(Video Game) Is Modern Warfare 2 Terriost Stage too Much?

holy crap

question: if you're undercover, why are you killing people?

 

As a game designer, been one for more than 20 years, I find it appalling.

This is akin to shock radio, there is no need to do this, they could have had a similar level where you are in a terrorists den.

But killing innocent civilians....yeah, I think it goes too far.....

This game should be rated X.......there will be young kids playing this game, whose parents are unaware.

Man.....that is going too far, IMO.

DD

 

No one would ever bother raising a stink if terrorists in a R-rated film killed people in an airport, so why bother about this?

 

One is a passive experience, the other tactile......

There is a big difference between watching and doing, and the brains reaction to both is different as well.

At least I know not to get this game for my 11 year old, who loves the Call of Duty series....

DD

 

MW2's plot is....... confusing, for lack of a better term, but you're doing it to get the head terrorist convinced you're on his side. Of course, it doesn't work, to put it mildly.

What's the difference between this and GTA, where you can do far crueler things to civillians? If anything, Modern Warfare in this level and really throughout the game shows how war is not cool, as it makes you feel bad for doing this, just as a well-constructed game should do. And it's the parent's fault for not noticing the giant M on the box if they get this game for their kids.

 

The "M" rating is voluntary, there is no teeth to it, a 7 year old with money can buy an "M" game.

There is just no need to do this in a game, this is absolutely unecessary.....

GTA 4 is bad as wll, but this is a whole new level......this is akin to having a game where you heard Jewish people into a gas chamber and turn the valve.

Just sick.

DD

 

Now come on DD. If the parents are unaware then that is pretty poor parenting. I don't know the rating there but I am guessing it is at least for a teen audience? If a parent has not heard about this with all the news outlets doing their usual attack on any video game with a bit of violence, then they're not really keeping in touch now are they? I would assume most parents of younger children would also be buying the game for them, hence at least reading the cover and seeing perhaps its a no go for them?

So any game that kills innocent civilians is taking it too far? Just about every shooting game you can 'accidentally' kill civilians, it's just not part of the mission. Does that mean all those games are taking it too far as well? I could name hundreds where the game will not stop you pulling the trigger at a civilian.

Like others have said, it's just a game. Like some brutal movie like Saw, is just a movie. 99.9% of the population are able to see that. Sure you will get some idiot somewhere who decides to go and murder people and say it was because he played a violent game, watched violent films or listened to 'bad' music but these people were likely to follow a bad path whether these things existed or not.

I know this response is probably better of in D&D but I am for one are sick of others deciding what I(an adult) should play or watch. Those likely to be offended should research these things first and then stay away.

 

its a game, stfu

 

Gak,

Teens should not be playing this level either, that is just disgusting.

There is no need to put that into a game, ever !!!!!

As a designer we have a responsibility to our audience as well, and there are lines of decency that are crossed from time to time....GTA for example, but not to this level.

This is beyond bad, IMO, and I will bet you money that congress will have something to say about this....and the games industry will lose some ability to police itself.

This is just poor on so many levels.......and totally unecessary.

Games are supposed to be fun, an escape....

Anyone remember a game called Postal? They did something like this........

I promise this will resonate throughout our industry and it will not be pretty.

Dang.....such a good game, and no need...wtf.....I got to call my friends that are on this game as ask them wtf they were thinking.

And hiding behind the "It's just a game" bit is weak......maybe you guys should look deeper into the human pyschology and figure out why this is really really bad....

DD

 

From my perspective, as I've already stated, the fact that the game does this is the point. There is a great deal of emphasis in the Modern Warfare series on the misery and cruelty of war, whether it's trekking half-dead through a nuclear wasteland or doing horrible things like killing civillians in an airport - unlike GTA, there is no feelings of "THAT WAS AWESOME" or "Let's see how this one dies" in this level. If anything, MW2, while not the greatest game ever (nothing will ever come close to OoT), it is really the first game I've played that I would consider actual art.

And if you have a game where you do herd Jewish people into a gas chamber and turn on the valve that can truly and brilliantly show the cruelty and savageness of the Nazi regime, than that is a completely different effect from one where you would do such a thing for lulz. It is this distinction which has to be made in this game and in this level.

Just wondering how a 7 year old would get $60 without his parents, whom if they let him buy the game are a bunch of morons anyhow.

 

A lot of parents just buy games without understanding......that is not me......I will not be buying this game for my kids....

Still this will resonate......and could get ugly......sensorship for games will result from this.....just watch.....

Hiding behind the "Just a game" bit is silly......this is pornographic violence, there is a difference.

If some of you had kids, you might have a different perspective......there is no way to stop your kid from playing it....if there friends have it and they are over at there house.

Unreal, I am floored that the designers would put this in, and even more shocked that marketing and Activision let it ship....wow.

DD

 

Like I said I am unaware of your rating system. I would agree that this should be 18+. The 'just a game' is justified, how many millions buy them? how many people then use them as motivation to do illegal things? a very small % I would assume, happy to be proved wrong. I can think of other things that persuade people to do bad things on a lot higher ratio than video games. Yet they are all perfectly legal.

 

For me to sit here and tell you that games and films and TV do not influence young impressionable people is silly.

Columbine for example......

Our games dehumanize things, there are no consequences and it desensitizes people to killing....as it is just a game, you know.

Well, this can translate into real life, where people kill others and have that same feeling they did as playing this game.

We as designers have to recognize our own responsibilities.

This is really really poor.......you can show the brutality of war without making it an interactive experience.

What next? A game where you get to drive a car bomb into a building? What about running into a mosque and slaughtering the worshipers?

There are just lines that should NOT be crossed, this is really bad, IMO.

DD

 

Personally, It's no big deal to me as an adult, but my kids will not see or play this level.

What would happen if you "don't shoot"? I wonder.

 

Nothing happens. You're undercover, so as long as you dont shoot at the Russian guys with you, you can just walk along.

 

No, a 7 year old with money cannot buy an "M" rated game. I am carded every time I buy a game. I have never seen them NOT ask for an ID. At gamestop the other day they were IDing everyone under 30 and the kid in front of me was only 16 and they would not sell to him.

 

That is a voluntary program that Gamestop is enforcing, there is no law about it.

Just because they card you does not mean every game store does the same.

That 16 year old will be able to go to another place and get the game no problem.

Or, just order it on the web.

DD

 

So then, if we do this, we are essentially looking at hypothetical, digitized, terroist attack? Is it any better now?

 

I know I am looking at it differently, but no, I don't think so......there was no need to do this level.....it does not add any value to the game at all.

DD

 

Just.....
To be quite blunt, anyone who blames video games on Columbine is an idiot. Plain and simple.

Who says that? Why can films tackle extremely tough and dark subjects and games cannot? Heck, why can animated films (something that are generally construed to be for children) tackle extremely dark material and games cannot? I would argue that games have just as much potential to be art as movies can be, and MW2 is art.

Than blame incompetent and r****ded parents, not the game. If the game is dealing with dark materials, outright says so, and the parents are dumb enough to buy it anyway, it's their responsiblity.

Since all games are "interactive experiences", than you're more or less stating that games should not show the brutality of war. It's much better to just mow down 10,000 nazis or demons, as that doesn't dehumanize anyone at all.