> The reason I think it is in bad taste, is because
> people over there are
> risking life and limb. And yes, it is recent in
> memory, hell, the situation
> is going on right now. But I see your point, it's
> not like I wasn't playing
> team deathmatch in a UT Strike Force map last night
> called Afghan caverns.
> 

I don't normally respond to these type of things, so
bear with me if I'm not as eloquent as others.

The pros and the cons:
The pros:  I don't know about you, but , on Sept 11th,
I felt a little helpless.  Things needed to be done,
and *I* personally was not doing anything.  That's
frustrating, and as a nation, I think we needed to
-focus- that rage and frustration.  If having an RPG
out there that allows you to put Osama between your
cross-hairs helps someone on a theraputic level, then
there's value there.  
While I've never condoned the serious taking of human
life, I'll admit there were definately parts of me
that would've been more than happy to dump a clip into
Osama that day. I don't think we should encourage
violence as an answer to every problem, but, like
cartoons, it doesn have it's place.
RPG's allow us a luxury that we don't have in daily
life.  We get the black and white.  We know who the
bad guy is because he's the
whacko-in-the-wet-suit-trying-to-punch-your-ticket
(You can tell I was raised on Champions).  There
aren't too many shades of grey, and for a time life
becomes a little simpler.  

Cons:  We, as a nation and an industry, have to be
very careful how we paint our bad guys.  This war is
an abstraction.  WWII was different because the bad
guy wore a uniform and marched down the streets of
Poland in time to a drum, trumpeting national pride.
This isn't a nation we're fighting this time, it's an
abstraction and a way of life.  It's as dirty as
Vietnam in a lot of ways, and there's a lot of blurry
morality when your opponent doesn't have one single
solid base of operations and is mixed among people who
clearly have no love of him.  Modules or supplements
written for such a game would have the opportunity to
point out exactly how blurry that line is, teach a
lesson and allow a little bit of catharsis as well.

My opinion:  Just a suggesstion, but, donate a portion
of the proceeds to the Red Cross.  Even if it sucks,
I'd buy one to support the industry and contribute to
the Effort.  It would be a nice gesture, help to quell
anyone who was a nay-sayer due to bad taste, and would
show that as an industry we want to do our part. 
Marvel did Heroes, what have we done?

But, that's just my 2 cents.

-TRW

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