Recently, the AAFES requested that GameStop remove all traces of EA's Medal of Honor from its stores on military bases. This decision has not sat well with some people, including Lucas Siegel, Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Site Editor of Newsarama.com.
“AAFES made a request, GameStop followed through politely and apparently with no fight,” writes Siegel to Kotaku. “My problem, however, lies with AAFES making the request in the first place. The idea that a gameplay mode in a game people choose to or not to play could be so inherently damaging is simply silly. Giving things this kind of weight and power is the problem, not that they exist in and of themselves. It's something I had to learn myself. For about 3 years after I returned from Iraq, I found it impossible to play any realistic shooters, or to enjoy fireworks. There were little things within those experiences that set off powerful sense memories. Eventually, it took sitting down and trying to remember what was enjoyable about these things to me in the past to make them enjoyable again. Releasing that self-imposed power made me remember, hey, this is a video game, and I like video games.”
“That's the point here that the officials at AAFES are overlooking in favor of being cautious,” Siegel continued. “This isn't a tool to convert American Soldiers into Taliban. It is a game, and in the game you play one of two roles. In the Army, you sometimes have field exercises in which you are placed on the side of 'Opposing Forces.' In that, you are role-playing as modern enemies in order to improve your knowledge and your fellow soldiers' knowledge of how to combat them. Games don't come with an inherent evil, an inherent power, or even, most of the time, any specific political message. In the campaign of Medal of Honor, it will be no doubt clear that the Taliban are the enemies. In multiplayer, sometimes, people will be 'Opposing Forces.' That's not offensive to me as a soldier. The offensive thing to me as a soldier is AAFES thinking I can't protect myself from a product I deem harmful. If it feels potentially damaging to an individual, then the individual doesn't play it and that's all that needs to happen.”
“It's a video game, and I like video games. It's a shame that soldiers who like video games and want to play this one won't be able to simply pick it up at their local shop,” concluded Siegel.
3 Comments
September 10, 2010
"hey, this is a video game" "If it feels potentially damaging to an individual, then the individual doesn't play it and that's all that needs to happen.”
September 10, 2010
Uncle Sam protects us so we dont have to think
September 16, 2010
What uncle Sam protects you, whether you patients that? lol :))), to you such noodles on ears I hang up on the TV that to all верете, naive you foreigners:))) words aren't present, one blanks. Of you do the zombie, and you submit as faithful slaves. Good luck to you!!!