As terrorism concerns soar, critics are blasting a video game that lets you play a Taliban insurgent. But, writes Richard Poplak, there's nothing to fear
Honestly, I think the whole "OOH IF YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME [X]" is bullshit, or I'd be out wrecking cars right now or playing onstage with Green Day.
With military games, it was the recent Six Days in Fallujah. The game depicts, in detail, the 2004 campaign that claimed over 6,000 lives and transformed a once-flourishing city into a bloody parking lot. What outraged veterans' advocacy groups, such as the Gold Star Mothers Club, was not only the speed with which Fallujah became rock-'em sock-'em entertainment, but the fact that developers Atomic Games, in their quest for accuracy, used Iraqi insurgents as consultants on the project.Ooookay, THAT kind of made me raise an eyebrow. I mean ... good on them for accuracy but ... eesh. That's a pretty good candidate for "too soon", IMO. IDK. (Not that they talked to insurgents, just ... yeah. Fallujah all the way around. What's next, you get to play some of the AF that fired on Marines in An Nasiryiah
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"Six Days in Falljah" isn't the same as the "Medal Of Honor" game they criticise for most of the article and it actually seems like quite an ambitious and thoughtful project: Atomic Games describes Six Days as a survival horror game, but not in the traditional sense. The fear in Six Days does not come from the undead or supernatural, but from the unpredictable, terrifying, and real tactics employed by the insurgents that were scattered throughout Fallujah
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Hmmmmm. Fair enough. That doesn't sound as bad. I think for me it's just kind of an "erm ... well ... um" reaction simply because I know people that died there, you know? I do appreciate what they're trying to do, though, if that makes sense.
So people are enraged about this game putting people behind the controls of a Taliban insurgent . . . but they don't give a shit that it also puts players behind the controls of soldiers who go around mowing down Taliban insurgents.
Precisely what I was coming here to say. I'm just as (if not MORE) appalled at games that allow people to shoot up a bunch of brown people/"the other" without any thought.
This really isn't anything new. Most video games let you play as the "enemy" I mean I just got done playing Red Dead Redemption as a Mexican Rebel shooting down the American Army...Or Modern Warfare where you can play as the "terrorists". idk I guess I don't see the big deal because I know it's just a video game?
I walked the level, but I didn't shoot either. At least not until I got away from the civilians and was faced with SWAT. I couldn't bring myself to shoot an unarmed civilian in the back. But I'm one of those people that generally refuses to play the bad guy. Light Side FTW!
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Honestly, I think the whole "OOH IF YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME [X]" is bullshit, or I'd be out wrecking cars right now or playing onstage with Green Day.
With military games, it was the recent Six Days in Fallujah. The game depicts, in detail, the 2004 campaign that claimed over 6,000 lives and transformed a once-flourishing city into a bloody parking lot. What outraged veterans' advocacy groups, such as the Gold Star Mothers Club, was not only the speed with which Fallujah became rock-'em sock-'em entertainment, but the fact that developers Atomic Games, in their quest for accuracy, used Iraqi insurgents as consultants on the project.Ooookay, THAT kind of made me raise an eyebrow. I mean ... good on them for accuracy but ... eesh. That's a pretty good candidate for "too soon", IMO. IDK. (Not that they talked to insurgents, just ... yeah. Fallujah all the way around. What's next, you get to play some of the AF that fired on Marines in An Nasiryiah ( ... )
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Atomic Games describes Six Days as a survival horror game, but not in the traditional sense. The fear in Six Days does not come from the undead or supernatural, but from the unpredictable, terrifying, and real tactics employed by the insurgents that were scattered throughout Fallujah ( ... )
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STAY ON TARGET
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Me: NOOOO
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Double standard much?
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