This week EA announced that the team would be removing the Taliban team designation from the latest Medal of Honor game. When the choice of using the Taliban as one of the multiplayer designations became known, military family members made their voices of concern heard and military stores and local game stores in military base areas decided they would not sell the title. While I applaud all those who put their lives on the line everyday protect us and my prayers are with all those lost in war, does changing a name in a piece of entertainment really make a difference?
I understand at times entertainment crosses a line and glorifies tragedy or uses ones pain for profit and that is wrong, but does using the name Taliban in a game like Medal of Honor or movie glorify the group? This is similar to the controversy of Six Days in Fellujah, just because an event was horrible and people lost their lives doesn’t mean it can’t be re-created respectfully for entertainment. And it makes one wonder how movies or tv shows like Black Hawk Down, or Generation Kill aren’t held to these “moral standards” video games get held too constantly. I don’t think the development team meant any wrong by wanting to use the name Taliban and they were merely tryign to bring us the most authentic war game possible, just like hit war movies strive for.
So I ask you do you think EA should have removed the Taliban name from Medal of Honor?
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