Medal of Honor drops Taliban name out of respect for fallen soldiers

Well, we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. EA has dropped the Taliban name from its upcoming shooter Medal of Honor. The publisher has seemingly bowed to the pressure of the hundreds of pieces of correspondenceit's received from people in the military and the families of soldiers who’ve been killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.

In a recently released statement, the game’s executive producer Greg Goodrich states the name of the terrorist group was dropped out of respect for friends and families of fallen soldiers. The Taliban will now be known as Opposing Force in the game.

"In the past few months, we have received feedback from all over the world regarding the multiplayer portion of Medal of Honor. We have received feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers who have expressed concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game.” Goodrich says.

He continues: “This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about. Because of this, and because the heartbeat of Medal of Honor has always resided in the reverence for American and Allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team in Medal of Honor multiplayer from Taliban to Opposing Force.”

Setting the series reboot in the Afghanistan conflict was always going to be controversial, so we can’t say we’re surprised by the developments. What do you think about the whole affair? Were EA right to respect the wishes of those who’ve been affected by the Afghanistan War? Should it have stuck to its guns and kept the Taliban name in? Do you even care about Medal of Honor? Give us your thoughts in the comments section.

Source: CVG

Oct 1, 2010

David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for GamesRadar+ and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too.