There is a clear line between videogame violence and real world violence, but that isn’t going to keep Electronic Arts from trying to cross it.
By visiting the site’spartners page, you can find 11 — more being added each week! — gun sellers that will give you the firepower you need toreallyleave an impression. You have a credit card, right? Then spend it on aTAC®-300 McMillan Tactical Riflethat you can keep above your TV, so people know you mean business online and offline! If you want a cheaper option or maybe just a more personal approach, you can get theLimited Edition Medal of Honor: Warfighter Voodoo Hawk(courtesy ofSOG Knives). For only $75, you can have this with its awesome “extended cutting head”(!)
I understand that these guns are sold for the purpose of hunting and that there are often stipulations like age, background checks, and waiting periods. However,most sites don’t ask you to do more than check a boxsaying you’re not a convict or teenager. I’m not familiar with the partners onMedal of Honor‘s site, so I can’t say for sure how they deal with background checks. Gun sells will increase directly because ofMedal of Honor: Warfighterand into whose hands these guns shall be received is something we may never know — unless there is a sad story tied to one.
If seeing a game publisher and developer promote weapons that lead to10,000 homicides a year in the United Statesbothers you, then maybe I’m not alone. Though the sales may go toward charities for the military, these are still guns being promoted and linked to on a videogame website. It’s bad enough I stumble onto creepers inCall of Dutydiscussing the best firearm with the least amount of spread for home invasion, or some seedy area of a message board where a couple hicks discuss the merit of weapons that no sane home owner should own (I’m talking assault rifles, not pistols).
Games are my escape from the assholes of the world: The distraught that shoot up schools, busses, and movie theaters. Videogames aren’t the entryway to causing violence on a wide-scale, as the mainstream media often likes to say it is. Yet, here is EA trying to give them something to talk about and give validity to the prejudices against violent videogames. EA gets more money, stores sell more guns, and everyone gets what they want, including those that probably shouldn’t be able to make the purchase in the first place.
There isn’t even an age gate on any of this stuff. Any kid with their dad’s credit card is just a couple clicks away from buying all those awesome guns and knives they love to use in the “most authentic shooter.” I personally am okay with gun ownership, but I’m not okay with this being a thing that is celebrated AND directly promoted by videogame publishers.
[viaGameological] [img]
