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I say, "just one of perspective," Andy. It seems like they are the new Evil. While the Taliban is evil, they might never reah the heights of the Nazi soldiers. | |
Well, seems everyone high uo is getting there knickers in a twist. Just let it be, tis a game, and wont do any real damage, well, nothing like they are thinking anyway | |
that's dumb. i understand that they don't like people playing as OPFOR, but it's all fictitious. also, there are a plethora of games that allow you to play as OPFOR, but why did they choose this one to protest? whatever. politicians' logic make me grey matter go hurty. | |
Freedom of expression undermines New Zealand's values, does it? These people need to calm down. It's only a game, and I don't see how playing as the Taliban in multiplayer is any different from playing as the Wehrmacht in a WWII game. Or are they trying to say that war isn't as bad just because it happened a while ago? Besides, the OpFor in COD4 and Modern Warfare 2 were basically the Taliban anyway. Why does just actually referring to them as such cause so much offense? | |
Heeeeeeeeh, stupid politicians are stupid. Nothing new yet. | |
If these attacks on the game occured after it was released when there was suitable time to experience what does occur, I might actually agree with these two politicians in some degree. But as it stands they are letting ignorance and reactionism rule their actions which speaks volumes about their lack of character. It is almost the same attitudes that the Taliban themselves have about the West and ideas of free will. You think the Taliban would be as forgiving about content where one could play as a Western Zionist Pig? No, it would be banned outright with any transgressors shot, imprisoned, and/or tortured.
In a lot of ways you could say they are the new Evil. Their transgressions and crimes we may never know everything about, but you can trust that their practices and attitudes place them in the same camp as Hitler, Himmler, and Mussolini even. I wouldn't downplay a group that actively persecuted and repressed their own countrymen. | |
It's probably that typical factor of everyone trying to make themselves look like the good guys. War causes casualties. Since there the "bad" guy, it dosen't matter that there familys probably lost there husbands, sons, uncles, etc right? But since the "good" guys lost members due to em, we get up in arms bout it. It's pretty much the obvious question that Andy stated above. The Nazis were on there own level of doucebaggery, and self-centered evil, yet there's plenty of games that let you play as em. Isn't like the Talaban nuked us or anything. Only one that'd have a chance of becoming a next Nazi-Germany, is if Communist-Russia came back, or Communist-China decided to go crazy. | |
I LOST 50,000 MEN IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE. QQ, Shepard. Please refrain from using all-caps. Mod. | |
So when a carpet bomb destroys your home and kills your family, and people offer you a chance at revenge, taking up that offer makes you evil? | |
I honestly don't care who I shoot in this kind of game, as long as you get some story or reason to do so - it doesn't matter if you're fighting against what they think is 'the good side' or the bad side, just get over it. We like shooting things in videogames. That doesn't make us want to shoot them in real life... | |
Dammit, and I'm going back there - permanently I hope - in ten days. To be honest I'm not very surprised at this. Recently New Zealand lost their first casualty in Afghanistan and I'm sure that that will have provoked this MP to side with the whole Anti Medal of Honour thing. The country took the death of Lt. Tim O'Donnell to heart, especially since the last military loss for New Zealand was, I believe, ten years ago in Indonesia. I really don't see the problem on the whole about being able to play a Taliban soldier - and I guess in 60 years no-one will care less, but at the moment I can only speculate that MP's simply don't like the thought and as such are trying to stop it. I guess one of the main issues might be is that with games like Medal of Honour etc. trying to be as realistic as possible it may be a little to close to reality for the politicians, I just wish they could see that it's only a game. | |
I'm getting sick of politicians whining about this. | |
It's all about what is considered a "sensitive" political issue. Some people consider things not done, while others don't see the problem. Remember that game they were going to make - 3 Days in Fallujah, or something. Everyone outraged at the not-done-ness of it all, so it was cancelled. I would say that's a bad thing: if anything is important it's teaching people how horrible war is. While you play a game for entertainment, if it's as realistic as the real thing people won't like it, because war IS hell. Games are exceptionally good at showing something through immersion, in ways films or books can't hope to achieve - that's because you're directly in control, and experience the whole thing. | |
Right. Because killing German troops in various WW2 games doesn't do the same thing. Complete bullshit. | |
I just ran a quick little test and asked my non-gaming wife if she had a problem with a game that let you play as the Taliban and she immediately went, "Ahhh.... ..... ... ouch. No. I have a problem with that one." Then I explained to her that in multiplayer you have sides and one side needs to be the bad guy and how multiplayer works in these games. Then she changed her mind. She thought you got to play as the Taliban meant that you would be killing American soldiers and killing hostages and blowing up markets, etc. In the context of just playing against the other team, she didn't have a problem. I wonder if these (and I am going to go out on a limb here) non-gaming pols have not been explained what "playing the Taliban" in multiplayer really means. | |
While I believe that these individuals have every right to speak up they honestly should shove it. When you bring one of the soliders back and they say something about it, then I'll care. It's not your blood that stains the ground it's their blood. And I'll be damned if a politician tells me that something undermines my nation (because, you know, politicians do that, a lot). Plus as an American I haven't heard any backlash from my nation about it. Granted when it comes out it'll probably brew up a s*** storm of epic proportions. But still, I'm not bothered by it if the men and women who serve aren't. And they could probably care less about it, see as it's a GAME and they are fighting every day just to stay alive.
