The CEO Game

Medal of Honor, a new PC war game, has caused quite a stir in the United States, as it has been revealed that gamers will be allowed to play as the Taliban. The option to play as the other side, has drawn criticism from various news groups as well as bereaved parents, who claim “our pain is not to be taken advantage of- war is not a game, period”.

Computer first person shooter games have been very popular and pretty much repetitive since ever, but this new upcoming game from the house of Electronic Arts is a whole different story. The new Medal of Honor lets gamers play as allied or oppositional forces in a contemporary war theater. The allies in this case are U.S. Army Rangers, the theater is Afghanistan and so the opposition, is not surprisingly, the Taliban.

Medal Of Honor

The game angered many parents and families, who lost their loved ones in the raging war in Afghanistan. They feel the “game takes their suffering and turns it into someone else’s entertainment”. “Medal of Honor is set in today’s war putting players in the boots of today’s soldiers… we give gamers the opportunity to play both sides”, said Electronic Arts senior public relations manager Amanda Taggart in an official response.

Moreover, EA has added: “most of us have been doing this since we were seven… if someone’s the cop, someone’s got to be the robber, someone’s got to be the pirate and someone’s got to be the alien. In Medal of Honor multiplayer, someone’s gotta be the Taliban”. However many Americans believe, it is just unrealistic to compare cops and robbers to the Taliban and US soldiers.

However, some say, the entire controversy around this issue is actually hypocrisy, since America believes that it is okay to shot, stab, kill and blow up everyone in PC games as long as they are the “bad guys”, without taking into consideration people’s feelings at all. But playing as the Taliban fighting against the American army, that is way too much. Anyways, looks like the entire media fiasco around this game, will make it one of this summer’s best sellers.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

As aforementioned, the social network already offers a “like” button that allowspeople to rate and respond to other people’s comments and posts. Online securityfirm Sophos said it was the latest in a series of “survey scams” that included linksto a video purporting to show an anaconda snake vomiting up a hippo. “One thingwe commonly see is that the message starts with ‘OMG, shocking video’”, Sophosspokesman said. Basically the problem is that the viral links “appear to come fromyour Facebook friend, giving it a ringing endorsement.”
The dislike button scam prompts people to download an application with thefollowing message: “Download the official DISLIKE button now”. When usersclick on the link, it prompts them to install a rogue application, which does notfunction as a dislike button nor any other button. Instead, once a user has giventhe application permission to access their profile, it updates the user’s page with alink and a message: “I just got the dislike button, so now I can dislike all of yourdumb posts lol!!!”. According to Facebook usage polls, turns out many people aregiving permission for completely unknown apps, thinking they are totally unharmful.
As for the surveys (linked from the spam messages), they appear to be from genuinecompanies. As far as most users can tell, they appear to be legitimate. “It couldbe that the firms are not policing their affiliates properly”, Sophos suggested. Thescam finally points users towards a Firefox add-on that installs a “dislike” button.The add-on also appears to be legitimate. By the way, according to many antiphishing sites, the scam makers did not respond to any request for comment.
A spokesperson for Facebook said that the site had a “very quick process in place”to make sure that links and rogue applications were taken down quickly. “We alwaysencourage people to not click on links that appear suspicious – even if posted froma friend”, a spokesperson said. “They can report any posts to us. We can make surethat we take down any application or all of the links across Facebook.” But manyweb security specialists suggest that although Facebook could respond quickly, itshould police the development of rogue applications more closely. They claim thatanyone can write a Facebook app, thus these scams are constantly springing up.
Finally, while the advantages of using Facebook are obvious, it comes with its veryown share of problems, so always remember to protect your personal data andbeware of useless innocent looking requests.
Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.