game but her comment makes it seem like they're getting one VERY lopsided unfair view of the game which is just sad.
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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
If I understand correctly Fox New (outside the News hours) did an uninformed piece and people have run with it from there. I wonder if anyone has a clip of the original segment?
Re: What the Average American Thinks about MOH
What a surprise. People are upset when it involves a war they're tied to, but not a word about playing Russians in spy-things, Vietcon, Nazis in WOII...
Then there's the person who actually expects it to be realistic enough to be used as training tool, and the one who actually thinks muslims were heavily involved in the game. Yeah right.
Surprised by the amount of reason though.