Telegraph Columnist Goes on Fox Hunt Over MOH Comments

An excellent piece on the UK’s Telegraph website rips Defense Secretary Liam Fox for his prattle about EA’s upcoming Medal of Honor game, while also outlining the impact Fox’s comments will have on game sales and how such attacks by “outsiders” raise the cackles hackles of gamers.

Fox totally missed the boat in his condemnation of the game as he argued for its ban in the UK, claiming that the game was “un-British,” even though British forces do not factor into the game at all.

If Fox wanted to make a reasonable argument about the game, as Nick Cowen explains, he could have chosen a different tack:

There may be a sensible debate to had about the merits of using a current, ongoing conflict as the subject matter in any entertainment format. But a ban is not condusive to this. A ban stifles any chance of reasonable discussion and simply maintains the status quo.

Of course, as witnessed with the leak of the “No Russian” level from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which we’re convinced was a calculated marketing move, Fox’s blundering will probably have an opposite impact on the game than what he intended:

Whenever a high-profile figure condemns a video game it usually causes pre-orders to increase exponentially. Any notoriety a game earns ahead of its release date almost always attracts attention from outside the title's core fan base; calls for an outright banning of the game, as has happened in this case, simply attract more prospective punters.

By condemning the game, Mr Fox has simply pushed raised its profile Medal Of Honor further into the public conscience. He may as well have paid for EA's billboards in every major city in the UK.

Cowen, in the best bit of his piece, on why we, as gamers, despise outsiders attacking our past time:

Such are the consequences when people who do not play games attack them. As a section of society used to the scorn and derision of others, mainstream condemnation simply makes something more attractive. Some might say that this shows the immaturity of gamers, but in the end, when attacked from all sides by people who don’t even have the decency to pick up a controller and form their own opinions, it’s not surprising that we have little time for overly-dramatic (and often factually inaccurate) accusations.

Bravo.