EA Cuts Taliban From Medal of Honor

[SniperMacFox]

Isn't "Opposing Force" from an old game which involved soldiers with psychic powers?

Maybe they're not just changing the name, but the playing style?

 

[DannibalG36]

Well, well, well. Didn't Extra Credits bash Konami for dropping "Six Days in Fallujah" for exactly the same reasons?

EA, you guys must have anticipated SOME sort of outcry. Why didn't you stick by your guns and just wait for the beta and see how players reacted? A fine time to turn into a bunch of spineless wusses.

 

[Killbot]

Erm... we can play as Nazi's in other MoH series... why not Taliban? Granted under the current climate it might be a little insensitive, but maybe people like to play the bad guy?

A WW2 game from a German's perspective, that would be what I'd like to see. Ballsy perhaps, but original nonetheless.

 

[binvjoh]

For fuck sake! Once again they're validating every complaint about the game. How is gaming supposed to grow into a respected art when everyone lacks the balls to stand up for it as a medium.

 

[Ashsaver]

It's appear that they've......been Talibanned *YEAHHHHHHH!*

...sorry, i can't resist making this joke.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

So in all the previous games... when my "opponents" are screaming German and trying to kill me...

They weren't REALLY Nazis.

Or Japanese when they carried arisakas, and were located in the Pacific Isles.

Or Russian in any of the more recent games where Russia was the favored flavor of baddie.

I feel better knowing I was JUST playing an opposing force in all of those multiplayer matches. I might have accidentally begun sympathizing with genocidal dogmas if I had ACTUALLY been a German.

I think the difference is that the video games that contained Nazis and Japanese weren't created in 1939. People are going to oppose these things anyways, but the reason they're offended is that these are names from enemies that exist in actual recent history and present day.

I appreciate your perspective, and the notion of "time healing wounds," is a good place to be, but I find it all to be rather arbitrary. When does a society deem enough time to have passed? How long is the appropriate measure of time to lift a moratorium on a topic? How many years do we give people to console themselves?

I find it more offensive, personally, that we hide the reality of war from ourselves.

 

[darksakul]

I have this to say this to EA, YOU @#$*^&%# WIMPS!!!!
EA you just catered to every fricking pink commie that spits on our rights for there false sense of safety.

If you going to cut the Taliban from the game, why even have it in the game in the first place?

 

[LtFerret]

You know, I'm fine with this

It's not like they caved in to a bunch of parnoid soccer moms going "OMG THIS WILL CORRUPT THE CHILDERN!!!!" They are honoring the wishs of freinds and families of fallen soliders.

 

[Funkysandwich]

Well that changes fuck all.

 

[CowboyfromHell666]

I mean..cmon EA. I understand those people were concerned, but..it's a freaking video game. I know the Taliban are a real faction in the world today, but why have a game that deals with the Middle East, and you are the Americans, and you don't name them by who they are?

 

[quantumsoul]

Thing is the people who lost someone to the Taliban wouldn't play this game anyways. They probably feel it trivializes their loss. But come on, people who are out there serving now supported the game. They were justified in releasing it.

 

[Gunner 51]

I was quite saddened to hear that EA had done this. It's a cop-out in my opinion. I think EA should have stuck to it's guns and called the Taliban - the Taliban. If people (who didn't even intend to play the game) are offended by such realities - then screw them. The game was for gamers - not them.

 

[Hedberger]

Son, i am disappoint.

 

[RanD00M]

It's appear that they've......been Talibanned *YEAHHHHHHH!*

...sorry, i can't resist making this joke.

That gave me a good chuckle. Well done, I applaud you good sir and/or madam.

 

[Senaro]

So in all the previous games... when my "opponents" are screaming German and trying to kill me...

They weren't REALLY Nazis.

Or Japanese when they carried arisakas, and were located in the Pacific Isles.

Or Russian in any of the more recent games where Russia was the favored flavor of baddie.

I feel better knowing I was JUST playing an opposing force in all of those multiplayer matches. I might have accidentally begun sympathizing with genocidal dogmas if I had ACTUALLY been a German.

I think the difference is that the video games that contained Nazis and Japanese weren't created in 1939. People are going to oppose these things anyways, but the reason they're offended is that these are names from enemies that exist in actual recent history and present day.

I appreciate your perspective, and the notion of "time healing wounds," is a good place to be, but I find it all to be rather arbitrary. When does a society deem enough time to have passed? How long is the appropriate measure of time to lift a moratorium on a topic? How many years do we give people to console themselves?

I find it more offensive, personally, that we hide the reality of war from ourselves.

That wasn't my personal opinion on the matter, just the main argument people will have against it. The problem with it is like you state, there really is no way to define what is "too soon" or "too offensive." It's like that whole new york mosque shenanigan I keep hearing about in the news. It's not an issue that can be solved with any amount of logic, it's an emotional problem that most people will simply never get over. There are still people writing letters to the schools here about how offended they are that Catcher in the Rye isn't banned, and that book has been on the chopping block for almost sixty years. There are just some things people will never get over.

 

[Caligulove]

Sad that they had to give in to the pressure. But at the same time it's like, "Opposing Force" doesn't change the fact that they're clearly the Taliban. It's a compromise, which is good to see- otherwise this malarkey from the media would just keep going on and on. Now it will just slow to a trickle.

 

[Ekonk]

You spineless worms.

 

[herpaderphurr]

It's just a name change. It doesn't actually matter.

What's more, they were listening to the complaints of real soldiers and their families - to me, their opinion seems to matter a bit more than senile politicians or ignorant housewives.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

So in all the previous games... when my "opponents" are screaming German and trying to kill me...

They weren't REALLY Nazis.

Or Japanese when they carried arisakas, and were located in the Pacific Isles.

Or Russian in any of the more recent games where Russia was the favored flavor of baddie.

I feel better knowing I was JUST playing an opposing force in all of those multiplayer matches. I might have accidentally begun sympathizing with genocidal dogmas if I had ACTUALLY been a German.

I think the difference is that the video games that contained Nazis and Japanese weren't created in 1939. People are going to oppose these things anyways, but the reason they're offended is that these are names from enemies that exist in actual recent history and present day.

I appreciate your perspective, and the notion of "time healing wounds," is a good place to be, but I find it all to be rather arbitrary. When does a society deem enough time to have passed? How long is the appropriate measure of time to lift a moratorium on a topic? How many years do we give people to console themselves?

I find it more offensive, personally, that we hide the reality of war from ourselves.

That wasn't my personal opinion on the matter, just the main argument people will have against it. The problem with it is like you state, there really is no way to define what is "too soon" or "too offensive." It's like that whole new york mosque shenanigan I keep hearing about in the news. It's not an issue that can be solved with any amount of logic, it's an emotional problem that most people will simply never get over. There are still people writing letters to the schools here about how offended they are that Catcher in the Rye isn't banned, and that book has been on the chopping block for almost sixty years. There are just some things people will never get over.

My apologies, I did not mean to affix the opinion to your person unjustly. Your other points are agreed with unequivocally.

 

[ssgt splatter]

First Admendment
First Admendment
First Admendment
First Admendment
First Admendment

I've said this time and again, IT'S A FUCKING GAME PEOPLE, NOTHING IS REAL INSIDE THE GAME!!!!! I honor the sacrafice of the American soldier but for people to get upset over something as little as the enemy force in multiplayer being called the Taliban is a tad bit stupid.
Now if the game had you play a mission that had you say hijack a plane and fly it into a building or suicude bomb a religious center filled with civilians then yes that would be over the line and must be changed...and also the game's lead designer would need to be slapped up-side the head for even thinking that would be a good idea.