Something Modern Warfare 2 Got Wrong About Pakistan

Pakistani reader Saad was thrilled when he heard that Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was getting a multiplayer map set in the city he calls home, Karachi. That is, until he played it.

"I, being a Pakistani, was so excited at seeing a Karachi map and then immediately so disappointed when I played the map," says the Karachi resident. The map has Arabic written all over, even though that isn't the country's language.

The country of Pakistan has two official lingos: English and Urdu. With somewhere between 60 and 80 million speakers of the standard language, Urdu has more speakers than, say, Italian, Korean or Polish.

"Infinity Ward probably thought, 'Oh hey its a Muslim country so Arabic is the language,'" says Saad.

While Arabic and Urdu use the same script, the words are completely different. For example, the noun "people" is "al-naas" in Arabic (?????), and "log" or "loug" (???) in Urdu.

"To someone who doesn't know urdu won't be able to tell the difference," Saad explains. "It's like Spanish and English, I guess. Some letters are same, some are different but the words are completely different."

There isn't a single Urdu word on the entire Karachi map and no one writes in Arabic in Pakistan.

[deadpoole]

Bad Doggy IW, Bad Doggy IW ... no more effing dough for you. but seriously if it wasnt for MP (which Ive already got bored now for rest of my life) I wouldve never bought this game.

Black released on Playstation 2 has got better graphics and animation then this MW2 released 6 years later. Like seriously WTF, multimillion dollar game and they can't invest/research about some pretty imp things ... who they tryin to fool.

[mistajeff]

The sad thing is, in this case, the research process would've been searching for "Pakistan" on wikipedia.

[kalebgray92]

i guess im like IW...lol... not trying to be ignorant its just im american and i live in LA ... all i gotta know is english, and know what spanish and korean looks like and im good

[vickers500]

Oh shut up. If this were any less popular game like Uncharted 2 and the inaccuracies in it (don't know if there are any, I'm just saying), you all would be saying "who cares?". Why don't you blame LittleBigPlanet for including a song that had an offensive line to muslims? Oh yeah, because it's f*cking retarted.

Their job isn't to research every insignificant cultural detail, it's to create a fun, arcadey shooter.

[duplissi]

you butthurt a bit? really.....

[zeeshan]

@JonnyBadfinger: Yeah, the Pakistani cricket team is in trouble lately. Australia's team is one of the best teams in the world. You gota give it to them, they have got some major talents but the OZ team's performance has subsided dramatically after the exit of Glenn mcgrath, Shane Warne and Hayden.

Not to mention that Pakistani team is the current T20 Champions and have won the most matches in T20 than any other team.

The current test's situation is not that bad for Pakistanies. They need 252 runs and have 7 wickets in the hand. Lets not forget that Pakistani team hasn't had any test cricket in 3 years. Only the recent NZ tour and the current OZ tour is what they have had when it comes to playing test matches. They are playing in totally different conditions and it'll take some time for them to adjust. It's not over until it is over

On topic: Where did they spend millions of dollars? The graphics were not good (no where near Killzone 2), the gameplay was the same as COD4, the MP is full of glitches and the single player campaign was so pathetic that it only managed to trump the SP of Harry Potter aTHBL and perhaps Terminator. Someone should ask IW where did they spend their money?

Oh and I see people on Kotaku and some people here blaming Americans for their lack of knowledge. While, this is true that Americans are usually not good with general knowledge and geography etc, the fact is that not all Americans are alike. I can bet anything that if developers like NAUGHTY DOGS or Ubisoft Montreal were doing the same job, they would have done their homework. Let it be known that it is the developer's fault who happen to be in the U.S.

[Bubbles_Kitty_Cat]

"Black released on Playstation 2 has got better graphics and animation then this MW2"

LOL, you people need to stop. Seriously.

Your rabid hatred for Modern Warfare 2 is making you say very stupid things.

[mastiffchild]

johnnybadfinger-is it STILL OK to call the Pakistan cricket team "pakis" in your country as in the UK it's the biggest insult ever for them. As offensive as the "N" word to black folk. I notice3sd it being used in the 80's on TV ads for a triangular series with AS/WI/PAK teams and was amazed even back then!

BTW England are spanking SA now after beating Ponting's lot in the summer. And we're rubbish.

[Stinger_209]

I figured this out from day one all they did was copied the characters from cod4 and the writing on some of the maps like crossfire and stuck in Karachi to save money

[umair_s51]

I'm from Pakistan, and Karachi looks nothing like this. Afghanistan looks like this!

