Comments on: Modern Warfare 2 Ad Features, Condones Homophobic Slurs

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:33:58 +0000

Wow. Just. Wow. The fact that Infinity Ward would produce something like that, with obviously little to no forethought about what really should have been seen as an inevitable backlash, has me reconsidering my intent to purchase this game.

There’s nothing more frustrating to me, as a trans woman, than trying to deal with the “r u really a guy”-style questions that are applied to basically anyone and everyone who plays a female character in an online game, totally irrespective of their actual gender.

This is precisely the same kind of male-cattle-feces. Deplorable does not begin to describe it.

By: eleniel

eleniel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:10:51 +0000

It’s certainly a topic that deserves far more detailed and nuanced attention than I give it in this post.

By: Derick

Derick — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:04:09 +0000

It is clear. But I think in the context of the game, and the issues that many people are having with “random grenades” in the game, that the comment is not offensive. To me, it seems a little “reaching” to get offended by something that has that much context within the game to something very much not related. It’s hard, because the original post is really excellent, but that portion kind of dulled the knife a little.

By: Ian M.

Ian M. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:41:55 +0000

I think the idea behind the ad was “If we call the grenade spammers pussies and the fake PSA organization FAGS then everyone is insulted and it balances out.” The problem is of course that calling someone a fag or a pussy is distasteful so instead of nullifying it exacerbated the criticism.

By: eleniel

eleniel — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:35:59 +0000

I didn’t elaborate because I don’t think it is nearly the most offensive thing about this ad, but my point was that the entire joke relies on the idea of being killed by a grenade while you’re walking down the street (minding your own business!) as something totally ridiculous and laughable, when this is something that people in some parts of the world actually do have to worry about (perhaps not grenades in particular, but certainly explosives in general). Does that clear things up?

By: John

John — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:00:37 +0000

Your main point is pretty reasonable, except I don’t get the sentence saying how the joke about getting killed by grenades being tasteless. If it’s offensive to show someone in a war zone be killed by a grenade, then all of the TF2 videos must be ten times more offensive. Not to mention that this is a promotional video for a game that is all about killing people in a war zone, and has come from a long linage of games that are all about killing people in war zones. If that part was actually offensive then the entire FPS genre is at fault. (I’m not trying to say that no one has the right to be offended by violence, but if that kind of violence really is offensive then this video is the least of your worries.)

By: Deirdra Kiai Productions » Not Cool

Deirdra Kiai Productions » Not Cool — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:31:39 +0000

[...] on a certain predominantly young male audience. I won’t talk about it in detail here, because quite a few people have already done so, and to be honest, there are a lot of games these days that are being [...]

By: Tactical Facepalm « GSG

Tactical Facepalm « GSG — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:56:48 +0000

[...] being brought to the forefront by this video. Vorpal Bunny Ranch, Brainy Gamer, Sarcastic Gamer, While Not Finished, Developer [...]

By: softestbullet

softestbullet — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:49:54 +0000

But… I still don’t understand why women and gay men don’t play more video games!!!

/sarcasm