Infinity Ward has come under fire this week for including a white phosphorus killstreak in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer.
Here’s how it works in the game: white phosphorus is a 10-kill killstreak for use in competitive multiplayer. You bring up a touchpad that shows an outline of the map and enemies on it. You can then direct the path the white phosphorus will hit the map.
After it hits, the white phosphorus envelops the map in a choking gas (enemy soldiers start to cough, have half health and their HUD is slightly obscured). There are pockets of area denial burning embers left on the map, too. It’s a powerful killstreak that can be devastating if used properly.
It’s inclusion in Modern Warfare has been questioned online due to its controversial reputation in real-life warfare. As Tom Phillips pointed out in his story this week, the chemical is banned for use against civilians (but not soldiers), and its recent deployment in Syria prompted Amnesty International to suggest its use against the country’s general population there constituted a war crime.