[BX81]

@JonnyBadfinger funny that you would base all Americans on a video game community. Arrogant? We can be at times just the same as anyone else. I guess when you're a big power house of a country people will hate just like other countries get hated on. I bet you're the kind of guy that calls American's all fat, yanks, fat, kill each other, fat oh yeah and did I mention fat. Get over it kid if you don't like America then don't but don't make some lame excuse like arrogance or ignorance because if that was the case you would hate every country.

[SilentNegotiator]

That was probably the most racist, offensive generalization I have read in a long time. Generalizations like that are for weak minded fools.

The only reason the United States specifically gets labeled as the more "Arrogant" country is because we are a super power, and most other countries could only wish they had such an economy and military.

[JeffGUNZ]

So, you can sit there and honestly tell me you can tell apart every countries language from their dialect, in the entire world? Every country has their own traditions and cultures, why bash anyone else? Where you are from Cricket is popular and huge. In America, Football is popular and so is Baseball. That's just from our culture and traditions. That doesn't mean it's "wussy" or sub-par. It's funny, America is like MW2 in a sense. It's so big and a power house, that people just TRY to find excuses to hate it. Listen, America is one of the best countries in the world, and yes, it has its flaws, like every country. People need to realize that no one is perfect and no country is perfect. Just because America has taken on the title of the power house country, doesn't mean it's flawless. Let's not overstep our history here, if it weren't for America, then most of this world would be under Nazi and Communist control.

I am sick of ignorant people trashing America and when something happens where America saves the day (i.e WWII), America is great for a little bit. Grow up. No one in America really cares about the slight differences of accents in your country. I would like you to talk to 10 Americans and tell me which one is from Pennsylvania, New York, California, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and Arizona. If you can't tell me and get it right, then you must be ignorant, according to your logic.

[Linzoid]

You say Football is popular in the US, who do you support?

I hear LA Galaxy are quite big over there at the moment.

[MetaIGearRising]

"and most other countries could only wish they had such an economy"
lol.

[derseb]

A stupid game by stupid people for stupid people.

[JeffGUNZ]

I said Football, not futbal. And I do fancy the Metro Stars, even though they are god awful.

[Baliw]

How much they wasted on research? lol

[Raf1k1]

From the lack of research I'd say they wasted very little.

[Cenobia]

They may have known and just didn't care enough to spend the time making new textures and finding the correct spellings for words, etc.

I mean I'm all for hating on MW2, but I honestly don't see an upside to spending that amount of time adding the correct language to one multiplayer map when 95% of people won't notice, and of the 5% that do, most won't care.

[The Lazy One]

That's exactly it. Their primary audience is western, and won't even know what half the symbols mean.

It would be wasted money to put any extra research into something that is purely visual and not communicative.

[_vx]

why do day need to spend more $$$ ,, u suckers will buy da game ,,,if i were in der shoes i would've done da same $hit to u,,, LOL

[mrv321]

This what happens when half the budget is on advertisement a quater on research into screwing PC gamers and 1/4 on hyperboyle...

BTW they got some money back from charities for such a horrible story.

[taga7a]

Us americans can never tell the difference between languages.

Spanish and Puerto Rican
Dutch and German
Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin etc
Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, etc

I also hate it when people keep blurring every freaking day that I'm Chinese when I'm not.

[RockmanII7]

That's not true, I can tell the difference between English and Español

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Speak for yourself. And I don't think infinity ward gives a damn about language inaccuracies in this particular game.

[SPECTER]

I can tell the difference in every single one of the languages you mentioned. with only few classes in spanish, japanese.

but on topic isnt this supposedly based on a CS map. if so it doesn't really make sense to have a pakistan map in context of the story, and is to minor to warrant a new faction's models, VO,etc.. so its an afghan map

[XsteveJ]

"Spanish and Puerto Rican"

Yea, prove yourself right...I hope this was sarcasm, considering they speak Spanish in Puerto Rico...

[mistajeff]

Yeah I'm guessing he meant Portuguese

[Baliw]

"Spanish and Puerto Rican"

Both speak spanish.

Same with British, Australians, or North Americans.

The slight difference are some words due to location.

Cheers.

[BLuKhaos]

"Puerto Rican" is a spanish dialect just like "American" and "Australian" are english dialects.

[DelbertGrady]

And Swenglish.

[MiloGarret]

Swenglish is a beatiful language...

And, yes, to those that don't know much, spanish (as spoken in Spain) is very different to puerto rican.

