The Americans are having a bad time, they just got off a month with a high number of casualties in Afghanistan, and some sectors are writing off the Americans able to bring stability and security in that country under a democratically elected and US-friendly government, and here comes a game that is about to be released in October and allows anyone to take the role of a Taliban insurgent, and get to shoot down US soldiers, all for fun.

Medal of Honor, the game being developed under the Electronic Arts brand, is set in a contemporary Afghanistan, and bases its story among consultations wih Special Operations people, called Tier 1 Warriors in the game. Expected to be released in 12 October 2010, it has a single-player campaign with an American perspective, but in the multiplayer, you can get to be a Taliban.

This multiplayer feature struck a nerve on some Americans, especially those who have lost a love one or a friend. The memory is very fresh, and the war is going on, as compared to the FPS games based on World War II or fictional stories such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare. But the latter game title also generated its own controversy with the "No Russian" where Russian terrorists get to gun down passengers in an airport terminal. Though after its release, the issue died down.

The developers of the game say that as based on the story of the game, somebody has to play the role of the Taliban in the game scenarios, or it loses the essence of the game. They compare it to Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, or Soldiers vs Terrorists/Insurgents.

Airsoft shares this controversy too, especially when there was an uproar in the Muslim Community, in their over reaction to an airsoft game where photographs of "muslim insurgents" captured and tied up in the UK. But then, in some scenarios that are based in stories, roles will have to be played. Some will need to be good guys, and some, unfortunately, will have to be play the bad guys.

Saying that World War II scenes are now far removed from reality among video game players today, and thus can be given a pass to be released to the gaming public whilst Medal Honor is about "Now", and will hurt the sensititives of those who lost someone in the ongoing Afghan War and so should not allowed to be released is a shallow argument. All wars are ugly, whether these have happened over two thousand years ago, or happening right this very minute. And the human race has been playing such role playing games based on war stories for entertainment ever since war was found to be a valuable tool in imposing one group's will over the other.

At the end of the day, the argument is won in the marketplace, whether players would reject such depictions of the Afghan War and their own sensibilities. Most video game players are actually mature ones and can discern which games are done well and those that are in bad taste.

What do you think? Should you wait for the game to be released and make your judgement on it, or should it be just banned outright, wasting millions of dollars already spent on a game that offers a very compelling story about the Tier 1 Warriors in an ongoing war.