Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's controversial airport scene has drawn a myriad of reactions, from artistic understanding to shock from political officials. BBC technology reporter Marc Cieslak had a different reaction to the level: sadness.
"I wasn't shocked by it but I felt a little bit saddened. I thought the games industry had moved beyond shock tactics for shock tactics sake," said Cieslak [thanks Videogamer]. "And that's what I thought about this particular level: it was controversial for the sake of being controversial. I didn't think it necessarily needed to be included in the game."
When asked how people unfamiliar with the game should react, game publisher James Binns said that "I'd benchmark this much like any action movie or an episode of 24. In 24, there's a scene in an airport and Jack Bauer doesn't shoot anyone, and in this game you don't have to shoot anyone. The game's very careful as well; has a couple check points which say, 'There's something disturbing coming up, would you want to skip it?' and if at any point if you see something you don't like you can actually skip the level without affecting the general gameplay. The scene's not typical of the rest of the game."
Personally, we were a bit saddened by the BBC host (a non-gamer) who seemed to imply the choice to shoot civilians somehow instilled a new moral code in the players. If games were really so capable in reprogramming those who played them, child psychologists would never want for work again.
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