Military bans sale of 'Medal of Honor' on bases

[Kornman00]

Article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39065153/ns/technology_and_science-games/).


Military bases across the U.S. have banned the sale of a new video game that lets a player pretend to be a Taliban fighter and "shoot" U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Gamers are scoffing at the decision, saying that advanced technology has made it commonplace in the gaming world to let players switch sides and play the bad guy.

...

After public protests, including by British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, U.S. military officials decided not to stock the game in any of the nearly 300 base exchange shops.

Fox said last month that he was "disgusted and angry" by what was a "tasteless product." Fox called on retailers to show their support for the troops by not selling it.I'm sorry MSNBC, but you just lost brownie points for quoting Fox. Fox is the "tasteless" product.

To quote a quote in the article

"Most of us have been doing this since we were 7: Someone plays cop, someone must be robber," the newspaper quoted her (Spokeswoman Amanda Taggart) as saying.Modern Warfare lets you play as a terrorist/Middle-Easterner toting a gun. MoH games have let you play as Nazis. Why stop at games? What about movies which include scenes where terrorists/nazis/bad guys shoot/kill people? What about rap albums which promote illegal acts? This is just a bunch of political bullshit that fertilizes a political garden. Give me my All-American-Goddamn-Burger. Not this political salad shit.

On a related note about games and politics: Warren Spector Warns Gamers about Upcoming SCOTUS Hearing (http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/09/06/warren-spector-warns-gamers-about-upcoming-scotus-hearing)

[paladin]

Lol, i thought it was about a replica of a medal, like you see at surplus stores. But this sucks...

[sleepy1212]

It's a little early...ww2 was almost 70 years ago so it's hardly a comparison. At any rate, this isn't really that big of a deal...military bases do this kind of shit all the time. That's why all the strip clubs are just outside the gates.

here we go again (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706221/california-submit-arguments-in-supreme-court-game-case.html)

[Cojafoji]

enough of their training involves devaluing human lives, and increasing violent tendencies. i see no need why they would require a game with which to "relax" with that teaches them the same thing, or, and run with me here, why the reciprocal wouldn't be true?

[n00b1n8R]

I read through the article twice and I can't find what "California videogame law" they're talking to.
What's all this?

[paladin]

I think theyre talking about the one that goes infront of the Supreme Court later this month. I dont think its a law yet

[n00b1n8R]

I think theyre talking about the one that goes infront of the Supreme Court later this month. I dont think its a law yet
Yes but what's the law about/called???

Note I'm not from the states so I really don't have a clue.

[annihilation]

@n00bhttp://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63P2GB20100426

[sleepy1212]

here we go again (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706221/california-submit-arguments-in-supreme-court-game-case.html)

?

[n00b1n8R]

@n00bhttp://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63P2GB20100426
oh god :lmao:

[Dwood]

oh god :lmao:

I don't find it as funny...? I wouldn't want my 8 year old brother to be able to purchase GOW 3.

[sleepy1212]

If all they're proposing is an age-enforcement for ratings similar to those on movies then maybe it's not a big deal. But usually that's not all they're proposing.

[paladin]

Like everything, there's an underlying agenda.

[ICEE]

oh god :lmao:

I'm sorry, did you forget about ausfailia?

Hows l4d2? Ya like it? Good game, mate?

[Limited]

Am I the only one that agrees with this? Also MOH is the first ever game, to actually say "Yes this is the taliban, yes this is US troops". Other games just say "yeah these are pretty bad middle eastern guys".

Fuck the terrorists.

[Needles]

There are plenty of other games that let you play as the bad guy....

Fox is just plain stupid. It's like how they said mass effect has an explicit sex scene,how they actually got shite for it and played it, and apologized later. They do what they can to get attention or cause some kind of problem.

[Limited]

What are your thoughts if the US army started using targets of US troops, when they do their target practise? So they were shooting at a picture of their own comrades.

[Jean-Luc]

Am I the only one that agrees with this? Also MOH is the first ever game, to actually say "Yes this is the taliban, yes this is US troops". Other games just say "yeah these are pretty bad middle eastern guys".

Fuck the terrorists.
Well that's kind of the argument, isn't it?

Personally, I think this whole "controversy" is bullshit from the ground up. Games have been using anonymous terrorist factions for over a decade now, and the Modern Warfare series has BLATANTLY been implying "US + Britain vs. Taliban-esque terrorists". Quite literally the only difference here, and the whole reason that this controversy exists, is that instead of being called OpFor or whatever, the terrorist team in multiplayer is given the name of an existing faction.

