Videogame Manufacturer to Stop Allowing Players to Assume Role of Taliban

[3GeronimoPA]

FOXNews.com - Videogame Manufacturer to Stop Allowing Players to Assume Role of Taliban

 

It's a crying shame that it had to even take "pressure" to get these guys to remove the ability to kill U.S. Soldiers on the game. Brits were disgusted too.

 

A quote from the Article "“There’s a way for EA to turn this into a positive experience," he said. “They can ... donate a share of their income from the game to veterans.”

 

Riiiiiiigght.........

[Metallicat]

It sounds like they just changed the name from "Taliban" to "opposing forces". Doesn't really change anything

[Contrarian]

Nor should it since this IS America... where we have the right to CHOOSE to play as Crusaders, Taliban, Nazis, The Flood, Japanese, Russians, The Covenant, Thugs, rogue cops, Rappers, Ninjas, Hedgehogs, etc... in most videogames based upon first-person war-time shooting strategies...

[3GeronimoPA]

Let us not be confused about the difference between a constitutional right and a moral right. I don't think they should be forced to do anything. I just think it's a sad day when game companies in our own nation give people a chance to see what it feels like in the "driver's seat" of those scum who chop women's heads off and kill servicemembers of their military. Having lost friends with my own two eyes at the hands of the taliban I find it shameful for Americans to desensitize people to the horror that is actually dealt our men and women in uniform. What does it say about us as a nation? The thoughtless response would be to merely say, "We have our freedom of speech" but that response is heartless. I respect our freedom of speech in large part because the sacrifice it takes to sustain it. I don't expect Americans (and I sure as hell wont) to rejoice at our freedom of speech when it involves a self-destructive trampling on the patriots that make it possible. Having the right to do something doesn't make it a good thing to do. The choice of "Play as Taliban" was a poor choice. Read Dave Grossman's "On Killing". We are desensitizing our next generation to killing on a daily basis. By doing so with American Soldiers on the receiving end of the bullet, what then are we setting ourselves up for down the line?

[Metallicat]

Exactly. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

[just_me]

but its ok for a game to allow a person to assume the role of scum that terrorize our streets everyday.......no pressure to change a game that allows you to be a cop killer, sell drugs, rob and kill people etc.

 

I know for some Taliban vs US Soldier is "different" but to me its all the same....big sin, little sin--its still a sin and these types of games are still garbage

 

PS Because I know some will focus on the "big sin, little sin" comment and not understand the true reason why its there...Im not saying video games are a sin. What I am saying is that its the same kind of argument where one person feels that there are levels to sinning---one sin bigger than another--but regardless its still a sin. Taliban vs Soldier has a different meaning to some and is seen as a "worse" offense but (imho) its still the same---trash. Big sin, little sin concept

[Metallicat]

but its ok for a game to allow a person to assume the role of scum that terrorize our streets everyday.......no pressure to change a game that allows you to be a cop killer, sell drugs, rob and kill people etc.

 

I know for some Taliban vs US Soldier is "different" but to me its all the same....big sin, little sin--its still a sin and these types of games are still garbage

Actually, I consider games like Grand Theft Auto to be "trash" as well. And there have been groups that have tried to get such games off the shelf.

PS Because I know some will focus on the "big sin, little sin" comment and not understand the true reason why its there...Im not saying video games are a sin. What I am saying is that its the same kind of argument where one person feels that there are levels to sinning---one sin bigger than another--but regardless its still a sin. Taliban vs Soldier has a different meaning to some and is seen as a "worse" offense but (imho) its still the same---trash. Big sin, little sin concept

 

What is this "sin" you speak of. Are you coming over to the side of the believers?;)

 

Back to the topic, personally the only games I usually play are sports games. Occasionally(and I mean very occasionally) a Star Wars type game or Castlevania etc. Use to play war games but 1) I felt guilty getting entertainment from events that cost lives and caused many to suffer physically and emotionally, 2) I felt like a poser knowing that there are people who have and do really go to war on my/our behalf and 3) my wife hates them.

[3GeronimoPA]

RE: Grand Theft Auto

 

That game is trash too!

 

Why hasn't America turned it's shoulder against that too is beyond me and sad.

[Contrarian]

RE: Grand Theft Auto

 

That game is trash too!

 

Why hasn't America turned it's shoulder against that too is beyond me and sad.

 

The ENTIRE "Medal of Honor" series has ALWAYS let gamers play as allied or oppositional forces in a contemporary war theater. The allies in this case are U.S. Army. The theater is Afghanistan. And so the opposition, not surprisingly, is the Taliban. The ENTIRE Medal of Honor series has always given gamers the opportunity to play both sides, something it says gamers have been doing since they were children (Cops&Robbers, Cowboys&Indians, Doctor&patient, etc.).

