Electronic Arts Buckles Under Pressure, Removes Playable Taliban from Medal of Honor - Polidicks

[quote]Responding to the reaction of the "friends and families of fallen soldiers," Electronic Arts today said today they are removing the Taliban as playable characters from their upcoming military shooter Medal of Honor. The game came under intense pressure from the military after it became known that in the multiplayer portions of the game, players would be able to take on the role of Taliban fighters. In early September, the commanding general of the Army and Air Force Exchange Services told Kotaku that he decided to have Medal of Honor pulled from U.S. military bases worldwide because of the "well-documented reports of depictions of Taliban fighters engaging American troops" in the game. Electronic Arts declined to comment at the time about whether the decision by the international military base retailer would impact the design of the game. In a statement this morning on the Medal of Honor website, Greg Goodrich, executive producer of Medal of Honor, said the decision was driven purely by the feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers. "This is a very important voice to the Medal of Honor team," he wrote. "This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about. Because of this, and because the heartbeat of Medal of Honor has always resided in the reverence for American and Allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team in Medal of Honor multiplayer from Taliban to Opposing Force." Goodrich said the change will not directly affect gamers or alter gameplay. Here' is Goodrich's statement in full: In the past few months, we have received feedback from all over the world regarding the multiplayer portion of Medal of Honor. We've received notes from gamers, active military, and friends and family of servicemen and women currently deployed overseas. The majority of this feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. For this, the Medal of Honor team is deeply appreciative. However, we have also received feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers who have expressed concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game. This is a very important voice to the Medal of Honor team. This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about. Because of this, and because the heartbeat of Medal of Honor has always resided in the reverence for American and Allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team in Medal of Honor multiplayer from Taliban to Opposing Force. While this change should not directly affect gamers, as it does not fundamentally alter the gameplay, we are making this change for the men and women serving in the military and for the families of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice - this franchise will never willfully disrespect, intentionally or otherwise, your memory and service. To all who serve - we appreciate you, we thank you, and we do not take you for granted. And to the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines currently serving overseas, stay safe and come home soon. Greg Goodrich Executive Producer Medal of Honor We have reached out to Electronic Arts and the Army & Air Force Exchange Services to see how this decision will impact the availability of the game on military bases worldwide and will update when we hear back.[/quote]

Fucking retards win? Fuck that. [editline]09:52AM[/editline] But then again its pretty trivial, just remove Taliban and replace it with terrorist. Still its kind of ridiculous how this gets blown out of proportion

US soldiers vs US soldiers. Yep, totally better.

Dammit America, quit being so overly sensitive

All of this commotion over a name? Is renaming Taliban to Opposing Force really all that different? You still get to kill US soldiers.

God dammit, I thought people could be better than this.

Fuck yourself EA. Who gives a shit about the shitty multiplayer aspect anyways, I don't.

This is pathetic.

Jesus fucking christ, Look at ArmA 2: OA, They renamed Afghanistan to takistan, no trouble there, even though the game was completely based on Afghanistan. Medal of Honor using real locations/names? The world rages and people claims playing the game equals shooting your own countrymen :downs: Yes someone actually said that. Fucking, idiots.

Meh, we'll still relate to them as Taliban, nothing will change.

not buying if i can't play taliban it's not worth it

As long as the weapons and tech stay the same It won't be that much of a problem.

Am not expecting anything of the game, but expected EA to have some balls and not to do some shit like this.

[QUOTE=Legend286;25173913]Fuck yourself EA. Who gives a shit about the shitty multiplayer aspect anyways, I don't.[/QUOTE] Way to contradict yourself. "Go fuck yourself EA for removing shit I don't care about."

[QUOTE=Lachz0r;25173938]not buying if i can't play taliban it's not worth it[/QUOTE] You still can, except they're officially called "Opposing Force" in the multiplayer.

Freedom of speech is dead much.

[QUOTE=The GeneralSYD;25174192]Freedom of speech is dead much.[/QUOTE] How does this have anything to do with freedom of speech? They weren't required to do anything.

Who gives a shit what everyone thinks of the names? Just keep it Taliban.

[QUOTE=Legend286;25173913]Fuck yourself EA. Who gives a shit about the shitty multiplayer aspect anyways, I don't.[/QUOTE] You'd think EA would care about the sales of their game...

They should have took a poll (from all people with the old MOH cd key.)

Great thread title OP. They're just renaming it.

So instead of being called the Taliban they're just going to be generic middle eastern militiamen?

I'm not too bothered by this, its touchy territory to make a game on a war thats actually in progress.

Also, MW2, a game where you gun down hundreds of Russian civilians didn't cause that much controversy there.

That's WEAK

[QUOTE=Ezhik;25174526]Also, MW2, a game where you gun down hundreds of Russian civilians didn't cause that much controversy there.[/QUOTE] uh, yes it did.

Only in the multiplayer. In the singleplayer they'll still be called Taliban. This is silly though, Project Reality has had playable Taliban for years now, where you fight and kill American, British, Canadian and soon to be German troops, no out cry about that even though it is played by many serving and ex service members, and their families.

[QUOTE=LordLoss;25174561]Only in the multiplayer. In the singleplayer they'll still be called Taliban. This is silly though, Project Reality has had playable Taliban for years now, where you fight and kill American, British, Canadian and soon to be German troops, no out cry about that.[/QUOTE] Project Reality is in no way near as popular as Medal of Honor.

now I am sad

This is really dumb. I was going to get this game because it's about a war that is currently going on.