That scene. Modern Warfare 2’s airport level is one of the most discussed sequences in the history of the medium. So when the scriptwriter behind it speaks up, it’s probably worth listening.

In an interview with GamePro, MW2 scriptwriter Jesse Stern had some interesting things to say on the level and its creation. “Every single person in testing opened fire on the crowd, which is human nature,” said Stern. “I hope that people don’t just look at it as being this simplistic and brutal sequence. We’ve done our best to treat it with care and not to make it gratuitous.”

Stern went on to laud Infinity Ward for taking risks, “This is a triple-A game and the top grosser of all time with this huge budget behind it, yet we’re still taking major chances wherever we can and the airport level was a risk we had to take. Sometimes you take huge risks and it really works. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. But if you don’t take the chance, you’re not going to make something new.”