 

Plenty of video games let you play as Nazis who have done far worst things than the Taliban. Call of Duty 4 lets you play as Eastern Bloc fighters against US troops. No one seemed to complain when on Call of Duty World at War, on multiplayer you could play as the Wehrmacht {responsible for the holocaust} or the Imperial Army {responsible for the Nanking Massacre}. In those games, you could play as the Japanese and take part in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

These facts begs the question... are we suggesting that realistic simulated slaughter is only appropriate when it is an American soldier holding the gun and doing the shooting? Should we only allow Americans to play the Cop, Cowboy and Doctor...??? Also, are we implying that it's okay for one side to electronically simulate shooting the other on ideological and/or moral grounds, but say that it's "disrespectful" to allow players to play as the enemy (Robbers, Indians, Taliban, patients) and shoot back...? Cause if so.. that PSYOP "hearts and minds" campaign in theater aint gonna work and the term "jingoistic whitewashing" seems apt.

 

The fact is... our soldiers and lots of civilians roleplay as the enemy during simulations all the time as part of pre-deployment training for the real combat.

 

Your opinion of what is or isn't "trash" isn't really relevant beyond what YOU decide to purchase and play on your TV/Game Console in your home since here in AMERICA... there is something for everyone and choice is a important part of FREEDOM.

 

Good thing we ALL aren't subject to the THOUGHT POLICE and don't have to only have products that meet the standards acceptable of a few... cause that just might make us just like those repressive regimes in the countries we are currently deployed in.

 

 

Having lost friends with my own two eyes at the hands of the taliban...

 

Yeah..yeah...

YOU aren't the only person who has served in uniform or in a theater of war.

Many of us served in uniform and then went back, and continue to return to support those still in uniform.

 

WE ALL do this to fight for FREEDOM (now you want to dictate to people what games they can play)...

Seems we must understand that part of the freedom that WE fought for by standing up in "harms way" for what our country believes in... not only includes our right to be free, but theirs as well. This includes things that you or I may find offensive. So long as those things do not infringe on our rights, WE have no right to infringe on them. Time you pick up a constitution and read it. Left to right. Top to bottom. Learn it. It's in English. That's what you and me, your buddies and mine fought and died for.

 

So it would really be cool if you would lay off of the patriot spiel as a excuse to usurp the rights and choices of other Americans CONUS and OCONUS (many of them sitting in tents, in theater, role-playing as zombies, thugs, nazis, etc... on XboXs, PS3s, etc) who havn't stopped caring about the difference between fiction and reality...

 

Contrarian...

P.s... you are quite a few yrs tooo late with the LTC Grossman recommendation.. I've read his books and met him personally after a talk here in Seattle.

 

Medal of Honor/Linkin Park Trailer

[cinntsp]

I bet quite a few people stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan will be playing this game, even if the opfor were still referred to as the Taliban. It's no different than playing something like Counterstrike(terrorists vs. counter-terrorists), which has been out for many years.

[Metallicat]

I bet quite a few people stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan will be playing this game, even if the opfor were still referred to as the Taliban. It's no different than playing something like Counterstrike(terrorists vs. counter-terrorists), which has been out for many years.

 

Of course there will be. Some people have no problem with it. Some do.

[just_me]

haha far from that side......but it was the only relevant comparison that I could think of :-)

 

my problem is that it seems people get their panties in a bunch when its something that personally affects them or whatever--not because attention really needs to brought to it (hope that makes sense)

 

Example there was a guy that was an officer in the salvation army...apparently they can only marry other officers....well his wife (an officer) died and he fell in love with a non-officer and decided to marry her so the salvation took his home, car etc that they paid for in exchange for his vow to uphold their rules. it was all fine and dandy while it worked for him but when it didnt thats when he approached the news and tried to change the system......same with the video games...the trash thats out is ok but the trash that you dont like isnt?!?

 

These video games....I dont like em so I dont buy em. Music with cursing...I dont like it so I dont buy it. With that said if I were to start an uprising it would be all inclusive--picking and choosing what trash to uprise against is boarderline contradictory and hypocritical.

 

"Oh we cant have games where people can play terrorists but its ok to let people be gangbangers, slap prostitutes and shoot cops--thats not as important an issue"

 

What is this "sin" you speak of. Are you coming over to the side of the believers?;)

 

Back to the topic, personally the only games I usually play are sports games. Occasionally(and I mean very occasionally) a Star Wars type game or Castlevania etc. Use to play war games but 1) I felt guilty getting entertainment from events that cost lives and caused many to suffer physically and emotionally, 2) I felt like a poser knowing that there are people who have and do really go to war on my/our behalf and 3) my wife hates them.

[3GeronimoPA]

Your opinion of what is or isn't "trash" isn't really relevant beyond what YOU decide to purchase and play since here in AMERICA... there is something for everyone and choice is important.

 

I've never said choice wasn't important. I just said some choices are disrespectful. I just don't come from the moral position of "everything goes" in a moral sense. Again, I never said it should not be allowed. I just said it was wrong. You asserting my position is wrong is no less oppressive or prescriptive than my view. Mine is merely based on the idea that killing American Soldiers is repulsive even if on a video game. You seem to think that it should be protected from both legal opposition (I agree) AND from moral opposition (I disagree).

