Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has faced significant criticism since its launch, and the latest dissenter is a gamer with unique insights—an ex-member of the Half-Life 2 development team. Chet Faliszek, a renowned former Valve writer, took to social media to express his concerns about the game.
Faliszek posted a brief video on YouTube, criticizing Activision Blizzard for incorporating a line from a book written by American activist Rosa Parks as a death quote in the game. Having played the single-player campaign over the weekend, Faliszek was taken aback to discover a quote from Parks used in the context of a character’s death.
I just played Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 this weekend, the single-player, and I’m shooting people in the face,” shared Faliszek. “And then I didn’t shoot people in the face well enough, so I died. And then I got this quote from the famous military proponent Rosa Parks.”
Rosa Parks was a pivotal figure in the American Civil Rights movement, celebrated internationally for her resistance to racial segregation. Faliszek posted a screenshot of the death quote that appears when a player dies during a mission: “Knowing what must be done does away with fear,” a quote from Parks’ book, Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed a Nation.
The Half-Life 2 Episode One and Two writer criticized Activision Blizzard for the use of the quote, deeming it “gross and exploitative.” Faliszek argued that the quote has no relevance to a game where players “shoot people in the face.
Addressing the Call of Duty team, Faliszek remarked, “I get it. You’re thinking, ‘she has this great quote, she’s a civil-rights activist, we’re going to call attention to her.’ No. This is exploitative. This is gross. Rosa Parks has nothing to do with the grossness of your shoot people in the face game. Don’t have her as a death quote. Just don’t.”
Sledgehammer Games’ decision to incorporate a quote from a non-violent activist in a tactical shooter game is indeed intriguing. While the quote itself is about courage, which could have aligned with the game’s theme, the historical figure who uttered it doesn’t quite fit the narrative of a first-person shooter.
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that the Call of Duty franchise has consistently featured death quotes in its single-player campaigns over the past decade. Many of the historical figures quoted in previous installments were not affiliated with the military. For instance, a death quote from Call of Duty 4 reads, “The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.” This quote is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th-century essayist.
It would be an easy fix for Sledgehammer to replace the quote with something more appropriate. However, the studio is currently grappling with a multitude of challenges related to the game, particularly concerning player-reported issues, especially in the Multiplayer and Zombies modes. Modern Warfare 3 is plagued by persistent problems such as frequent crashes and stutters, causing considerable frustration among players. Amidst these technical issues, addressing the Rosa Parks quote may be just one item on the studio’s extensive to-do list.
