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  Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 11:40 am GMT +5.5
Editorial: Thoughts on Modern Warfare 2’s Airport Scene
By Ren Miranda
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mw2_editorial_renControversies are anything but new to the entertainment business; irrespective of any field, be it gaming, movies or music. Whether its Richard Gere planting one on Shilpa Shetty, “exploitation” of the Slumdog kids, Lindsay Lohan snorting another line, or closer to home; the “Sex-Scene” in Mass Effect which was much campaigned by FOX News… and poorly might I add.

And just before it’s official release, there was this one particular leaked gameplay footage of the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 developed by Infinity Ward. The game is due for release today on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Microsoft Windows PC. Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series and is the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare developed by the same and gained a huge fan-base post its release early November 2007.

(Caution: Campaign spoilers after the jump.)

At the beginning of the game, the player encounters a mandatory ‘checkpoint’ in which a message is displayed, warning the player about upcoming segments that may contain disturbing elements which they can choose not to engage in. If the player chooses not to be a part of the gameplay, the AI takes over the scene. The mission starts with the player, an undercover CIA agent, riding an elevator with other NPCs armed to the teeth, taking positions and opening fire on helpless civilians in the airport. The player makes his way through the airport, shooting civilians and a poorly armed airport security staff before being shot in the head at the end of the mission. Note that MW2 has naturally been given an “M” for Mature by the ESRB.

It is but normal for many people to be outraged by this, in light of the recent Bombay (I refuse to call it Mumbai) terrorist attack on November 28th 2008. MW2’s publisher Activision, in a statement released, mentioned: “Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline in which players face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse. The game includes a plot involving a mission carried out by a Russian villain who wants to trigger a global war. In order to defeat him, the player infiltrates his inner circle. The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism.”

The statement, however does not seem to satisfy all critics, and lets face it – Activision and Infinity Ward aren’t humanitarians, they are in the business of making games (and we are very grateful). My issue however lies in the lack of responsibility and common sense displayed by many people. I mean, has nobody played Grand Theft Auto? Or how about Prototype, where the player has to ‘consume’ helpless citizens running around Manhattan? I get the emphasis on reality and that Modern Warfare 2 has taken incidents from real terrorist attacks and incorporated that into gameplay, but we are gamers, and while it may be offensive to some, how exactly would that effect our lives?

Growing up in India, many people have at some point seen TV Shows like Ramayana and the Mahabharata; I would like to ask those people if they ever tried to decapitate their cousins with buzz-saws, impale them with an arrow in the eyeball, or tried to bash their mothers’ skull with a club. One could argue that the violence and bloodlust might convince a person to emulate game or movie content in real life, but what parents and other people need to realize is that any person who feels that they need to go and shoot up a school, or jump off a building because Superman did it, or kill themselves because they heard “ A Tout le Monde” , and other such dumb – frankly, laughable incidents do not happen because the video game, movie or song told them to do so, it’s because he or she isn’t in the right frame of mind or maybe even suffers from a developmental problem, and would have done the same if Hello Kitty had told them to do it. It’s unfair yet convenient to blame someone else for their own mistakes and shitty parenting.

Darrell Lance Abbott and Nathan Gale

The story of Nathan Gale comes to mind while I write this; for those who don’t know, Nathan Gale was a paranoid schizophrenic who gunned down Darrell Lance Abbott (better known as “Dimebag Darrell”), the late Pantera/Damageplan guitarist, during a show in Columbus Ohio. Gale was known to have a mental disorder; ironically he served two years (2001-2003) as a Marine for the United States Marine Corps (USMC), before being discharged and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Yet, he was given a gun by his mother as a gift to gesture “her pride of his military service” – a semi-automatic 9mm handgun. The same 9mm which he used to kill 4 people, including Darrell, at the Alrosa Villa Club where Damageplan was performing.

Responsibility and awareness… read the label, check the ESRB or PEGI rating, but also know your child. It’s a bad sign when a gamer has to give parents advise on how to raise their kids, but some help is better than no help. Research the game before you buy your 13 year old another GTA game and wonder why he says “Fuck” and “Bitch” so much. Search the market for titles that would be more appropriate for your child, there are tones of games that are rated “E” and are fun to play. LittleBigPlanet is one such game that comes to mind.

As for other gamers who find this offensive… dude, it’s a game; if we know anything about Infinity Ward and Activision, especially in regards to Modern Warfare, it’s all about that shock value appeal, whether you’re shot in the face by a terrorist while assuming the first-person perspective as President Al- Fulani, or Killed in Action as Sgt. Paul Jackson. Though the airport massacre might have taken it a bit too far for some people, but then again we all know that terrorism is awful and all that jazz, but so is war. We have all these games patronizing marines and soldiers, but no one is intent on creating awareness on the atrocities of war contractors that rape and pillage cities for oil.

I could go on and on, but frankly I’d much rather play video games and shut up, because at the end of the day I’m not a politician, social worker or some religious nut trying to convert the world to follow my agenda. At the end of the day, I’m a gamer. I play the games I like and if something about a game bothers me, I voice my opinion and leave it at that. At the end of the day this isn’t the first game that has got people worked up and it definitely won’t be the last, and when the dust settles, no one will care who shot who, when, where and how. There will just be the next game to pick on. With some luck Paris Hilton will undergo a sex change operation or Elvis and Michel Jackson will be spotted drinking tea with Tupac.


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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 11:40 am GMT +5.5 at 11:40 am and is filed under General, News, Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
 

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