Medal of Honor multiplayer loses the Taliban

Electronic Arts has backed down on including the Taliban in Medal of Honor's multiplayer. But does a name change actually change anything?

Geez - you take a couple of days off and look what happens? We're a bit late to the game on this one, but since we've been vocally supporting Electronic Arts and its inclusion of the Taliban in Medal of Honor's multiplayer modes, it's worth reporting on regardless.

So what's happened? Well, effectively, it's a classic case of a vocal minority getting the job done that's seen Greg Goodrich, exec producer on the game, announce that the Taliban are being ditched from Medal of Honor's multiplayer. Instead, Allied forces will now be fighting a generic 'Opposing Force'. Here's a portion of the announcement:

... we have also received feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers who have expressed concern over the inclusion of the Taliban in the multiplayer portion of our game. This is a very important voice to the Medal of Honor team. This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about. Because of this, and because the heartbeat of Medal of Honor has always resided in the reverence for American and Allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team in Medal of Honor multiplayer from Taliban to Opposing Force.

Goodrich pointed out also that the majority of feedback they've received from serving members of the armed forces has been overwhelmingly positive.

However, the move does seem a touch... well, half arsed. As far as we can tell, this is a purely nomenclature-related change. The settings of the game seem to be the same, and the character models also have not been changed. So, sure, you can call the enemy OpFor all you want, but it's still the Taliban. Who else are you going to be fighting in Kandahar Province? 

The change is not affecting any other aspect of the game, or its ship date.