Medal of Honour - new game controversy

DerryRed

Last night I got a message from one of my Xbox "friends" in which he said that due to the story of the next Medal of Honour game, involving The Taliban in Afghanistan, that he would be removing any of his "friends" who he saw playing this game, when it comes out.

Not loosing much sleep over this, as he is not a friend in real life, but has anyone heard any controversy about this game. What's your thoughts? A poor choice of storyline, or "fair game"?

NotorietyH

Read a good preview (that I can't seem to find now) that brought up this very issue. Basically said that the Medal of Honor franchise has a history and reputation for honoring and being respectful to the soldiers that fought in the wars that the games depict and the latest game seems to follow in the same vein. I think it's fine and could be really interesting. I know I'll be much more interested in Medal of Honor's story than MW2s over-the-top bull. If it's handled correctly it could be a really affective game, and could really draw you in if it's based closely on actual events. As long as they don't have you fighting Robo-Osama at the end I think they'll be fine.

The article did mention that it's the multiplayer that could be the really contentious issue as you'll either be playing as the Coalition forces or the Taliban. That I could see being an issue.

It's a strange gray area that games seems to reside in. They don't seem to be allowed to portray current events without people screaming bloody murder. I don't think that same guy sent around an email saying he'd defriend anyone he saw watching The Hurt Locker for example.

I think it's a bold move for them to set the game in and around the current conflict, and could really pay off by making the game seem much more relevant that Call of Duty and will allow them (if they can pull it off) to create a story with a real emotional wallop if they want.

Grumpypants

Its not the first game set in a modern conflict 6 days in Fallujah caused a storm as well.

While i did stop and think a bit differently about something depicting deaths that are are still happening today and will happen in the future to what are basically a bunch of kids. I guess its not that different to the people who fought in WW2 to see WW2 games. I think due to time passing it is easier to distance yourself from an event like the second world war. But its a video game at the end of the day and if someone said they would remove me from their list i would reply don't worry ill do it for you.

humanji

I bet that same friend has a load of achievements in Grand Theft Auto 4. Some people have a strange moral compass.

NotorietyH

Grumpypants wrote: »

Its not the first game set in a modern conflict 6 days in Fallujah caused a storm as well.

Yeah and was dropped by its publisher because of it.I think this being an already established franchise might help it pass under the radar a bit.

Also 6 Days was based on a specific battle in the Iraq war, depicting real events whereas Medal Of Honor is based around the Afghanistan war but not based on real events within that war if that makes sense.

Grumpypants

NotorietyH wrote: »

Yeah and was dropped by its publisher because of it.I think this being an already established franchise might help it pass under the radar a bit.

Also 6 Days was based on a specific battle in the Iraq war, depicting real events whereas Medal Of Honor is based around the Afghanistan war but not based on real events within that war if that makes sense.

Yip it does I thought i heard that some of the missions in MOH are real missions undertaken in the current conflict. Although i may have dreamt that, it has happened to me before more than once !!


for the OP i would like to know if you asked the friend why. Might just be he has family serving in Afghanistan so it may be too close to home for him.

NotorietyH

Grumpypants wrote: »

Yip it does I thought i heard that some of the missions in MOH are real missions undertaken in the current conflict. Although i may have dreamt that, it has happened to me before more than once !!


for the OP i would like to know if you asked the friend why. Might just be he has family serving in Afghanistan so it may be too close to home for him.

Yeah I'm not sure myself about the actual battles thing. I suppose not naming your game after the actual battle helps anyway. :P

Shiminay

MoH is in part based on some real missions and some "realistic" missions - so said the producer when I met him at the Showcase event. The consultant Tier 1 guys they have are there to make sure the missions are as true to reality as they can be (most of them are still active serving soldiers).

In the Q&A at the event, he was specifically asked about the potential controversy of setting a game in what is still an active warzone. The answer given, as NotorietyH said above is that MoH was always about telling the story of the soldier and that the location/timeline was merely the device used to tell it. The level of praise they said they're getting from anyone in the military or who has family/friends serving seems high. The "phoning home" trailer that some of you may have seen in particular seems to have nailed the sentiment well - telling your family that you're bored, there's nothing to do, the fighting's miles away etc whereas the reality is you're elbow deep in fire-fights and people are getting killed all around you.

It's probably not going to be the last we'll hear of this given the nature of the conflict and how close it seems to be to a lot of people's hearts at the moment.

NotorietyH

It definitely seems like the story and characters will be much more of a focus than the sub-24-esque plot and characters we got in MW2. I find it a lot more enticing anyway and it might actually freshen up the military shooter genre a bit.

This is the calling home trailer mentioned above by the way. Tis what piqued my interest more than the othey action focused trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umZSl7wgLx8

Varik

DerryRed wrote: »

Last night I got a message from one of my Xbox "friends" in which he said that due to the story of the next Medal of Honour game, involving The Taliban in Afghanistan, that he would be removing any of his "friends" who he saw playing this game, when it comes out.

At least he saves you the trouble of removing him. In a perfect world idiots would stay clear of us on principle.

madmac187

Saw game play and certainly think I'll be making a purchase

BlastedGlute

I can speak for myself and the vast if not complete majority of friends when I say a computer game is still considered just that by anyone who's been there or is on their way. I myself served in the queens royal lancers for a year and a bit and am currently somewhere in between RMC selection. I literally just asked a mate of mine who's on a ship somewhere off the east coast of africa. He also completed a full 6 months in afghanistan over a year ago. It's always someone else's story. Nothing a game can depict will clash with the memories you can pick up out there. If anything it's the games that help you get away from it if you need to. Look at any soldier you know,or visit shannon where all the yanks stop over. You'll see them fixated to iphones,psp's and gameboys. Games are the number 2 R+R, right after the obvious . Soldiers read a lot, generally other soldiers stories, and this is just another one of them. It'll be funny playing the taliban,not emotional. Again that's only going from a few mates who've been and gone. A friend of ours from home was killed in afghanistan in november 2008,it doesnt mean I have some sort of over emotional sentiment to his memory that wont allow me to play a video game. It's not as though the money is being used to fund taliban training camps? If there is a problem with the game, ask the soldiers, not the parents on some censorship committee or a journalist who finishes all of his column headers with a "?". peace

Shiminay

That mostly ties in with what Greg was saying about the reactions their consultants had to the game so far. He said they've been sending DVDs of the game-play footage and they're all going wild for it. One thing I've noticed about any career soldiers I've ever met is that they're mad for anything military as BlastedGlute has said and the focus from the guys creating this is to make sure it's one of those games that the military goes mad for

ironictoaster

The game looks amazing however, I still think its going to be reskined version of BF2 regardless of what EA/DICE say...

dazftw

I'm looking forward to this game for single player only now. I'm waiting for the beta but after seeing the online game play vids I'm not that impressed. Its not unique or original.