philosufi

Turnabout Isn’t Fair Play: Upcoming Medal of Honor Lets You Be Taliban

OCT 1 LATE UPDATE: EA has just caved to pressure and will no longer allow you to play as Taliban. They have renamed them to Opposing Force. CNBC article here. A tiny EA blog entry is here.

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On October 12, Electronic Arts (EA) will release the latest Medal of Honor for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. This decade-old videogame franchise is making a huge departure – its previous versions have all been in World War II. This time, it's Afghanistan, and that means conflict. But not quite like you expected, because this time - you can play as Taliban.

The stunningly realistic videogame has drawn fire for being, well, realistic. Turns out that war isn't one-dimensional, and it isn't one-sided. EA made the controversial decision to allow players to take on the role of Taliban fighters, which--unsurprisingly--has upset many Americans, particularly families of those killed in the battles. The Tier 1 operators the game centres around are considered to be the topmost of their various military branches. EA claims that of the two million American military personnel, there are only a few hundred Tier 1 operators. They have tremendous latitude and scope. If you see one, you're already dead? Yeah, that's these guys. (Canada's JTF-2 is the only foreign unit accepted into Tier 1 operations in Afghanistan – yay us!)

In their quest to be as accurate as possible, EA worked very closely with real Tier 1s, which was probably a little intimidating. It's not said whether they worked with the Taliban, like Konami enlisting the help of Iraqi insurgents to create Six Days in Fallujah (which was axed within days of its announcement – wouldn't want to present a fully-rounded picture now). But they've certainly stirred up a hornet's nest of opposition, with the help (of course) of Fox News. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service has banned the game from sale in its more than 3,100 facilities worldwide in more than 30 countries.

EA's perspective is expressed in no uncertain terms by Amanda Taggart, senior PR manager in an interview with AOL: "The format of the new Medal of Honor game merely reflects the fact that every conflict has two sides. We give gamers the opportunity to play both sides" she continues, "[m]ost of us having been doing this since we were seven – if someone's the cop, someone's gotta be the robber, someone's gotta be the pirate and someone's gotta be the alien. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone's gotta be the Taliban."

I like that she's right to the point and refreshingly honest, especially for a PR manager. That's unusually frank, and in today's mealy-mouthed corporate statement world, even admirable. But not accurate. In most videogames, you're playing the computer and its template of strategies. There doesn't have to be a person playing the opposition. The lack of choice makes it easier and less morally dubious. After all, you should take pains to avoid any moral dimension when creating entertainment that involves brutally murdering others. That's just wrong. Medal of Honor changes the game, literally, by giving you the option to become the enemy. (Some thoughts on where the Taliban came from in the first place.)

The key issue here, ultimately, is that the people who are portrayed and the people who are concerned, are alive right now, or killed recently enough that we still care. Just like the not-mosque at not-Ground-Zero, the rawness of the wound is what makes us hurt more. In war, it's a necessary belief that the opposition is one-dimensional and without humanity. Those angry Muslims yelling "Death to Amreeka" don't see Americans as fully fledged caring loving people – they can't reconcile that with their daily reality of the boots on their necks.

Give it a few years, and playing the Taliban in Medal of Honor will be just like playing the Nazis, the Japanese, or anybody else who used to be our enemies in other multiplayer games. We entertain ourselves with books and films on current conflict, so why not video games? The difference here is that you get to play a current enemy, think like a current enemy, and be a current enemy. We can't risk acknowledging the enemy has a perspective and humanity too.

In response to the criticism, EA is releasing a four-day open beta of Medal of Honor on October 4th, so you can check out the multiplayer Taliban option. Are you a gamer? Please check it out and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Watch the trailer below (click here if you have trouble with the embedded video)...

 ...now question why we entertain ourselves the way we do.

Put Him In Bucca: Pop Culture Meets Bomb Culture in Iraqi Reality TV

You're an Iraqi celebrity, and you've just been invited to an interview at one of the top stations in the country, Al-Baghdadia TV. It's a general entertainment station, also well-known for its journalism and journalists (one of whom threw shoes at Dubya), and many others were killed during the Iraqi insurgency. Of course you jump at the opportunity – who wouldn't?

The interview goes well – in fact, really well – and you start on your drive home. You pass through a military checkpoint, part of the daily grind of living in a war-torn country. The soldiers start out pleasant (one of the benefits of being a glam celeb), but suddenly their smiles are replaced with looks of stone cold anger, and you're pulled out of your car.

"There's a bomb! Get away!" yell the soldiers. They accuse you of being an Al-Qaeda terrorist. "Put him in the car – let him die when the bomb goes off." "How much did they pay you to do it? You will be executed!" You're pleading, yelling, screaming your innocence, but they're not having any of it. Their guns are pointed all over your body. They're young, angry, twitching, and just itching to pull... the punchline?!? From the butt of the gun to the butt of the joke, you've been Punk'd, Iraqi-style.

That's the basis of Put Him In Bucca, an Iraqi television show that was broadcast this past Ramadan, and was so popular it's continuing in reruns so everyone can see it. (Ramadan television is just such a wacky concept to me.) Camp Bucca was a US detention facility originally known as Camp Freddy, a British POW camp. A few secret Extreme Makeover – POW Edition treatments later (both the building and the chain of command) and Camp Bucca was shown off as the model US internment facility. (Here's a 3-D walkthrough of Bucca, no glasses required.) However, it was not exactly a model of perfection in the past, having received charges of prisoner abuse. (Bucca was the dumping ground for Abu Ghraib prisoners after its own prisoner scandal; US DOD's Taguba Report and other light reading here.) Bucca operated under US command for six years, closing almost exactly one year ago on September 17, 2009.

The hit show isn't rogue. It was produced with the consent of Baghdad Operations Command. We flock to see celebrities with plastic; Iraqis apparently flock to see celebrities with plastique. Watching celebrities break down, plead for their lives, asking to be spared because they have children – what's not thigh-slappingly hilarious? (And more Ramadan appropriate?) It may not be entirely original: In April 2010, Sgt. Leo Dunson and his partner planted a grenade in an Iraqi civilian's trunk during a traffic inspection and filmed the gut-busting hilarity that ensued.

The hit show also isn't without its critics. Viewers for whom this is a very realistic, everyday fear (unlike the bizarre American Scare Tactics) have complained frequently to the producers, saying the network may be "dancing on the wounds of Iraqis". Iraq's Media Commission has warned Al-Baghdadia about the show, threatening to pull their license. The complaints even come from America, the home of Punk'd   and its ilk – Keith Olbermann has named the show's presenter, Ali al-Khalidi, as his Worst Person In The World earlier this month.

The network claims it's all in good fun. They even go as far as to claim the show is a public service, reminding Iraqis to check under their car for bombs, and that it's educational – it teaches Iraqis how to behave at checkpoints. There are thousands of people who consider the show hilarious, and claim lulz. (I'm guessing very few of them live in a war-ravaged, occupied country and live through this as part of their daily reality. I'm also guessing they live rent-free in their parents' basements.)

Many people claim no subject is off-limits to comedy. People who take on high-risk occupations, like emergency response teams, or soldiers, often develop very dark humour to help deal with the reality of their situation. Right, wrong, or anywhere in-between, Put Him In Bucca's popularity is a testament to the unfathomable resilience of Iraqis.

"I could have been traumatized, I could have died, but it's all worth the sacrifice to make Iraqis laugh." -- Jassim Sharaf, Iraqi comedian and "guest" on Put Him In Bucca.

We may bomb their buildings and kill their people, but we haven't broken their spirit.

Al Jazeera story (click here to watch in new window):

 

CNN story (click here to watch in new window):