No, but strapping bombs onto children and having them run towards NATO troops is pretty evil. Not all of them are but like any group of people they have their evil bastards. | |
stop whining about games. | |
I believe my quote about the UK Def. Minister can also be applied to this one.
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New Zealand and Australia jump on more bandwagons than an indecisive roadie. I understand that playing as the enemy may sound bad, but very few forms of media attempt to tell their story maybe we actually need some thing from their viewpoint. | |
I wonder how many men and women in uniform will buy this game to play in their spare time. | |
Is it election season there as well soon? | |
Okay, explain this, what is it with all this fucking Imperial era hyperbole going around these days about this game? "Un-British" "Undermines the values of our nation" You'd swear it was 1914 again and we were all raring up for a big old squabble with Jerry! Sorry, it's just...weird. OP: His link is even more tenuous than the British one. Neither of these nations are actually portrayed in this game. If it was some American veterans agency saying that they object to seeing troops portrayed in that way, or maybe even the Pentagon themselves, then I'd listen to them, but from what I can tell, these guys have literally no information to go on other than "The Taliban's in it" and "You get to play them". They're of course, totally missing out on the fact that the Taliban are just a standard "OpFor" team for multiplayer, totally bland and personality-less. The only reason they're even called The Taliban in game is because MOH are trying to be a bit more realistic than MW2. It always amazes me how these people in high positions of power have such skill in making baseless assumptions. Look, they lost a soldier, quite horrible. But surely it's a disservice to his death to use it for obvious vote garnering? | |
I wonder how many of them will play from the Taliban pov just for a change of perspective? This was always going to be a risk with a "modern" or "current" war theater. That's what makes it easier to travel through past history or imagined future of warfare. Just shows the limited scope of politician's game knowledge anyways. The awesome Halflife 2 mod Insurgency has had people playing the Taliban and Iraqis in their current theater for years now. What about America's Army 3 anyways??? Everytime I played that game, I was always shooting at some eastern block break-away republic terrorism supporter that was being controlled by another human player. And then AA3 would crash. Horrible mess of a game. | |
You know what is going through these slimy politician's minds. "Hey! This new video game (which are evil) that is coming out is garnering a lot of attention. What's that? You can play as a member of the Taliban (which everyone knows are EVIL and are ALWAYS in the NEWS) and shoot at our TROOPS (those magic people whose mere mention after 'support our' instantly garners praise from the ignorant public)! All I have to say is that the Taliban is EVIL, video games are evil, and if you play this game you do not support our troops, and are therefore EVIL! I'll get a lot of press, I'll look like I'm tough on the enemy, and my polls will go way up! It's perfect!" | |
All my friends in the RNZAF are buying this game... about 8-9 dudes. Hahaha, so ironic. Fuck though, seriously, our politics in NZ at the moment are absolutely fucked. We just paid a failing finance company out 1.7billion of tax payer money. Thats how our country operates...it...doesn't XD -JB | |
MW allowed people to play as terrorists in multiplayer, and just about every other MoH and CoD game out there lets you play as the Nazis. Why is this only now becoming an "issue" for politicians? | |
You know what I have started to notice about these kinds of things? Does anyone even ask what they troops think about it? Its always kind of a "we know whats best for you", and I have honestly not heard one single complaint by soldiers about this kind of shit. Most of them fucking play violent games. | |
This is exactly what Medal of Honor wants. Free publicity! Do you have any idea how many people working at EA are laughing right now? Or possibly crying because they spent so much time trying to cause controversy with Dante's Inferno while this game didn't do anything and everyone is complaining. | |
Are you in fact implying that soldiers are not magical creatures? All joking aside, a soldier does deserve a little degree of respect. Its a tough life, and lots of their suffering is based on us. | |
