Danger Close: Medal of Honor Complainers "Don't Understand Games"

[Andy Chalk]

Danger Close: Medal of Honor Complainers "Don't Understand Games"

Danger Close Marketing Director Craig Owens doesn't believe the Taliban was renamed in the upcoming Medal of Honor [http://www.amazon.com/Medal-Honor-Limited-Xbox-360/dp/B000TI836G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286829734&sr=8-1] in order to get the game back into Army base stores but simply in response to "an older generation that doesn't understand games."

There's been a lot of noise from people on both sides of the Medal of Honor argument but the one group that hasn't had much to say thus far is ban [http://www.dangerclosegames.com/] in Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores and that in his eyes, it's really not a big deal at all.

"The objection was, kind of from an older generation that doesn't understand games, that the sound bite was, 'Play as the Taliban and kill U.S. soldiers'," he told Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/11/medal-of-honor-marketing-director-explains-taliban-removal/]. "There still is, it seems, a group that's still a little bit leery of a game taking place around an active conflict."

There were "about 500,000 people playing it, playing as the Taliban, killing U.S. troops," he added, and nobody said a word until "that sound bite kinda caught wind and got taken out of context, really."

"It's just a misunderstanding. I think eventually, as guys like us - I'm 42 years old, right? - so as I get older and stuff, we're becoming a world of gamers that are gonna be at all levels and I think that'll go away," he said. "It's just one of those transition points, where people who don't play games still think they're just for 12-year-olds and they're just all fun and games and they could never really tell a story like a movie does."

He also pointed out that despite the furor, the game itself is completely unchanged. "It's not about Afghanistan. It's not about the enemy. It's about the brother beside you," he said. "We didn't change any pixels in the game at all except for the name, and it only appeared a couple times in multiplayer."

In an interesting twist that comes back to the argument that the game is "disrespectful" to soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, HMV [http://www.incgamers.com/News/25524/chris-ryan-uk-medal-of-honor-signing] pre-order bonus and which will get a general release after the game launches, will be signing copies of the game at HMV London on October 15, the U.K. release date.



Permalink

 

[MurderousToaster]

The man actually speaks the truth. Although it's kind of an argument over nothing. The only difference between the US and the Taliban in Multiplayer is that they have a different player model and different guns. It's not like while playing as the Taliban it says "KILL THE UNITED STATES INFIDELS! THEY ARE EVIL! CLAIM YOUR VIRGINS!". Strip down the two factions and you have the same programming and the same menus with just a minor difference in models and weapon choice.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I've really got to laugh at the "vocal outcry" about this.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I've been meaning to ask, and too lazy to Google. WHO THE FUCK IS MARC EMERY?

OT:

So, the change pretty much doesn't affect the game? I knew that the moment that Taliban was only involved in multiplayer. Because it doesn't matter.

It's really just a model swap when it comes to MP teams.

 

[Ekonk]

Medal of Honor Complainers "Don't Understand Games"?

Even my butt understands that. Still nice to see that someone high up realizes this.

 

[Painful illusion]

This is just like the mass effect sex scene controversy. "You can have sex with aliens?! Oh no hide your children!!" Older generations simply don't understand and simply don't even make an effort to try to. I wish they could do some research before they made an issue about nothing.

 

[Cousin_IT]

I was looking forward to the opportunity to be teabagged & called ****** by Taliban twelve year olds. I think it would have opened my eyes to the reality of modern conflicts.

 

[Irridium]

If games want to be taken seriously as an art form, they need to stand up to controversy. Not change a little like this or a lot like 6 days in Felluja. Every time you change something due to controversy, you weaken your position. Your showing that games are not on the same level as movies/books/television/whathaveyou, your letting them win.

If games want to be taken seriously as an art form, then people must stop caving to controversies like this. Because a small victory is still a victory. And a small loss is still a loss.

 

[Electrogecko]

This is just like the mass effect sex scene controversy. "You can have sex with aliens?! Oh no hide your children!!" Older generations simply don't understand and simply don't even make an effort to try to. I wish they could do some research before they made an issue about nothing.

Most of these types probably don't know how to do research....without their local library at least. It's probably mostly women who get brainwashed by Fox news every night at the dinner table. I kinda feel sorry for them. Video games are thus far the ultimate form of electronic entertainment and their generation just missed it. Not that I don't get infuriated by their ignorance every once in a while....

