The struggle of Good vs. Evil has been stylized in our entertainment since the first Greek tragedy.
Nowadays, the fight is either between superheroes and villains or, as popular TV shows like 24 and The Unit show, government task forces and terrorism.
Video games have also started to capitalize on historic war games that take players through World Wars I and II, Vietnam and soon the Cold War.
But in 2007, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare moved away from past wars and into the new territory of a near-future style of warfare — not WWII but certainly not too futuristic-like games such as Halo or Killzone.
The game had players playing as a fictional U.S. Army and British Special Air Services joint operation to battle terrorism from the “Ultranationalist” party.
Now while Modern Warfare and its sequel Modern Warfare 2 caused some controversy, Electronic Arts’ newest game Medal of Honor is taking the leap forward into modern warfare but is bringing it closer to home.
Medal of Honor takes place in 2001 and has players playing as “Tier One Operators” in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. Game designers have stated they worked with the military to make the game as real as possible.
But the multiplayer version has a definite twist: Gamers can play as the Taliban killing U.S. troops.
The game itself is just that, a game. Amanda Taggart, senior public relations manager of Electronic Arts, said as much.
“Most of us having been doing this since we were 7 — if someone’s the cop, someone’s gotta be the robber, someone’s gotta be the pirate and someone’s gotta be the alien. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s gotta be the Taliban,” she said in an interview with AOL news.
The real issue, though, is that the game takes place in a war that is currently ongoing. Not WWII and not a far off or even near-future conflict with fictional characters. The war is going on as we speak.
Military officials believe that this version is morally wrong. Because too many U.S. and British troops have died at the hands of the Taliban, they believe the game is in bad taste.
The U.S. military has banned the sale of the game on all military bases even though soldiers can still possess it.
When asked why it’s not sold on bases, a spokesperson for the U.S. Navy said in a press statement that it was “out of respect for the men and women serving and their families.”
Again, Medal of Honor is just a video game, but let’s not allow media companies to disrespect our troops by having gamers take pride in racking up points for the wrong team.
