If you’ve somehow managed to avoid the avalanche of controversy pouring down on Medal of Honor, here’s the gist: you can play as Taliban in the game’s multiplayer. Not “the insurgents.” Not “the guys who look suspiciously like Taliban but totally aren’t, no really.” Nope. This time around, Medal of Honor’s ripping its inspiration straight from the headlines. That, however, didn’t fly with GameStop’s stores in military bases.
According to a memo received by Kotaku, the decision to pull the game was made “out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.”
“As such, GameStop agreed to have all marketing material pulled by noon today and to stop taking reservations. Customers who enter our AAFES stores and wish to reserve Medal of Honor can and should be directed to the nearest GameStop location off base,” it read.
“GameStop fully supports AAFES in this endeavor and is sensitive to the fact that in multiplayer mode one side will assume the role of Taliban fighter.”
Usually, this is where we make some kind of opinionated and – we like to think – well-informed comment. However, seeing as we haven’t served, we’d like to ask the following question: Men and women in the military, what are your thoughts on this? Is it as touchy of a subject as GameStop makes it out to be? Or is this just another example of political correctness gone too far?
