Medal of Honor‘s setting is going to be the modern Afghanistan war, making for a proverbial minefield of controversy. Indeed, the ability to fight as the Taliban side during multiplayer has given Karen Meredith, mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan and critic of the war, more than a little pause.
“War is not a game, period,” said Meredith. “Families who are burying their children are going to be seeing this…. I just don’t see that a video game based on a current war makes any sense at all, it’s disrespectful.”
EA issued a response to these criticisms. “Medal of Honor is set in today’s war putting players in the boots of today’s soldiers… we give gamers the opportunity to play both sides,” said Electronic Arts senior PR manager Amanda Taggart. “Most of us have been doing this since we were seven… if someone’s the cop, someone’s got to be the robber, someone’s got to be the pirate and someone’s got to be the alien. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s gotta be the Taliban.”
Meredith’s response “I just find this unrealistic, to compare cops and robbers to the Taliban and U.S. soldiers. My son didn’t get to start over when he was killed. His life is over, and I have to deal with this every day… it’s just not a game.”
Source: Fox News {link no longer active}
