Originally posted by elk1007:

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The idea of any war game is that it involves two opposing nations or groups killing each other in hopes of gaining control of land or resources.

This is a game about a recent and ongoing war. The opposing groups just happen to be US soldiers and members of the Taliban. This in no way endorses the actions of the Taliban, nor does it endorse the actions of American troops. This is a game in which you kill other human beings.

There's nothing wrong with allowing someone to play as the enemy force. No, K. Meredith, your son doesn't get to "retry" because he was killed in a real war and not on a video game. What does this say about video games? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Very few people who play video games believe that they reflect reality and that you can "retry" in real life. Should we ban Mario? Clearly people might think you could fall in lava and just "retry" in real life? No, you imbecile, nobody is that stupid e.e

The fact is that ignorant soldiers and those tied to the military service think it's just to censor media that they don't like. It wouldn't matter if the video game PROMOTED sympathy for the Taliban. As long as it's rated M for Mature, only adults can buy the game. As such, the adults who play the game are fully capable of deciding for themselves who they choose to support and what they wish to believe. Video games are just like other media: books and films are a way to spread ideas. When we censor media, we censor thought. Censorship leads to bigotry. If you'd like to censor opposing ideas, I know just the organization to join :P





Adding this, from NYT:

"That is obvious, but Mr. Brown, perhaps inadvertently, pointed the way to a more subtle and broadly revealing thought about how we represent and humanize our real-life adversaries in popular culture when he invoked one of the classics of 20th-century literature. “I guess this is the same reaction that readers had when they opened ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ and read about a squad of German infantrymen in World War I,” he said.

Mr. Brown was probably trying to make the point that video games are held to a different, higher standard than books. That is true, but it brings to mind the fact that “All Quiet,” both as a book and as a film, was quite important in helping to undemonize Germany in the interwar period. “All Quiet” helped establish the idea among Americans that the Germans were an essentially honorable foe and that all men at arms ultimately have more in common than politicians would have us believe. "

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Originally posted by davidike:

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Personally id rather play as the Taliban so i can enact revenge for all the innocent people that the USA & UK troops have murdered in Iraq & Afghanistan and then covered up and classed these murders of civilians, as insurgents to justify the illegal wars & occupations paid for by the citizens of the USA & UK via the tax you pay!

maybe this is what the USA is fearing ppl re enacting revenge for their murderous ways and brain washing through video games!

Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0

Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010

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