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Liam Fox, UK Minister Of Defence Wants To Ban New Medal Of Honour Game.
More stupidity from a government regarding videogames today. Sadly, it’s not the Australian government this time (who are usually behind most national level attempts to screw up games), it’s a figure within my own British overlords, namely the Minster of Defence, Liam Fox.
He’s urging a ban on the new Medal of Honour game because it’s possible to play as the Taliban attacking British troops*.
Now, I can sort of see where he’s coming from with this, Afghanistan is an ongoing conflict, there’s still a lot of raw memories and grieving families, and this may well be “too soon”, as they say. But still, urging a ban? Come on.
If he doesn’t like it, Liam Fox has every right to speak out against Medal of Honour, but this guy is the Minister of Defence. He has no right, no basis on which he can call for a ban on any product, unless maybe it somehow compromises national security.
Even if it is “too soon” to be making entertainment material out of the Afghanistan conflict, that’s a matter of poor taste. Since when was poor taste worth banning something? Roy Chubby Brown has made a career out of bad taste. Do we ban him? How about Bernard Manning? Well known for racial and cultural abuse and slurs, and yet again he has a career.
This is another example of the double standards present when people look at videogames in comparison to other forms of entertainment. Okay, they’re an interactive medium, but at the end of the day, it’s a game. It’s cops and robbers, and someone needs to play the robbers.
Perhaps Mr Fox would prefer it if Medal of Honour’s multiplayer mode featured British soldiers shooting other British soldiers? Or perhaps American troops versus British troops? Would that be any more acceptable?
And on a serious note, let’s not forget that every conflict has two sides. Mr Fox shows no distaste at the idea of glorifying British troops killing the Taliban. At the end of the day, war is shit: It’s two groups of people killing each other. The Taliban are still people, and it’s important we don’t let the government dehumanise them. By all means, we should support our troops (even if you oppose the war, they don’t get a say in where they’re sent), but that doesn’t mean we should gloss over the fact that they are killing people. It’s not just British families who are suffering due to this conflict.
I wonder if Mr Fox’s Taliban counterpart feels the same way? :D
Further Reading:
BBC
Guardian
* EA also say that there are no British troops in the game- they're all American.
UPDATE:
Some troops share their thoughts on the matter
He’s urging a ban on the new Medal of Honour game because it’s possible to play as the Taliban attacking British troops*.
Now, I can sort of see where he’s coming from with this, Afghanistan is an ongoing conflict, there’s still a lot of raw memories and grieving families, and this may well be “too soon”, as they say. But still, urging a ban? Come on.
If he doesn’t like it, Liam Fox has every right to speak out against Medal of Honour, but this guy is the Minister of Defence. He has no right, no basis on which he can call for a ban on any product, unless maybe it somehow compromises national security.
Even if it is “too soon” to be making entertainment material out of the Afghanistan conflict, that’s a matter of poor taste. Since when was poor taste worth banning something? Roy Chubby Brown has made a career out of bad taste. Do we ban him? How about Bernard Manning? Well known for racial and cultural abuse and slurs, and yet again he has a career.
This is another example of the double standards present when people look at videogames in comparison to other forms of entertainment. Okay, they’re an interactive medium, but at the end of the day, it’s a game. It’s cops and robbers, and someone needs to play the robbers.
Perhaps Mr Fox would prefer it if Medal of Honour’s multiplayer mode featured British soldiers shooting other British soldiers? Or perhaps American troops versus British troops? Would that be any more acceptable?
And on a serious note, let’s not forget that every conflict has two sides. Mr Fox shows no distaste at the idea of glorifying British troops killing the Taliban. At the end of the day, war is shit: It’s two groups of people killing each other. The Taliban are still people, and it’s important we don’t let the government dehumanise them. By all means, we should support our troops (even if you oppose the war, they don’t get a say in where they’re sent), but that doesn’t mean we should gloss over the fact that they are killing people. It’s not just British families who are suffering due to this conflict.
I wonder if Mr Fox’s Taliban counterpart feels the same way? :D
Further Reading:
BBC
Guardian
* EA also say that there are no British troops in the game- they're all American.
UPDATE:
Some troops share their thoughts on the matter
I find it interesting that most of the troops' thoughts can be broadly summarised as "it's just a game."