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Defence Secretary Liam Fox "Retailers should not stock Medal Of Honor"

Reply 40

TOSCS

2

The irony is that the British Army go off and murder thousands of people in the name of our so called "freedom".

Reply 41

Joluk

15

There's a huge difference between a game which involves a previous war, and a war that is currently being fought with British soldiers still dying. Its insensitive, but if its only in multiplayer mode, its not really right to ban it.

Reply 42

Martial44

9

Idiot-Finder

The Taliban are fighting for what they believe, the Allies for what they believe. Who the **** is he to say one is more just than the other?

Good point.

In WW2 games players can take the role of germans or Nazis, and quite frankly its down to consumer choice.

Reply 43

Wolfos

2

Phantom_X

This is the same as every war game

By this logic we should be banning most games involving violence. Lord forbid, Fox might advocate banning tekken next.

Or Pokemon for angering animal rights activists because you can capture creatures and use them to battle to the (near) death. I hope we don't end up like Australia where the nanny state is in full force over there banning games. I think adults are old enough to decide what games are suitable enough for them to play. Nobody really cared about playing the Nazis in World at War. Gamers can decide what does and doesn't offend them without some uptight government official who's probably never even heard of Pacman or Mario.

Reply 44

Idiot-Finder

13

Joluk

There's a huge difference between a game which involves a previous war, and a war that is currently being fought with British soldiers still dying. Its insensitive, but if its only in multiplayer mode, its not really right to ban it.

But a war in which thousands and thousands of Afghan civilians have died and the same for Iraq are ok?

Reply 45

Laertes

1

Idiot-Finder

The Taliban are fighting for what they believe, the Allies for what they believe. Who the **** is he to say one is more just than the other?

A politician for the allies. As wrong as he is, it'd be worrying if he suddenly started supporting the Taliban.

Reply 46

NightFaux

Personally I don't think we should ban this game, because like many people on here say, were will it stop.

Reply 47

Idiot-Finder

13

Laertes

A politician for the allies. As wrong as he is, it'd be worrying if he suddenly started supporting the Taliban.

There are loads of games where as soldiers you can shoot Iraqi civilians, I never heard him moaning then?

Reply 48

Laertes

1

Idiot-Finder

There are loads of games where as soldiers you can shoot Iraqi civilians, I never heard him moaning then?

I'm not saying he's right. But as Defence secretary, it is part of his job to criticise the Taliban and attempt to further the allied war effort.
He's still a ******* idiot but it's hardly a massive shock he's doing it.

Reply 49

Wesker115

1

As confident as EA are now wioth regard to their stance on such a tasteless idea, I fully expect this game to be heavily modified before it's release as the government and game's retailers put pressure on them.

Reply 50

Blutarsky

2

I accidentally clicked yes :frown:

I don't think it's un-British at all. We love a good ruck! Surely it's more British than NFL or NHL games? Britain was built with war!

Also, being the Taliban doesn't mean you support the Taliban, it just means you shoot the other team. It's like Counterstrike; it has Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists. Same concept, yet our government wasn't bothered with that.

I think the word for these politicians is old-fashioned. At least Labour were trying to be a bit more... down with the kids.

Reply 51

ligouri

medal of honour is only naming the terroists you play in every game.

Reply 52

Delaney

16

Shouldn't fox be busy fighting terrorism rather than talking about a computer game?

Reply 53

storm_jh

Thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if EA paid him to kick up a fuss, they're the ones who are going to benefit from it, there are loads of identical shooters, a bit of controversy is only going to get more sales for there most likely mediocre game.

Reply 54

micky022

16

Excandersham

Source http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102952-UK-Defense-Secretary-Calls-for-Medal-of-Honor-Ban

Should games where players play as the taliban be banned from sale to the general public and is the attempt of making such a game un-British?

quote from source

British defense secretary Liam Fox has urged retailers not to stock the upcoming Medal of Honor game, saying that he is disgusted that the game allows players to be the Taliban.

Anger at EA's Medal of Honor allowing players to assume the role of Taliban soldiers in the game's multiplayer has reached the upper echelons of the British government today, as Fox expressed his disgust for the game, and called upon British retailers to ban it from their shelves.

Fox said that he found it hard to believe that anyone in the country would want to buy such an "un-British" game, and that he was shocked that anyone would think that a game where you could be the Taliban was acceptable. "At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands," he said. "I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product." A spokesperson for EA said there that Medal of Honor was just a game, and merely reflected the fact that conflicts has two sides. She likened it to a game of cops and robbers, saying that somebody had to be the bad guy.

As I understand it, it would be illegal for the UK government to try to ban Medal of Honor itself, which is presumably why Fox is trying to guilt trip retailers into banning it for him. It's not hard to see why Fox is upset - EA knew this would be controversial when it was making the game - but it's still a little sad to see an elected official respond in such a knee-jerk manner.

The Conservative-Liberal government have distanced themselves from Foxs statements.
source http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102956-UK-Culture-Department-Distances-Itself-From-Medal-of-Honor-Outrage

So should Medal Of Honor and similar games such as the cancelled "Six Days In Fallejuah" be banned from sale for their use of recent conflicts as their story locations?

Cheap attempt to curry political favour. The man is a pillock and should shut up with this stupid attempt to appear patriotic.

Reply 55

RyanPK

What ********, the british aren't even in the game.

Reply 56

londonlawguy

Idiot-Finder

If someone came into your country you disliked, would you not use any means to get them out?

You might not like why they dont like the soldiers but thats opinion.

Yes I would. But that is slightly misleading - I was making the point that the society and values the Taliban stands for are absolutely inferior to western, liberal democratic values.

However, I do sympathise to some extent with their hostility to what they perceive to be an occupying force, if you want to limit the discussion to that narrow point.

l4ith

superiority of social values is subjective

I don't fully agree, I am afraid.

While I do agree that our social values are to a great extent creations of the society in which we are raised, and our critique of other societies will therefore be subjective, I think that you can still argue that some societies are objectively superior to others - some societies are clearly going to provide greater empirical benefits to their citizens than others. To argue otherwise is just lazy relativism, a position put forward when someone cannot be bothered to expend the intellectual energy required to defend one particular society or ideology over another.

Reply 57

mazzafakka

does not shock me that he hasn't even played the game or seen it, just heard of it. In nearly every war game you play as the opposing side whether it be Nazi's, Taliban, Vietkong etc in a multiplayer situation. When I play Modern Warfare 2 I never even realise whether I'm playing as a Marine or an Insurgent, if the other team is wearing a different camo to me, they're an enemy, I don't wince or orgasm when I shoot a 'Western' soldier because honestly I am disconnected from who the characters are, ITS ONLY A GAME.

Reply 58

username239687

18

We can play german soldiers in war games too, sure it was 70 years ago, but they were our enemies too. Let's just play viva pinata eh? ******* cripple.

Reply 59

milkytea

16

******* ridiculous, what a ****! So if a British born person of Afghan descent objects to being able to play as a British soldier that shoots Afghanistani people, that game should not be stocked?

It's disturbing to think that such narrow-minded people occupy such crucial positions in the makeup of this country's government.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox "Retailers should not stock Medal Of Honor"

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