I struggle to find the problem with that. It's authentic, it's not hiding from the truth, and all it is doing is giving a real name to the mass of faceless pixels you're trying to shoot. Does it change the gameplay? Is it trying to make a political statement? Fuck no.

I'm sorry if I'm coming across as insensitive. I have the greatest possible respect for the soldiers and I think all terrorists can fuck off and die. Despite that, when it comes to something like this...I just can't let a name in a videogame bother me, I really can't.

[Needles]

What are your thoughts if the US army started using targets of US troops, when they do their target practise? So they were shooting at a picture of their own comrades.

In cod4 you play as the terrorist in multiplayer and gun down and air-strike marines. What's so special about this specific game.

[Teltaur]

Fox is just plain stupid. It's like how they said mass effect has an explicit sex scene,how they actually got shite for it and played it, and apologized later. They do what they can to get attention or cause some kind of problem.

You know the article was quoting Liam Fox, not Fox News, right? I mean, Fox News even defended MoH when they had that "Gold Star Mom" arguing against it in their interview.
But nah, it's just more fun to jump on the I Hate Fox bandwagon.

[Pooky]

In cod4 you play as the terrorist in multiplayer and gun down and air-strike marines. What's so special about this specific game.

You know, it really irritates me how every single person that plays CoD 4 singularly fails to realize this. The OpFor are NOT terrorists, they are a fully equipped army that happens to be made up of Arabs.

[Kornman00]

Al-Qaeda is an army itself too. Just not the traditional kind found in civilized nations.

And if Bush was still around to govern, he'd probably say that any person who takes a gun and fires it at a US or UK (since their gov't hopped on the Iraq bandwagon) soldier is a terrorist, so that OPFOR would then be classified as a bunch of terrorists still :trollface:

Either way, terrorism is relative to the receiving end.

[Dwood]

Al-Qaeda is an army itself too. Just not the traditional kind found in civilized nations.

And if Bush was still around to govern, he'd probably say that any person who takes a gun and fires it at a US or UK (since their gov't hopped on the Iraq bandwagon) soldier is a terrorist, so that OPFOR would then be classified as a bunch of terrorists still :trollface:

Either way, terrorism is relative to the receiving end.

I always thought that Terrorism required some kind of "Blowing yourself up" thing before they began to classify the militants as terrorists...

[paladin]

Terrorism is anything that creates mass amounts of terror. Tera Reid could be a terrorist if she flashes on the red carpet.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

To me they are idealists. In my mind terrorists don't exist...just an invented word to describe a group and assign them negative properties to justify procedures.

Blashphemist, Proletariat, Sans Colettes..invented words just to describe a group that is against the current system. The word terrorist is so undefined that you can assign it to every political group. Just call them idealists, done.

[Dwood]

To me they are idealists. In my mind terrorists don't exist...just an invented word to describe a group and assign them negative properties to justify procedures.

Blashphemist, Proletariat, Sans Colettes..invented words just to describe a group that is against the current system. The word terrorist is so undefined that you can assign it to every political group. Just call them idealists, done.

Except that provides negative connotation to the "ideal" of the word, which I'd rather not. My definition fits because it is an army using terror tactics because their armies aren't large enough to do the amount of damage that they want to do.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

To them the U.S. troops are the terrorist. This is no question of 'terror tactics'...it's a matter of point of view.

[Dwood]

To them the U.S. troops are the terrorist. This is no question of 'terror tactics'...it's a matter of point of view.

I'd call them "The invading army" - they aren't actively filtering the airport looking for Americans and shipping them back or imprisoning them as far as I'm aware.

[Pooky]

Al-Qaeda is an army itself too. Just not the traditional kind found in civilized nations.

And if Bush was still around to govern, he'd probably say that any person who takes a gun and fires it at a US or UK (since their gov't hopped on the Iraq bandwagon) soldier is a terrorist, so that OPFOR would then be classified as a bunch of terrorists still :trollface:

Either way, terrorism is relative to the receiving end.

I doubt anyone playing the game puts that much thought into it. They see dark skin, the AK and go "durr them be terrurists".

[DarkHalo003]

No people. Video games are not psychological desensitizing and demoralizing for teens and adults. In fact, video games aren't even real. OMG WHO KNEW?

Anyone who is an adult (or an in the military therefore) probably knows what a terrorist really is like. It's just the stupid-ass young pre-teen and teenage kids, notice how I say the stupid ones, that actually go by stereotypes. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS WHOLE PREDICAMENT WITH THE BANNING OF GAMES IS OVERREACTING JUST A BIT. A simulation is not even scratching the surface of what it's really like to fight terrorists (I'll assume based on military stories), let alone video games that people know are not real.