I don't hate computer games, but COD4 could be a terrorist training tool, don't you think?
Posted on 10/28/2009 2:19:42 AM PDT by myknowledge
Players of a new video game are reportedly cast as terrorists who murder unarmed civilians in an airport in scenes described as "reminiscent of last year's mass killings in Mumbai".
Secret video footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was leaked earlier this morning, showing one level where characters wearing body armour over business suits shoot down other characters.
The footage of the massacre — described by gaming blog IGN as "some of the most violent-looking and realistic scenes we've seen in a video game" — was published on YouTube but later pulled because of "copyright infringement".
It showed a group of armed men entering the baggage area of an airport where 20 people are shot to death: the rest of the level consists of civilians being killed in other sections of the airport.
The footage ends after the terrorists move up escalators draped with bodies and outside to a tarmac where a passenger plane with red, white and blue stripes is waiting.
Technology website CNet.com said the "scene's gritty realism" was in stark contrast to the cartoonish violence of Grand Theft Auto IV, infamous for its gruesome killing scenes involving machine guns, grenade launchers and steak knives.
Other websites like GameSpot.com have said the decision to mix an airport massacre and terrorism may prove to be "toxic, publicity-wise".
The website said the scene was reminiscent of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India last year which left 200 people dead.
Call of Duty's publisher Activision has not commented on the authenticity of today's leaked footage but most websites that published the clip have been ordered to take it down.
Modern Warfare 2 is the sequel to Call of Duty 4 and has been given an MA15+ rating in Australia.
It is due to be released on November 10.
I don't hate computer games, but COD4 could be a terrorist training tool, don't you think?
> I don’t hate computer games, but COD4 could be a terrorist training tool, don’t you think?
Yup. I see no necessity for games such as these. They ought to be censored.
Not all censorship is bad: it was put to good use in WW-I and WW-II, and seeing how we are now at war with a tech-savvy enemy I would have no problem with the Office of the Censor making training tools such as these unavailable.
I don’t hate computer games, but COD4 could be a terrorist training tool, don’t you think?
Agreed.
There is no chance Call of Duty will have any scenes where the character you’re playing is a terrorist. These are probably cut scenes showing what the terrorists have done before your team is sent in to kill them all.
Ban islam, not video games
I’ve got my COD Hardened Edition on pre-order. Can’t wait for it, though as with all multi-player games, I expect to get slaughtered online.
I don’t know if you have ever played a computer game before, but the idea that playing an FPS is like high-quality military training that will turn players into highly-skilled killing machines is ridiculous. They aren’t that realistic.
Besides, this is nonsense. You don’t play a terrorist in CODMW2, you play an SAS trooper whose job it is to kill terrorists. This is yet another anti-computer game article written by a journo who hasn’t a clue what he is talking about... Probably the same guy who said that in Doom you got to torture people chained up against the wall for kicks....
Mate, there would be far better terrorist training tools than this game. ‘America’s Army’ for example. Which is free curtesy of the US Government as a recruiting tool, and which features much more realistic gun ballistics and squad tactics than this chucklesome romp. Even then, I don’t see the US Army abandoning its traditional training methods and letting all its recruits play a computer game all day to train them up for the ‘stan do you?
I agree.
> Even then, I don’t see the US Army abandoning its traditional training methods and letting all its recruits play a computer game all day to train them up for the ‘stan do you?
Nope. The US Army will continue to do what has worked well for over 200 years.
Would I put it past a fringe terrorist cell to supplement their PT and combat training with video-game conditioning? Nope — in fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they do it now.
Well, thats just a super idea. In fact, why don’t we go even further and just ban all non-state employees from possessing guns, you know, just in case they use them to practice for terrorist outrages?
> Well, thats just a super idea. In fact, why don’t we go even further and just ban all non-state employees from possessing guns, you know, just in case they use them to practice for terrorist outrages?
That’s quite a leap of logic, even for you. How do you get from Censorship during a time of war to violating the Second Amendment?
Just as much as Wolfenstein 3D was a SERE training tool.
Besides being a terrorist training aid, this stupid game will generate unnecessary internet chatter that will make it more difficult for our own people to separate the game speak from real terrorist chatter used to focus efforts to keep our country safe.
I do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.