After months of controversy and consternation, EA has finally decided to remove the Taliban as playable characters in their upcoming shooter, Medal of Honor.  Instead, the Afghanistan-based opposing forces will now be known as “Opposing Forces.”  How original.

Despite stating in August that outside pressures would not make EA “compromise our creative vision and what we want to do,” Greg Goodrich, the executive producer of Medal of Honor, announced the change on the MoH website.  According to Goodrich, the decision was based solely on the reaction of “friends and families of fallen soldiers who have expressed concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game.”

Medal of Honor has been the subject of controversy ever since it was announced that Taliban fighters would be playable in the game’s multiplayer modes, and escalated when the Army and Air Force Exchange Services pulled the game from all retailers on American military bases worldwide.

I understand how many veterans and their families would be upset about making Taliban forces into “main characters” in multiplayer, but changing them to “Opposing Forces” doesn’t really change anything.  It’s still American forces fighting in Afghanistan against terrorist forces.  We could call them Smurfs or Grues, but it doesn’t change the fact that players will still be able to simulate killing American forces in realistic combat inspired by the Afghanistan conflict.  It’s like covering up the breasts in a porno, but not the rest of the good stuff.  I’m not saying that EA should change their game, and in fact, I don’t think they should have made the small concession that they did.  It all just seems silly, and a bit disingenuous after EA’s earlier statement about how war games should be treated the same as war movies; "At EA we passionately believe games are an artform, and I don't know why films and books set in Afghanistan don't get flack, yet [games] do. Whether it's Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform."  I guess they no longer passionately believe that.