I can understand people being upset. I mean, the timing of the games release (October 12th) is poor. But lets be realistic here. How many games, first person shooters specifically, have featured enemies hailing from the middle eastern countries? I don't have a count but I know it is a large majority of them. Lets take a look at the enemies featured in these games regardless of if they are the main enemy or just play a small role in the game. We have the Russians, Japanese, Chinese, and Middle Eastern soldiers. In each game they appear, they all look realistic compared to their real world counterparts. The uniforms, the weapons, their vehicles and even their surroundings and the territory they come from. So why are these not an issue? Why is it that in a game you can play as an American soldier AND usually have the choice of being one of the soldiers from the above list?
I'll tell you why. Again because of timing. It appears that people are upset about the Medal Of Honor game because we are still currently fighting (and dying) the Taliban. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of the protesters for at least a minute. And in doing so, I can understand their angst. Imagine your the father of a soldier. Your son left over a year ago and is fighting in Iraq. You watch the news daily to see anything you can find about the war. Hoping to catch a glimpse of what your son might be seeing daily. Then one day your get a knock at the door and two soldiers are on your front step telling you that your son was killed in action. Now a few days later your walking past the living room where your youngest son (lets say he is about 12). You take a glance at the TV screen to see what he is playing on his PS3. What do you see? You see your son playing as a Taliban soldier shooting the enemy which in this case is a US Marine. Needless to say, I think you would be pretty upset.
Of course this is a hypothetical situation. But it is also something that could happen. I mean the odds of the above scenario occurring are actually pretty good. So how does that affect your thoughts on the game? Should a company be allowed to publish such content? Or are people just being too overly sensitive?
Now don't misunderstand me. I am a staunch patriot. But me.. I do not see a problem with the game. We have (gamers) been playing such games for a long time. And aside from the timing of it, I don't see this as un-patriotic. Consider the last few FPS games that have come out. Most of the time the enemies are middle eastern insurgents. And when you play single player you are ALWAYS the US soldiers. It is only when you play online multi player that someone has to be the bad guy. When you played cops and robbers as a kid, someone had to be the cop and someone the robber. Does that make the game something that you should be put down for? Just because you happen to play as the robber? No, it does not. It is all a matter of your perception and that perception is what you project onto those around you when this is the subject matter.
Lets face it. No one is going to get this game to not be released. On October 12th the game will be sold in stores. And much to the dismay of those opposed to its sale, the game will sell and it will sell very well. There may be protests out in front of a couple Best Buy locations, but I suspect those will be few and far between. And most parents of kids below the age of 18 will probably not allow their kids to purchase it. But people will need to realize that the average age of gamers today is 35 - 40 years old. Way old enough to make their own decisions and purchase their own games. We will have to wait and see how this one turns out. I will keep a close eye on game sales and compare this to other games in the same genre and also against the first Medal Of Honor. Stay tuned for that info sometime in October, most likely about a week after the games release. All in all I see why people are upset. But then again.. things like this are the reason we love living in America in the first place. Because we have the freedom to do crazy stupid things. No matter how foul or distasteful. Once we lose that right (and some say we are close to that happening) we lose our identity.
