Not too long ago, UK Defence Secretary, Liam Fox made a comment about about the upcoming Medal of Honor game by developers Danger Close and DICE, published by EA. You can read all about it here and here. He calls the product tasteless and urges that retailers ban it. Having thought about this for awhile, and having seen a multitude of similar such items, I've decided to provide a counterargument and a commentary about expression in video games.
So what has Voltaire and Governator got to do with all this?
When the Defence Secretary first made his comments I did feel the rage which is visible through much of the Internets reaction on the subject. I was tempted to post something similar where I would break up his argument and destroy it bit by bit, but that would fail to address what I believe to be the main issue at stake.
If he had stated that he found the game distasteful but had not called for its ban I would have been quite content with his argument. I would have considered him wrong, but supported his right to have his own opinion, as Voltaire so neatly put it,
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
French philosophers aside, whats this got to do with video games?
Well gaming as a whole is in an awkward teenager sort of phase that I believe we are just now beginning to leave. We've gone through the early years of graphical and technology developments and have begun, to not only explore the use of story, but to be able explore the human experience. Indie games such as Every Day The Same Dream as well as main stream titles like BioShock are good examples of this and I believe that the future will contain more and more of these sorts of games. Games can make commentaries on the nature of existence much in the same way that cinema, TV, books, plays etc can
I can say then that games are a method of expression.
The argument about freedom of speech and video games is about to be settled in the American Courts in the not to distant future. You can read a bit about it here. It has the potential to reshape the games industry depending on what the ruling is so I would keep an eye on it if choice about games is important to you.
Freedom of expression, is in my opinion, a fundamental human right. With this there comes a terrible problem of encountering something we disagree with. Remember though that with the ability to choose what we want, we also gain the ability to choose what we don't want. However we do not deserve this right to choose if we eliminate others abilities to do the same.
So as vile as Medal of Honor might be to the Defence Secretary, he is wrong to attempt to deny us of our right to buy or not to buy it.
In conclusion, my fellow gamer, I suggest that you oppose such calls for banning this game so that you can be free to decide for yourself.
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