Navy SEALs Reprimanded for Disclosing Secrets to EA for Medal of Honor

[Densetsu]

Seven US Navy SEALs, one of whom was involved in the secret mission that killed Osama bin Laden, face administrative action after acting as consultants on the production of Medal of Honor: Warfighter (GBAtemp review). They are being accused by the Pentagon of leaking classified information to the makers of the game.

The accused have been issued punitive letters of reprimand and docked half of their salary for 2 months. It has been said that such a blemish on their military record can effectively damage their careers.

Source 1
Source 2



Al-Qaeda members might start playing FPS games to figure out the tactics of the most elite operatives in the US.

 

[Devin]

Almost tempted to play the game myself just for that mission, this would be a nice publicity stunt.

 

[Gahars]

All this for Medal of Honor: Warfighter?

Not. Worth. It.

 

[Vampire Lied]

The powers that be obviously weren't told that no one is playing the game, so no harm done.
Good marketing strategy though. Makes me want to play it just to find out what the big deal is.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I wouldn't worry about terrorists playing it to find out military secrets, I think even they would realize how shit the game is and just put it down.

I mean there's a level of dishonor in working on Warfighter in anyway so this is just a double dose of dishonor. In fact they could have just worked on Dishonored.

 

[notmeanymore]

Medal of Honor is now on my hitlist this year. Good use of the press for marketing, EA.

I can see where the government is coming from on this one, though. By letting these SEALs disclose how they would handle the in-game situations in real combat allows for our enemies to plan ahead and counter them.
Assuming they take the time to buy an Xbox and play the game, and can tell which parts were and were not consulted on by the SEALs. Small problems.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Medal of Honor is now on my hitlist this year. Good use of the press for marketing, EA.

I can see where the government is coming from on this one, though. By letting these SEALs disclose how they would handle the in-game situations in real combat allows for our enemies to plan ahead and counter them. Assuming they take the time to buy an Xbox and play the game, and can tell which parts were and were not consulted on by the SEALs. Small problems.

How else could we get a realistic authentic experience?

EA are just fucking retarded if they think their audience wants a realistic "authentic" experience. You want that? Go play Spec Ops: The Line and see how fun and exciting the horrors of warfare are. People play games like CoD for escapism, they're not realistic authentic at all but it's fun to run-and-gun and be some crazy James Bond/Jason Bourne/special forces macho badass.

Warfighter I think can easily classify as the worst game of the year not just based on gameplay, but on just how fucking stupid the game is.

 

[Fear Zoa]

And here I was under the impression that all military shooters were fake as shit and not worth anyones time.

On a more serious note that does suck for those whos necks are on the line.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

And here I was under the impression that all military shooters were fake as shit and not worth anyones time.

On a more serious note that does suck for those whos necks are on the line.

They kinda dug their own hole. It's 100% their fault for sharing secrets or whatever you may call it. In all honesty it does seem a bit sleezy to cash in on your military career by just signing on as a "military adviser" on a video game just so EA can go "WE GOT REAL MILITARY MEN ON THIS ONE SUCK A FAT DICK COD."

 

[Fear Zoa]

They kinda dug their own hole. It's 100% their fault for sharing secrets or whatever you may call it. In all honesty it does seem a bit sleezy to cash in on your military career by just signing on as a "military adviser" on a video game just so EA can go "WE GOT REAL MILITARY MEN ON THIS ONE SUCK A FAT DICK COD."

Well when you put it that way... Still You'd think EA would get in trouble as well. I know if i ever set out to find military secrets i'd get my ass handed to me the government.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Well when you put it that way... Still You'd think EA would get in trouble as well. I know if i ever set out to find military secrets i'd get my ass handed to me the government.

You can't really get in trouble from asking a marine "So how exactly did that classified thing go?" I mean reporters ask questions about secrets all the time but there's a reason why people "decline to comment." People are naturally curious, it's the job of the people who have classified information to not reveal it.

And if the secrets were really that serious I don't think a small slap on the wrist and a temporary pay reduction would be in order as much as expulsion from the service. I don't think we'll be losing many war fronts because a few bad guys played Warfighter.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

I saw E3 trailer for this game and the inclusion of Canadian forces made me fall off my chair.

Anyway, this is kinda serious. We have no idea the exact info disclosed but if the American Gov't feels to the need to take action then it must have been some highly sensitive shit.

 

[Foxi4]

...so I take it that the most elite U.S Operatives have a brain implant that explodes, spraying their brains all around the place whenever they walk off a very specific, pre-set path?

 

[Hadrian]

I can imagine terrorists playing this game thinking "Hey, if this game is authentic then does that mean most soldiers just stand around doing nothing at times of urgency because a scripted moment hasn't been set off?".

By the way...plug:
http://gbatemp.net/threads/medal-of-honor-warfighter-review.337011/

 

[FAST6191]

I have to wonder if what was "leaked" is actually worth some measure of classification- my experiences with various military forces is anything above used toilet paper (and that only with some trepidation) will be given a measure of classification* which conversely renders the whole thing pointless but that is perhaps a different discussion.

Similarly following some of the higher profile books from former special forces types (granted I am more familiar with the UK side of things here) many were then made to sign fairly binding agreements to never speak of what they did so this could be something of a "setting an example" type affair.

*UK again but I was once watching a Ray Mears (in my opinion one of the better woodsman/survival types) where he had a show with I think it was army doing their basic survival training (whether it was basic wilderness training given to all or not I am unsure but it was nowhere near special forces, recon or sniper stuff) and they had to cut a whole bunch of it for similar reasons.

Some games have certainly had some interesting setpieces and some interesting ideas but from what I have in survival and what little I have in weapons training there is about as much logical disconnect between games and real life and game controllers and firing an actual weapon or indeed film/TV and how computers (and more specifically computer hacking) works.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

Some people say that terrorists played flight simulator 98 a lot before hit the WTC, but nobody needs a game to do evil actions. If there was no Flight Simulator, they would play with RC planes, paper planes or any other shit and the evil act would happen the same way.

What the SEALs had told to EA employees may be a bit dangerous, but the game content itself will not help any terrorist, not even a geek terrorist.

 

[Densetsu]

I read elsewhere that exactly what was disclosed by the SEALs, how much of it actually made it into the game (and where in the game) remains unknown. The administrative action taken by their superiors seems kind of lenient for having leaked classified information. I would think that if they actually compromised the national security of the US, they would have been dealt with more harshly. I'm inclined to agree this is just one of those things where the government just wants to make an example of them.