'Erotic' Metal Gear Solid V character design draws criticism

The design of a female character who will be appearing in the eagerly-anticipated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been criticized for being overly sexed-up.

 

It all started when Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear creator and bona fide celebrity in the video game world, made some tweets regarding Metal Gear Solid V’s character design process.

 

“I’ve been ordering to Yoji to make the character more erotic, and he did it well,” Kojima tweeted, referring to art director Yoji Shinkawa’s designs.

 

“Recently I’ve been making characters this way,” he continued. “I create the setting thoroughly, how he/she spent early life, name, style, favorite phrase, fashion, action to stand the character out. The initial target is to make u want to do cosplay or its figurine to sell well. The character I asked Yoji to make it more erotic, this one may not be cosplayable.”

 

It eventually turned out that the character specifically in question was the mute female sniper, “Quiet”.

 

As you can see, the character’s design doesn’t leave much to the imagination. She’s practically rolling around in the sand and going to battle in her underwear.

 

Backlash

 

Netizens were quick to react, with some questioning Kojima’s decision to eroticize female characters such as Quiet, and others accusing him of objectifying women by encouraging raunchier cosplay. The design itself has been described as “sexist” and “lazy”, among other things.

 

Those who came to Kojima’s rescue were quick to point out that male characters have been treated to similar states of undress throughout the Metal Gear Solid saga, citing the unforgettably awkward naked Raiden cartwheels in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and the ample exposure of Solid Snake’s gluteus maximus in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

 

In response to the backlash, Kojima was quick to state that the word “erotic” was, perhaps, used erroneously.

 

“Maybe the phrase ‘erotic’ wasn’t really correct with what I was trying to say,” stated Kojima during a roundtable discussion.

 

“What I’m really trying to do is create unique characters. One is, of course, Quiet, she’s a really unique character. We wanted to add that sexiness. It wasn’t very erotic, but, more of the sexy.”

 

Kojima then returned to Twitter to expound. “I know there’s people concerning about ‘Quiet’ but don’t worry,” he tweeted.

 

“I created her character as an antithesis to the women characters appeared in the past fighting game who are excessively exposed. ‘Quiet’ who doesn’t have a word will be teased in the story as well. But once you recognize the secret reason for her exposure, you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds.”

 

Unfortunately, many have found these Twitter messages confusing, even enigmatic. What did Kojima mean by “antithesis”? What was the fighting game he was referring to? Why will fans feel ashamed for being upset about Quiet’s costume?

 

Yoji Shinkawa also came to Kojima’s defense by explaining that the use of the word “sexy” didn’t only apply to female characters, but to just about everything else in the Metal Gear Solid universe. 

 

“It’s not just the characters, but often I look at a character or vehicle and feel, ‘wow, that’s sexy.’”

 

Stefanie Joosten, on whose likeness Quiet’s face is modeled after, offered her thoughts on the matter. “Of course I was surprised by Quiet’s outfit at first, but, you know, it fits in the Metal Gear universe, I think. I don’t think I’m allowed to say a lot about it, but Mr. Kojima has his reasons for deciding, and Quiet has her reasons for what she’s wearing.”

 

Joining the fray: Quiet vs. Cortana

 

Despite these developments, some people remained outraged over Quiet’s design. David Ellis at 343 Industries, the developer of mega-hit Halo 4 made some rather unforgiving tweets about the issue.

 

“Don’t care if this gets me in trouble,” Ellis said. “This character design is disgusting. Our industry should be better than this. Industry full of man babies. Ugh.”

 

This, however, only served to anger even some of those who were unhappy with Quiet’s appearance. Many claimed that the design of Halo 4’s character, Cortana, is just as sexist, therefore making Ellis’ harsh criticisms of Quiet hypocritical.

 

Theories, theories!

 

There are a number of theories circling around the net as to why Quiet is dressed – or more appropriately, underdressed – the way she is. One of them in particular has been gaining some traction.

 

The theory purports that Quiet is using some kind of high tech camouflage technology, similar to Solid Snake’s OctoCamo suit. In Metal Gear Solid 4, the patterns on Snake’s suit changed to mimic the appearance of his immediate surroundings. The difference here is that while Snake’s OctoCamo has the technology built into the fabric of his suit, Quiet’s quite possibly has hers built into her skin. 

 

Of course, it could very well be that Kojima et al. are simply standing by the old advertising adage: sex sells. Though we’ll never really know for sure until we actually get our hands on the game.

 

In the meantime, enjoy some Metal Gear Solid V sexiness, courtesy of Deviant Art artist ZombieSandwich.  — ELR, GMA News