 

[BiggityB05]

I think Danger Close should be less worried about this and more worried about the fact that MoH sucks donkey balls.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

This change was brought about by what I like to call the "Fox News Crowd". People who essentially are waiting for something to complain about, whether they fully understand it or not. These are also the same people who believe video games are still a child's play thing.

 

[shadyh8er]

All that these people are pissed about was that the word "Taliban" was in the game. If it never had the word in it, none of this would have happened.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

This change was brought about by what I like to call the "Fox News Crowd". People who essentially are waiting for something to complain about, whether they fully understand it or not. These are also the same people who believe video games are still a child's play thing.

Oh, the "Fox News Crowd", huh? That's very clever. I'm sure nobody's ever called them that before. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Let's settle this. People on both sides are complaining more than is necessary. Families of fallen soldiers have every right to be upset, but they have to realize that we can't keep avoiding this stuff forever. At some point, it can't be a taboo topic anymore.

By the same token, the video game fans who are upset that a change was made need to grow the fuck up and acknowledge that nothing significant was affected, that the game is exactly the same, and that they're blowing this way out of proportion talking about censorship and freedom of speech. It's a fucking video game.

 

[theSovietConnection]

I've been meaning to ask, and too lazy to Google. WHO THE FUCK IS MARC EMERY?

Advocate for the legalisation/decriminalization (can't remember which) of marijuana.

Topic at hand, it's a shame there was such an outcry over something so trivial, but at least the core gameplay remains the same.

 

[The Ambrosian]

This change was brought about by what I like to call the "Fox News Crowd". People who essentially are waiting for something to complain about, whether they fully understand it or not. These are also the same people who believe video games are still a child's play thing.

Oh, the "Fox News Crowd", huh? That's very clever. I'm sure nobody's ever called them that before. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Let's settle this. People on both sides are complaining more than is necessary. Families of fallen soldiers have every right to be upset, but they have to realize that we can't keep avoiding this stuff forever. At some point, it can't be a taboo topic anymore.

By the same token, the video game fans who are upset that a change was made need to grow the fuck up and acknowledge that nothing significant was affected, that the game is exactly the same, and that they're blowing this way out of proportion talking about censorship and freedom of speech. It's a fucking video game.

Well said, even if it was a bit harsh.

Mainly on the second paragraph, I agree on the first but It is very recent, it's hardly world war II. But I still agree.

 

[teh_Canape]

I think Danger Close should be less worried about this and more worried about the fact that MoH sucks donkey balls.

no it doesnt, have you even played the PC beta?

OT: well, at least we have someone in high up our side =P

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

This change was brought about by what I like to call the "Fox News Crowd". People who essentially are waiting for something to complain about, whether they fully understand it or not. These are also the same people who believe video games are still a child's play thing.

Oh, the "Fox News Crowd", huh? That's very clever. I'm sure nobody's ever called them that before. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Let's settle this. People on both sides are complaining more than is necessary. Families of fallen soldiers have every right to be upset, but they have to realize that we can't keep avoiding this stuff forever. At some point, it can't be a taboo topic anymore.

By the same token, the video game fans who are upset that a change was made need to grow the fuck up and acknowledge that nothing significant was affected, that the game is exactly the same, and that they're blowing this way out of proportion talking about censorship and freedom of speech. It's a fucking video game.

I don't know what your first point was getting at but Fox News has a pretty big correlation with nonsense sensationalism with a conservative slant, so this story actually has a lot to do with them. I wouldn't be surprised if Hannity or O'Reilly brought this up in between mosque bantering.

But it isn't about nothing being affected really, I think it is more about the way games are regulated vs. every other form of media. Movies come out where people get killed by legitimate groups that exist today, and people call it art. When a game does it, ALL of the emotional impact involved with using the word Taliban is treated like a child swearing, it gets a slap on the wrist and no artistic credit.

Sure, the word Taliban wouldn't have made a huge impact, and I don't give a SHIT that it's not in the game; I just think it brings a good topic to light, and at least has brought up the issue of game censorship, even if we did lose this one. (It's a loss because the censorship was unnecessary and treated as nothing, whereas a movie or tv show gets a lot more consideration for racy words.)

 

[Amnestic]

*redacted, don't want to risk the banhammer*

It's a fucking video game.

"It's just a fucking novel!" He said, as he banned books deemed "obscene" to the senses.

 

[mr_rubino]

I think I've seen that same avatar white-knighting the cause of unnamed and indeterminate fallen soldiers that no existing group has brought up on every MoH thread for the last few weeks. Hmmm.