Keeping 'Quiet': Consumers vs. Creators

Before Hideo Kojima first revealed Metal Gear Solid V he speculated, “The next project will challenge a certain type of taboo. If I mess up, I'll probably have to leave the industry." He’s not in that much trouble yet, but one aspect of his latest project has definitely caused a storm amongst the video game community.

While we caught a glimpse of Quiet almost four months ago at this year’s E3 conference, Kojima revealed her full character model through Twitter. Prior to the reveal, he tweeted about the design process for her character, recounting how he asked character designer Yoji Shinkawa to make her “more erotic,” and his hopes she would appeal to cosplayers and figurine collectors. Some cosplayers had asked him to reveal Quiet's full design so they might prepare a costume before the Tokyo Game Show. Due to legal reasons he couldn't reveal it to individuals, so he decided to released the images officially through Kojima Productions.

The expert sniper 'Quiet' portrayed by Danish model Stephanie Joosten.

Confronted with this image the gaming audience, press and industry colleagues were outraged.

And they're not entirely unjustified in their reaction. It’s not ridiculous to expect Quiet, an expert sniper, to be dressed in attire more appropriate to her position. Since the game takes place in Afghanistan and parts of Africa, a bikini and ripped stockings would be considered dangerously under-dressed. 

When paired with Kojima’s comments, Quiet seems to be another female game character with large breasts and an almost pathological desire to wear as little as possible.

So the gaming collective is able to shake their heads in embarrassment and disgust at another Japanese game developer with backwards morals.

But I think this judgement underestimates Kojima.

Metal Gear began as a relatively simple affair. A one man army infiltrates an enemy base, fights a giant bipedal tank, defeats the villain and goes home a hero.

Since then the Metal Gear series evolved to include complex themes of nuclear proliferation, the nature of war, destiny, censorship, government control, the ethics of genetic engineering, human nature and peace amongst others.

Across the series Kojima has introduced characters, both male and female, who represent a cross section of humanity, while never relying on the stereotypical traits people have seemingly attributed to Quiet. Many lists of strong female characters in games tend to be a roll call of the usual suspects: Elizabeth Comstock, Lara Croft, Faith, Commander Shepard , Alyx Vance et al. A glaring omission is that of any Metal Gear Solid characters; women who show strength not simply through physical endeavours or a subdued dress sense, but through conviction, intelligence, confidence, emotion, and cunning. 

On the other hand, Metal Gear Solid is a series that often swings from one extreme to another. From hyper-sexual to subdued emotion. From fantasy to reality. Science fiction technology to realistic. Alternative fiction to true history. From serious situations to near farce. Male characters are just as sexualised as female characters. It is because of this, and its complex conspiracy backdrop, that the Metal Gear Solid series is often dismissed as silly Japanese action/nonsense.

Still months out from release, very little is known about the new characters of Metal Gear Solid V. Rumours abound about why Quiet is dressed in such attire: she’s photosynthetic and needs exposed skin to draw power from the sun, or that she can alter her skin colour to camouflage, making traditional camo gear redundant.

Since the outcry, Kojima has tried to clarify his intentions for Quiet. He stated she was created to be an “antithesis to the women characters appeared in the past fighting game who are excessively exposed.” He goes on to mention how Quiet’s name will play into her character.

I believe Kojima’s work speaks for itself. His past games feature a balanced cast of characters, never relying on lazy titillation or regressive attitudes. Certainly to those who are less familiar with his past work Quiet, at first glance, fits in nicely with any other number of well-endowed, two-dimensional video game characters. Should she turn out to be nothing more than eye candy, I’m more than willing to eat crow.

Whether you agree or disagree with Quiet’s costume, what this really comes down to is a matter of creator vs. consumer.

As I said, MGSV is still months away from release. The only information previously released about Quiet was a few seconds of footage, the descriptor “A Sniper deprived of her words,” and rumours of a hidden power.

While it’s likely, we don’t truly know whether Quiet spends the majority of the game in her military bikini; nor the how and why.

With no understanding of the context or characterisation, Kojima has become the target of an attack from the gaming audience, press and colleagues.

It’s a phenomenon in ‘geek’ culture-  the realm of comics, superheroes, sci-fi and games - that when the creators make a mistake in the eyes of the fans, it becomes their duty to ‘fix’ the problem. Either by taking things into their own hands, or attacking the creator.

When the latter is carried out en masse, it creates a culture of fear amongst creators. 

And builds a culture of criticism, not critique, amongst fans. If certain individuals wish to continue purporting video games are a modern art-form, they must come to terms with the fact art requires freedom.

This idea of tut-tutting creatives when they make something that doesn’t immediately meet with our approval stifles the ability to create meaningful experiences. If creators are too afraid to explore sensitive topics, we only end up with a watered down, mass market product designed to appeal to everyone and offend no-one.

Super Meat Boy co-creator Edmund McMillen, on the censorship of creators. 

Creators need to be able to offend. They need to be able to shock. They need to be able to play with our expectations. 

When I was in my early teens, I saw a painting of the crucifixion and instead of the traditional ‘†’ shaped cross, the artist had chosen to paint it as an ‘X’ shape.

It struck me at first how wrong it was. Growing up in catholic schools, I knew what a cross looked like. But as I thought about it, I realised there was no reason a ‘cross’ had to be one shape. The artist had done something totally different than what I had expected, giving me a new perspective. No doubt I was not the first to have an averse reaction. Had the artist been pressured while painting, it’s possible they could have caved and gone with the ‘traditional’ shape. 

However that would have been counter to the artist’s vision. Rather than giving in to what is considered ‘acceptable,’ they had chosen to play with my expectation, and created a piece of art that has stood in my mind for over a decade.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean accepting every thing as ‘art’ and therefore immune from criticism. Some video game creators often cross the line and create works of discrimination and exploitation. But even in those cases, they still don’t deserve the pre-emptive mobbing that has become so common.

What we need is to give artists the freedom to release these creations within their own contexts. Only then are we able to fully consider and critique it, in a manner which allows them to learn from their mistakes.

If the gaming press and the audience continue their reactionary crusade, the landscape of video games could become nothing but a field of ‘†’ shaped crosses. 

And nailed to them, the creators who dared to do something different.