Modern Warfare 2 Terrorism Footage Stirs Controversy
Homeland Security NTARC News | 10/31/2009 | 15 comments
Terrorism footage from a leaked version of the new Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 video game has apparently stirred a great deal of controversey overseas.
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ community manager Robert Bowling wasn’t kidding when he said this week might be a good time for players to look away from the Internet if they want “a spoiler free and pure ‘Modern Warfare 2′ experience.”
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In my opinion the reason why they added this scene is to insue a very emotional response to it, to get the player enraged and wanting to fight the terrorists more.
IT’S supposed to be graphic, disturbing, and disgusting.
I agree with Clark, the scene was made to generate an emotion, hatred, disgust, for a group responsible for the deaths of innocent people. And when the player becomes the soldiers fighting the terrorists, you feel that anger. Like when September 11th 2001 occured, we wanted to strike back, so we went to war.
I find it a bold and daring move by Infinity Ward
john clark is your name… really? you would pull a name from tom clancy
Wow. What a bunch of junk. B-film territory. First of all, deep cover or not, no CIA agent would participate in the massacre like depicted in that silly scene. The idea that 4 guys could brazenly walk through an airport, murdering civilians without any competent, much less strong, response is also idiotic. Headshot, anybody? Oh, and then our idiot “deep cover” CIA agent finds out he’s the mark for a setup….jeeeezzzzz. As stupid as that scene is, it leads to an even MORE idiotic storyline: Russia invades the United States! Oh…and it was a surprise attack! Another jab at the CIA…by a bunch of storytelling clowns. Next time IW might want to hire a decent writer.
“A book cannot be moral or immoral, it can only be well or poorly written”-Oscar Wild. “It’s the same thing for videogames”-Sessler’s Soapbox, G4TV
I actually hadn’t heard about this and was completely shocked that the scene was in this game. Throughout i felt disturbed, disgusted and appalled. Not by the game designers, mind you, but simply by the actions i was witnessing. And to “Gette Realle”, that is the point the designers were trying to get across, as far as the “no agent would blah blah blah” the game puts you in the shoes of a person in deep cover having to witness horrible things in order save millions. I guarantee you that a CIA operative would not hesitate to take part in questionable acts, or even mass murder, to get close enough to not only take out Osama Bin Ladin, but his whole operation. That was the point of this mission. I think it was an incredibly bold move. There’s Art and there’s Entertainment, the difference is that Art evokes emotion, and this scene most certainly does that.
I just played the level yesterday and indeed it was a very intense level, with a very strong message. I think it wanted to not only open the eyes of viewers to what actually happens in a massacre like that. Alot of people go for the “a CIA agent like that wouldnt…” or “Russia would never invade…” lines, but that is not the point. If you had paid attention this wasn’t a normal CIA move, Shepherd the General in charge set it up, and ordered the man to take part in the massacres. About the Russians invading, it is not about the possibility of them invading right now, but the fact that this could of happen and in the future might happen. Micheal Atkinson was entirely wrong in his take on the scene, it was not meant to “glorify” terrorism but more reveal it for how horrible it really is. As for the ease of which they went through, it was a Russian airport and thus didn’t have the same security an American one does. Many people grief about Airport and Border security, but it is meant exactly to prevent this.
P.S. Did anybody feel like they were in the Fallout prequel during the DC fight, before the nukes flew?
Your question was “has this scene done its job in the way it was intended?” and the answer for me is I don’t know. As I played the level, I was disturbed by the scene because #1. the scene looks awfully real and #2. this was done through a 1st persons point of view and I had full control over the actions of the individual I was playing. I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on anyone in the airport. But I easily open fired on FSB officials. What the level showed me was that I won’t shoot at innocent people but I can shoot at anyone out to kill me.
I think Infinity Wards message was this: Looking through the eyes of the individual, could you pull the trigger and kill people that are unarmed and running for their lives in fear? Now if that was their message, I’m glad to say I couldn’t do it. Sadly though, a lot of people playing this game would have no problem killing innocent people, in the game or in real life for that matter.
I played this level, but I kept shooting the terroist, the devlopers should have allowed the undercover private to make a second choice and kill the terrorist instead if you try to kill them, they are like superhuman, you die right away.
I didn’t have any problem completing this level. While IW tries to keep the realism factor relatively high, it -is- just a fictitious piece of work. Even before the ‘No Russian’ mission, General Shepherd mentioned that Makarov didn’t play by any rules. It was implied that he was the lowest of the low-lifes, willing to murder/destroy anyone and anything that impeded his progress. While I don’t disagree that the ‘No Russian’ mission was intense, graphic and controversial, I understand that it was essential to the storyline. It really puts things into perspective. How did Makarov know that PFC Allen was undercover? Does he have a mole in the US Armed Forces? And later, we learn that General Shepherd isn’t as noble as he makes himself out to be. So, if the murder of civilians really gets your panties into a twist, look at what Shepherd did. After completing their mission, he murdered Ghost and Sgt. Gary Sanderson. Two soldiers who were just following orders to the best of their ability. THAT scene left me disgusted. In my opinion, Shepherd was worse than Makarov. At least the Russian didn’t hide his true colors.
All in all, I felt Modern Warfare 2 was fantastic. It was controversial. But in this day and age, that’s a good thing. We need games that evoke an emotional response. And if that doesn’t sit well with you – Heck, you can always go play a rousing game of Tetris.
Don’t you people understand that it’s just a video game. The game is not real, if someone takes it more then what it is, then that person need some kind of hobby in your life because it’s obvious that person is bored and has nothing better to do but to criticize a “video game”
I think that the biggest thing that keeps being left out of all the media is that YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOOT THE CIVILIANS. You can choose to just follow the terrorists and NEVER pull the trigger.
I am usually the first to defend all types of entertainment media from attack or threats of censorship, but this is the epitomy of irresponsibility on the part of the game developer. I have been playing video games for over 20 years and I was appalled when I saw the footage of this on YouTube. Some people defend it by saying that the world is violent, etc., or its just a game. There is no reason for young people (or older people for that matter) to be participating in a massacre of civilians in a video game. They could have shown security footage from a distance of what happend at the airport for purposes of the story rather than make the player participate. Try to justify it any way you want, but this is bad taste, plain and simple. No excuses. It may be just a game, but that doesnt mean the developer should act irresponsibly. I won’t buy this game.
Well I don’t know if anyone knows this but you dont have to make a single shot on that level to pass it, I didn’t do a darn thing but follow behind as they did all the shooting. It’s only used to show the player how bad these guys are that your dealing with.
X2 with afg’s comment. I will NOT buy this game now. I saw the video on youtube and it’s disgusting. You can make all the excuses you want like “you don’t have to shoot”, “it’s just a game”, “it’s just showing the hatefulness of the terrorists”(which it is but you ARE given the OPTION by the game developer to shoot which is irresponsible,) and so on… I have been playing video games since Atari and also ranked on of the best SF2 players in my state back in the day. In the age of fighting a war against terrorism this is unacceptable.