Metal of Honor has been a long running game series, starting back on the PS2 in 1999. The Metal of Honor games have always been based on World War 2. This year the game developers EA (Electronic Arts) are adding a new spin, they have based the game in the present war in Afghanistan. The game initially had the Taliban as the enemy of the game. Many critics, gamers, and war veterans of Afghanistan do not like this, they feel that is is not right for the present enemy to be in a video game, when real people are being killed by this group as we speak. EA has decided to change the name of the group to opposing forces. The change does not affect game play itself. They are also following the role of the very successful Modern Warfare 2, Activision game. In Modern Warfare 2 the enemies are known as the OpFor; a fictional group of terrorists.
I believe that if EA wants to make the game more life-like by adding real terrorists to their game, they should be allowed. Many other games set in the different World Wars have the real enemies name. Only when things are presently going on they cannot be added. I also think that if the Taliban is going to be banned in the new Metal of Honor game that all enemies should be banned and replaced with fictional, randomly generated names. It does not make sense to have one game not allowed to have the Taliban when many others set in WWI and WWII have the real enemy name with real events that happened such as the bombing in pearl harbour. I also believe that many of the complaints came from many of the people that will not even play the game. Most gamers are ok with what content is in the game. Also the game will be under the rating M (Mature 17+) meaning that many children should not be playing this game, therefore that the only people that will be exposed to and allowed to play will be over 17 years of age.
I understand where Marc is coming from with what he has said, but I disagree on some parts of it. When he says that it is the fact that the Taliban is still a current threat, that is true, but you need to understand the fear that some people might think of. If someone used you in a video game where you would be killed multiple times, would you be pleased, or amused? They are probably afraid that the Taliban will see this as a challenge to them, and they might retaliate violently. Then again, that's just my opinion.
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