[Somnipotent]

"Us americans can never tell the difference between languages.

Spanish and Puerto Rican
Dutch and German
Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin etc
Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, etc

I also hate it when people keep blurring every freaking day that I'm Chinese when I'm not."

speak for yourself. where did you grow up? utah? wyoming?

[Checkmate]

is a beautiful language.

[cmacdonald]

Ah who cares.

[Umbrella Corp]

A lot of offended people of this territory do care,how would anyone like it if they were portrayed be a sad generalization?

[cyclindk]

It's good to bring things like this to light, by I honestly wouldn't give a crap what language was inaccurately portrayed as being native to a particular region.

Though the misrepresentation of the middle east and other eastern countries is rampant enough as it is and the world doesn't need more, especially with a game about killing freedom fighters/terrorists.

[Chnswdchldrn]

GOOD DEVELOPING IW

NO SERIOUSLY

YOU DESERVE EVERY DOLLAR YOUR GREEDY SLACKING ASSES GOT

what a lack of effort, this shows they couldn't give half a rats ass about the quality of the game. They can't even do some basic research to make the environment better or more immersive. They can't even do that when developers like Guerilla Games go out of their way to create an entirely unique alphabet for their game. Pathetic, IW

[kalebgray92]

yeah they should have done their research but come on you didnt even know this until you read this

[Anti-Fanboyer]

takes place in Brazil. Yet the militias were speaking Spanish. Last time I checked, Brazilians spoke Portuguese. How the hell would you feel if a foreign developer made a level in America, and made the natives speak Russians instead?

[BLuKhaos]

They were speaking Portugese, spanish and portugese sound very similar, I speak spanish and I could tell the difference.

[MiloGarret]

Yes, he's right, they're speaking portuguese.

[TheDudeAbides]

They just don't give a f.

[HarryM]

Seriously, Google must of been eyeing them the entire time but they ignored it. xD

[kittoo]

Urdu is made by mix of Hindi (log is a Hindi word for people) and Arabic. In its written form its looks like Arabic while in speaking its very close to Hindi (Urdu and Hindi speakers and converse very easily, a reason why Indian movies are so popular in Pakistan).

[devilhunterx]

Knew this the day the game was released. Just didnt feel like writing a blog about it.

[Blow Out Your Brains]

I have a bachelors degree in history and I would kill to do the historical research for a game like this.

[MiloGarret]

So pick up the phone and start calling game developers.

[Aleusia]

....When will America get over this goddamn fixation on military settings and first person shooters? it's getting old.

[BX81]

Whats wrong with military shooters? Not every shooter is the same. If you continuously play the series sure but each one has there own feel to it. It's not just America either. Other countries play shooters as well. Now for the article... It sucks from a authenticity stand point that they didn't get it right, but you also have to add in the amount of time to do the research not only to find the word but make sure you're using it in the right context and it doesn't offend anyone. With the amount of crap going on with religious groups hating on video games this year because they go offended I really don't blame them for playing it safe and adding something they already used instead. It's like I said it sucks from an authenticity stand point but in the end more people could care less about the writing on the wall. Ask devilhunterx it wasn't worth his time to write about it even though he already knew about it. Good find though. I can only assume you're like I'm about movies. Once I notice a scene where an item article are switched or the same person walks by in the crowd from the same direction it ruins the movie for me no matter how good it is. The sad part is I can't help but look for it. Good find.

[exnihilonihilfit]

IW doesn't care about research, plot, character development, or even balanced gameplay, and they didn't need to. They sold millions of copies without having to worry about any of those things, because all they needed was to create a multiplayer experience with fine tuned mechanics and marginally improved graphics at 60 FPS. They knew they could do this because they have one of the most iconic franchises behind them in name, and the predecessor to this particular title was the most successful within that franchise. Add to that the shock and awe campaign they employed by showing D.C. in ruin in all of their tv spots (what was it the Greenbay v. Vikings game when it first aired, who in america wasn't watching that?) and the entire outlandish roller coaster of this game's single player campaign and you've got a recipe for drawing in every meathead who wants to feel like their shooting a gun without actually having to fight for something. What would surprise me would be to find that they actually modeled the Pakistani level after real areas with some landmark correlations. I doubt that outside of maybe one or two highly recognizable sights implanted within the level completely outside of their real world context there's anything that resembles Pakistan at all, but they probably didn't even bother to do that much. It's the way Activision makes games. Find something that is easily marketable and simple to create the illusion of diversity through formulaic variation and then keep pumping it out over and over again to consumers who are trained to always want the latest version of something even if it's improvements are marginal. They're only as big as they are because they know how to exploit the american consumer. I just hope that Id and Blizzard don't get polluted by their overall corporate culture.

