According to Videogamer, Treyarch’s community manager Josh Olin has said that if people don’t like a game, or find it offensive, they don’t have to play it.
It sounds like a remarkably simple solution to the recent controversy surrounding EA’s Medal of Honor, which will allow gamers to play as Taliban operatives.
His comment, however, was actually referring to the possible offense created by CoD: Black Ops taking place in the Cold War era.
“There’s always an opportunity to offend somebody – there’s always somebody who is offended by our games, whether it’s making a game where you kill imperial Japanese soldiers or you’re making a game where Russian soldiers are dying. Any era has this potential to offend somebody,” said Olin.
“But we don’t look at it like that. We look at it as we’re making a game. We’re making an entertainment product that is supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to be entertaining for players. And if you don’t like it then don’t play it.”
“Treyarch’s always believed in freedom of speech and expression – we don’t want to feel like we’re being censored out of that stuff. It’s unfortunate if it does offend people but it’s never our intention.”
In response to accusations that games like Call of Duty “trivialise” war, Olin pointed out that many soldiers themselves play these games.
People say, you know, ‘Does it trivialise war? Is it an offence to enlisted soldiers?’ We get letters all the time from soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who are playing Modern Warfare and World at War as often as they can in their barracks,” he explained. “It’s a real stress relief to them and they really enjoy it.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops is gearing up for release in November
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