 

 

Good thing we ALL don't have to only have products that meet the standards of acceptable of a few...

We aren't allowed to have "Snuff films" because of what people deem as acceptable and non-acceptable. Do you feel that the ban on them should be lifted? I understand that how they are made is illegal here. So what if they were made in a place where murder is acceptable and then sold in the U.S.? Then we would meet the guidelines of the constitution to the T! The film is banned because it stimulates ideas in the mind which are deemed as poisonous and inconsistent with the expectations of our society for its members. So our "freedom of speech" is limited in this respect by what people deem decent. THEN, there's the moral argument of, no matter how legal snuff films become, they are still trash! I still would hate them. AND No amount of cries for the rights of the "Snuff film" watchers will make me think any different. You may call it a big jump from Killing American Soldiers to Snuff Films but they both are morally repulsive material that no moral American should feel comfortable with. As to the arguments of the constitutionality of one vs. the other I could care less. The constitution only establishes our basic legal freedoms. We can't use it to defend trashy morals. And we can't misinterpret a moral assertion as a proposition for forming law.

 

cause that just might make us just like those people we are currently shooting at.

So would you say our oppressive ban on "Snuff films" makes us Talibani-ish?

 

 

Yeah..yeah...

YOU aren't the only person who has served in uniform or in a theater of war.

Many of us served in uniform and then went back, and continue to return to support those still in uniform.

 

And many of us have gone 4 times and are pending our 5th deployment. I would never argue one being greater than the other AND I never claimed to be the only person.... I just claimed that it is repulsive to me to think that American game manufactures and players are eager to kill American Soldiers even in a fictitious realm. This is even more repulsive because I feel it is a slap in the face of my friends who died in uniform. Call it a patriot spiel if you want. I can't think of anyone in their right mind who would feel great about people getting to get their practice "gun on" by remaking the executions of their friends.

 

WE ALL do this to fight for FREEDOM (now you want to dictate to people what games they can play)...

 

You are full of crap on this. I have never said I wanted to dictate anything. Re-read my posts and quit putting words in my mouth! My claiming something as wrong and trashy doesn't mean I think it should be banned. I think it should be so offensive to the masses that people would want to not purchase it until changes were made. Granted it may be superficial but the change of it says something. Enough people cared to cause the manufacturer to modify it. No court said they had to. Why aren't you applauding the market for dictating the products it gets from businesses?

 

So it would really be cool if you would lay off of the patriot spiel as a excuse to usurp the rights and choices of other Americans CONUS and OCONUS (many of them sitting in tents, in theater, role-playing as zombies, thugs, nazis, etc... on XboXs, PS3s, etc)...

 

Using your logic I could very well say you are trying to dictate to me that I can not present myself as a patriot? I feel it is unAMERICAN to try to trample on my FREEDOM even though I am OCONUS. Come off your Patriot spiel and stop dropping "Usurp" bombs on me lol... Get serious.

 

Bottom line, I say it shouldn't be banned, our moral standards should be so high that the market for it wouldn't support it. I have my reasons whether you like them, agree, or disagree.

 

 

P.s... you are quite a few yrs tooo late with the LTC Grossman recommendation.. I've read his books and met him personally after a talk here in Seattle.

Sounds like the material really sunk in...

[3GeronimoPA]

Just_me

I say, "We never say we CAN'T have anything". I say, "The thing is trash and I wont support it with my hard earned money". That's my personal choice. I also feel that there ought to be enough people who feel being a terrorist, gangbanging, slapping prostitutes, and shooting cops is morally repulsive to the extent they refuse to support it as well. There is a market for these items as they sold and sold well (minus the "play as Taliban).

 

I believe people's legal rights should remain intact. I see your point though.

 

As for the other craziness going on in here, it still doesn't make us moral or right or more AMERICAN as a nation when we choose to embrace these things. How can someone get on here and tell me I am "morally wrong" for asserting something (the embracing of trashiness as I see it) as "morally wrong"? Then when it doesn't make sense accuse me of dictating...

[Contrarian]

The pressures of the market won as they should have...

I wouldn't be suprised if there were different versions of the game offered in different regions.

Cause I just don't see the simulated unilateral slaughter of every nations soldiers/sailors/airmen/insurgents by "Imperial" US forces a big international hit ...

 

Sounds like the material really sunk in...

 

Is this a indication that YOU believe EVERYTHING of the propaganda and rhetoric you read and take ALL theories as truth....??

 

If so... have you read Wilie Lynch...??

[Metallicat]

just_me, I think we agree on this more than we disagree. But, yes of course we get more involved in issues that effect us. I for one have neither the time nor the energy to fight everybody's battles.

 

I'm not saying people shouldn't have the right to make/buy such games and I'm certainly not saying it's the only "trashy" game out there. I just think it's sad the someone would have the desire to make such games and also sad that people would want to play them.

[3GeronimoPA]

Is this a indication that YOU believe EVERYTHING of the propaganda and rhetoric you read and take ALL theories as truth....??

 

Nope. Just that the Lieutenant Colonel had a good point.