[LinuxGuru]

Boo-hoo, cry me a river

[DelbertGrady]

As long as I get to shoot at the bad guys I don't care what language they speak. /s

[JeffGUNZ]

exactly. Plus the war in Modern Warfare is made up, who says that Arabic speaking soldiers haven't invaded that city and took control of it?

[hamoor]

they even didn't write the arabic right
there is a lot of words that doesn't make sense if you translate it to english
like there is a shop in some maps its name if you translate it well be
(pharmacy the pharmacy) what??
or the word in arabic means boiled that written in some walls?
and don't make start about how the arabic soldiers talk in mw2
when you throw a grenade he say (throwing Pomegranate)???
or when you reload he say (cover me and throw my weapon)!!!

[kewlkat007]

Do they just make games and choose whatever comes to mind.

[bozebo]

good point... this kind of thing happens a lot. And the first time you notice it you will be greatly annoyed; but eventually it is possible to live with people's ignorance. Ever seen a black man depicted in an anime? it is that kind of thing - not racism but it turns out offensive anyway.

[lucifon]

Lmao its 1 multiplayer map, i think its far more likely they simply used assets they already had in the game due to the fact 99.9% of people wouldn't notice or care whatsoever!

[maniactadpole]

cos y'know there is this part in the second level where u have to secure a 'school'(with lockers n all) in Afghanistan...I mean c'mon there are NO such schools like that in Afghanistan....Kids from Afghanistan study in madrassas or mosque.And i lol'd when i saw a high rise building getting blown up in Afghanistan..There are only buildings made in mud or concrete in Afghanistan.

[BX81]

Relax ladies it's called Modern Warfare not authentic warfare. The truth it unless you've done some research or are from/lived in these places you wouldn't know the difference. MW is a shooter and as long as you give it's gamers cool weapons/perks and maps they will be happy. I never thought of MW as a authentic game. It's not made for authenticity. Now if you said the same about Operation Flashpoint I could understand because it's geared more towards authentic. Either way it's a good find. Imagine something like this ruing the game for someone.

[FwanK]

Infinity Ignorance

[ASSASSYN 36o]

We can talk for years about the lack of language accuracy, and research in games. I have been playing games since the great Atari days. I have seen countless problems with games. You kids who are new to this whom are freaking out. Welcome to the gaming world. It's a cruel inaccurate beasts of joy and fun. Now go read a book.

http://instantboss.org/

[pegger24]

Completely agree with you. This isn't the first and won't be the last time it has happened. it happens in film and television too... What is the problem? To me it is like pointing out that there is no sound in space as a reason that star wars is inaccurate and wrong

Relax and enjoy the game, or hate the game for what it is, not what it never tried to be

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Got that right peg. +1 bubble deployed.

[pegger24]

You guys all act like you knew this prior to the article. Get over yourselves. I have said it before, you guys will complain about anything. Could it be that they are fighting a group that (pause for effect) took over the city? I don't know, seems plausible considering it is fiction. I don't know, I have not played much of the single player missions so I am not sure of the story but it is certainly an option. But saying, "ignorant americans" is just easier. Wonder if everyone who works for Infinity Ward is american? Probably not, but it is certainly easier to blame America. Talk about ignorance

[Socomer 1979]

slant 6 has done alot of research on lacales and more importantly the gun sounds!

[maniactadpole]

lol

[Vip3r]

IW should have paided more attention to detail tbh. This is just one of the many reasons people from the middle east and south asia hate us westerners.

[Torinir]

While I agree that it's really nitpicking to point it out, I also see this as yet another thing IW has done wrong with MW2.

Seriously, the budget they had available to them for this game would put smaller developers out of business. With all that money available to them, how can they make so many errors?

I think I'll start taking notes on what they've done right with the game, since it appears to be a much shorter list.

[MuLTi-PLaTFoRM]

Im afghani, lived in pakistan for a bit and can speak urdu.. and honestly, I don't give a crap LOL. But why are people saying that it would be a waste of money.. what? Going on wikipedia or CIA factbook and checking Pakistan's language is a waste of money? Who cares, idiots who keep complaining about IW and how they can't do anything, go and make a game and if its better than MW2 reply back.