8 Video Games That Tackle Incredibly Polarising Subject Matter
5. Metal Gear Solid V: Quiet's Character Model
Love him or hate him, there's no denying that Hideo Kojima is the king of bat-sh*t crazy in videogames. He's the creator of Metal Gear, and also happens to be one of the most prominent figures in the industry. He is, however, not really the best at conveying commentary.
Take Quiet for instance; she's pretty much the best example to give whenever someone mentions the utterly attrocious treatment of women in videogames. She's scantily clad because of a terribly contrived gimmick, silent for the vast majority of the story, and has a primary role in, well, providing the ever-so necessary female eye-candy the medium so clearly relies upon in far too many instances.
Regardless of whatever intention Kojima had in conveying a tale that placed language as the sole reason behind fundamental problems of racism and intolerance (in my view, a whitewashing of the many contributive factors that have given rise to inequality over the years), Quiet's character is nothing more than - as Aoife Wilson puts it - "an appendix to her t*ts".
No, the gimmicky reason behind her scantily clad demeanour does not negate criticism and no, this isn't an issue that exemplifies the very language barriers The Phantom Pain charged with giving rise to the apparent divisions that reside within the world today. It could be argued they are contributive, but not to the extent Kojima would wish to infer.
As far as gender is concerned, video games (and by extent the community) still have a long way to go; Metal Gear only represents the tip of the iceberg.