This is actually kind of embarrassing. i always knew there were game hating moral panic inducing douchebags who didn't do their research in the US and Australian governments, but I never thought one of our MPs would do something like this. | |
It's like when you apply for a cocksucking competition and you're trying to read the manual while the first judge is speeding toward your gum. A bit late. | |
Wait, are you saying there are decent, rational members of the Taliban? Sorry, but my theory isis that anyone one in the that group is either a religous nut, or simply are using religion to control the religious nuts into doing your dirty work so you can gain power. I'm not saying joining the Taliban will turn you evil mind you; what I mean is if you're the kind of person to join an organization like that you were probably already going to hell. OT: I think this controversy is completely stupid. It's just the other side to have in multiplayer so you have someone to shoot in a way that makes sense, nothing more. Would they rather it be British vs. America? Yeah that makes perfect sense /sarcasm. | |
Oh agreed. I have several friends in the Armed Forces, and they worked hard to get where they are. It really sucks when the have to move to another part of the country, away from all their family and friends. | |
Ironically, in spite of this, we still haven't seen a singleplayer campaign in an FPS game that would include the German perspective (or that of Italian/minor Axis countries soldiers for that matter). The German Front Mod singleplayer demo was the closest we ever got to it, but...that was just a mod and a demo. Anyway, to be honest, I wish Medal of Honor actually had a singleplayer campaign or at least a mission that featured the Taliban. I know that it would stir even more controversy, but at least it would allow for the game to have a degree of educational value (assuming their potrayal would be accurate). As it is, limiting them to multiplayer reeks of a poor compromise in an attempt to give a boon to critics while providing the players with a realistic setting...ultimately satisfying neither. | |
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New Zealand Politician Joins in Medal of Honor Outrage
New Zealand is the latest country to jump aboard the anti-Medal of Honor bandwagon as the country's Minister of Defense claims that the game "undermines the values of our nation."
British Secretary of Defense Liam Fox caused a stir last week when he urged retailers in the U.K. not to carry the upcoming Medal of Honor because its multiplayer mode gives gamers the option to play as Taliban. Describing the game as "un-British," he said, "I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product." Fox maintained his stance even after it was pointed out that the game doesn't allow players to kill British troops.
And he's not alone in his outrage. Speaking to Gameplanet, Fox's counterpart in New Zealand, Minister of Defense Wayne Mapp, expressed a very similar opinion about the game. "This game undermines the values of our nation, and the dedicated service of our men and women in uniform," Mapp said. "Terrorist acts have caused the deaths of several New Zealanders."
"Hundreds of New Zealand servicemen and women have put their lives on the line in Afghanistan to combat terrorism, and this month Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell died in action over there," he added. Lt. O'Donnell was killed near the beginning of August while on patrol in the Afghan province of Bamiyan.
The angry reaction of Fox, Mapp and all the others who will no doubt pop up as the game approaches release is understandable, if not entirely rational. The Taliban is a despicable collection of thugs and scumbags who engage in behavior so abhorrent that it's bound to inspire strong, visceral reactions. It is a uniquely evil foe - or is it? Nazi Einsatzgruppen murdered over one million men, women and children as they followed in the wake of the Wehrmacht across eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Second World War, yet playing online as a German soldier doesn't even rate a raised eyebrow. So is all this really a matter of right and wrong - or just one of perspective?
Medal of Honor is being developed by Danger Close and is scheduled for release on October 12 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
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