Hmm. Sounds like a rather ham-handed attempt to generate controversy a la MW2′s “kill civilians as a terrorist” level. Outrage! Scandal! SALES!

In the end, the real question should be “Yes, you get to do outrageous things, but is the game actually fun to play?”

Ironic isnt it. This game is banned (an act of censorship) by the Military who has soldiers fighting to give freedom to another country. This is embarrassing and something that makes me ashamed to be American, U.S military, Hypocrite section? right this way…

Amen!

It’s not necessarily hypocritical. I mean, you give up a LOT of freedoms when you join the military. It is, as I understand it, COMPLETELY different from civilian life, to the point where you are subject to an entirely different system of law (Uniform Code of Military Justice, specifically). I can also see a genuine concern involved in “humanizing” people who are on “the other side.” That’s ENTIRELY detrimental to the goals of the military.

I mean, it’s a LOT harder to get a soldier to shoot a Taliban guy if he looks at the Taliban guy and say “Yeah, but what about his wife and kids? Why’d he join the Taliban anyway? Can’t we all just get along?” At least, I suspect that’s what’d be behind a decision like this. Anything that could harm the overall mission (and making troops more reluctant to pull the trigger on a mission target would fall into that category) is something the military will try to lock down.

What’s more goofy, however, in my opinion, is: (A) the fact that this will likely do NOTHING to stop folks from obtaining and playing the game, and (B) the notion that playing a video game is likely to harm the mission. If anything, this seems more like political posturing designed to deflect potential future criticism when some other group discovers that ZOMG! The military is actually allowing this horrible game where you play as a TERRORIST to be sold ON BASES!!! I mean, you can picture the headlines now, right?

I still think that this is EA and DICE chasing the notoriety that Modern Warfare 2 managed to obtain, and trying to spark interest and score ink (or bits, I guess). I don’t fault the gaming media for reporting it, of course, but it irritates me when gaming companies try to manipulate the public via hype rather than delivering quality product (although, to be fair, I have no idea if MOH will be a high or low quality product). I just get tired of pre-release hype, and wish that games were more able to stand on their own merits.

Solo4114 some thought provoking points,

You have to consider image however. John Q public doesn’t care what military life is like all they see is the leadership of the body that is sworn to defend the constitution and it’s freedoms restricting that very thing.

Actually, while there are some differences between military and civilian life, and even differences between the different subsets of military life depending on where you’re stationed and what you do for a living. I took the oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic… four times. One of those enemies is censorship and the people that support it in any form.

Oh, I hear you guys. I’m absolutely against censorship. As I said, I also think this is far more about balancing the public blowback on an issue like this. IE: will the public be more incensed about the censorship, or will they be more incensed about “harming the mission” a la “But what about the CHILDREN?!” that frequently gets tossed around in video games. In other words, will the public be more bothered about censorship (unlikely) or more bothered about the notion that video games can warp one’s mind, and cause one to become a terrorist, just like they can make kids violent and blah blah blah (more likely). You also have to figure how the news media (not gaming media) will run with this story, and it is almost certain that political news outlets will run the story as one of those “Shock! Horror! Outrage!” stories that basically are attempts by the media to CREATE a scandal, rather than simply report on one. My bet is the military weighed the options and figured that the easiest way to handle this was to just say “We don’t sell that game on base. But our troops are free to buy what they want.” It’s a shame, but in the modern news cycle, this kind of “public relations chess” is an unfortunate necessity.

This is hype to get people more interested in the game by creating a controversy, using the vice of being Politically Correct, but at the same time throwing in a splash of Censorship (which equates to Epic Fail). People are going to buy and play games regardless.