One of the first Call of Duty: Blackops missions involves the former Cuban President Fidel Castro, gamers are ‘encouraged’ to assassinate the former leader, do you think this has gone down well in Cuba? You bet your ass it hasn’t – uproar has erupted on the website Cubadebate, with government leaders voicing their opinions in the public domain.
Government officials posted this in an article on the site “What the United States government did not achieve in more than 50 years, it now tries to do virtually,” they also voiced concerns that the game ‘glorified’ attempts on Castro’s life.
The article said “This new video game is doubly perverse. On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader … and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents.”
The article goes on and says “violence begets violence” basically saying that violence in the game will encourage violence in real life, creating ‘sociopaths’.
This isn’t the first time a video game has caused an outcry from the media, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had a mission where gamers could shoot innocent civilian bystanders and the new Medal of Honor game gives players the option of playing as Taliban, allowing them to kill US soldiers.
It’s not the first time and it’s not going to be the last.
What do you make of the Cuban reaction?
The Cubans probably just don't properly understand video gaming culture – it's not surprising the story would 'encourage' the player to do this: the US government has been actually trying to do this for 50 years. Imagine if you are playing the role of a US Black Ops agent, and the story involves Cubans, obviously the character, according to the fictional story, and perfectly in-line with reality, would attempt the shot on Fidel – it just makes sense – it fits the story internally.