Kojima On MGS 5's Quiet: I Meant Sexy, Not Erotic

[Seventh Actuality]

The character design bothers me way less than someone who is meant to be a professional being so openly creepy about it.

Do people actually care about this stuff or are they simply seeking attention by trying to appear as politically correct as possible? Because I honestly couldn't care less. Does that make me a bad person?

"Not caring" about anything doesn't make anybody a bad person. Feeling the need to tell everybody about all the shits you don't give and assuming that anyone who does is doing so out of conformity instead of just telling right from fucking wrong and wanting to do something about it...that does.

The original Kojima comment that sparked this off was aimed at cosplayers [https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/375207199468830720]. It will be interesting to see what cosplayers actually make of Quiet; no doubt we'll find out soon enough.

They seem to enjoy it so far:

But remember everyone:

Yes, real women dressing how they like isn't sexist because they are real people who make their own decisions, but game makers creating female characters purely as wanking aids for male players (and apparently themselves) is. Well done.

And this pretty much sums up a lot of the complaining over games lately:

This actually does piss me off about a lot of feminist complaints about games. Nobody has a right to criticize without taking the time to inform themselves. Otherwise even if they're right, they're only right by accident.

On the other hand, if you see something shitty and sexist with no good excuse nine times, I can understand not assuming that it might be part of some ~creative vision~ the tenth. Two wrongs though, people...

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Her outfit alone is making me seriously consider if I want to play MGS5 that much. It is just so inane that it makes me lose interest in the game. I mean, the MGS serious has always been full of fanservice going both ways, but this just pushed it a bit too far into absurd-territory for me.

 

[Baresark]

Meh, the industry is full of asshats who can't stand when other people get attention, as far as I can tell. I actually assumed he meant sexy, not erotic. The context for what he was showing off was all wrong. As English isn't his primary language, I'm not surprised he had to clarify. The terms are close, but not really the same thing depending on the context. For example, strippers aren't typically (in my limited experience) considered sexy, they are considered erotic. That is why they are referred to as erotic dancers and not sexy dancers. But, whatever. I mean, he clarified (or covered, depending on your point of view) and some other jackass has to essentially insert his opinion where it doesn't really matter. It just turns to mud slinging and I personally find it really annoying. I can't stand the idea of that particular industry having such a strict sense morality, it's downright puritanical. Not all works are created with all people in mind, that stands true in character design as actually stands true with things like Fine Arts. But, that is just my opinion and I know people are going to have different ones. I'm over it, everyone else should get over it too. Truth be told, I don't find the character design interesting or fascinating from what I have seen, but there is also nothing morally wrong with it.

 

[remmus]

Feels like this is more about dirt throwing from the 343 artist then any genuine attempt to expose sexism, oh sure it is to some extent sexist, but it is the most shallow, straw grabbing level of dirt throwing sexism claim, what next, female character design should follow 19th century clothing standards? Because exposing skin is so lewd and risqué.

I for one find greater priority of how a female character is written rather then her design, so yeah when folks starts telling me Quiet gets treated in some demeaning portrayal of women are weaker BS, yeah then you get my angry attention.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

"[Quiet's] character design is disgusting,"

Kind of rich coming from one of the people on the dev team that felt it necessary to clearly render breasts and put nipples on what is supposed to be an AI?s vague and serviceable holographic projection...just saying, people who live in glass houses.
But by all means take whatever chance you can to highroad Kajima to divert attention away from that and come off as the more sensible and mature person.

 

[Shanahanapp]

Is it just me or is saying "Your designs are disgusting." extremely unprofessional? Like no one gave out to 343 for making Halo into Call of Duty in space.

And also: "and that, while sexuality had a purpose in gaming - he cites Bayonetta as an example of sexuality used well - in his view the MGS 5 designs were lazy and exploitative." Considering we've only seen the design and basically nothing else about the character, how the fuck does he know? Quiet could be the best use of sexuality in a game ever for all we know. The game isn't out.

Also the already mentioned Cortana-boobs are a good point.

 

[karloss01]

Turns out Quiet might have a genetic ability to change the pigmentation in her skin. check the MGSV trailer below (4:49 onwards) and the marking around her face quickly fade, if it applies to her whole body it would explain the outfit choice.

and as many have pointed out, David Ellis hasn't got a leg to stand on when Cortana has changed from average body with short hair to pornstar attributes and salon styled hair through the series.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Though unfortunately Quiet isn't sexy. Meryl, The Boss, and Eva had sexy character designs, Quiet is just...stupid. It almost looks like Kojima did it just to be inflammatory. And not in an interesting, daring way either. It's like he did it for attention

 

[lord canti]

Honestly the design really isn't that bad. I mean Eve was running around with her jump suit unzipped the entire time in MGS3 so I don't see the problem here.Besides this guy gave us the Boss who is in my opinion the best female character in gaming so I think Kojima can still make this character interesting.

 

[Coreless]

Do people actually care about this stuff or are they simply seeking attention by trying to appear as politically correct as possible? Because I honestly couldn't care less. Does that make me a bad person?

It makes you jaded. Like me.

I don't think its jaded at all, Id say you have your priorities straight and know what it is really worth worrying about.

 

[SinisterGehe]

Kojima just make a porn already and get it out of your system.

And talking less in MGS? DOes that means instead of 45min cutscenes we get 30min? And instead of 900 pages of dialoque, mainly repeating "Metal Gear?" and "NanoSOMETHING!?" we get 700 pages. With repeat cut out.

 

[RJ 17]

Do people actually care about this stuff or are they simply seeking attention by trying to appear as politically correct as possible? Because I honestly couldn't care less. Does that make me a bad person?

It might not really be much to go by, but a poll I created a few weeks ago suggest that no, people really DON'T care that much about this kind of thing. It got a surprising number of responses, and the overwhelming majority picked "I really don't care either way" out of three options of "Don't care", "It really bothers me", or "I actually like it". Even the "like it's" outweighed those who were bothered by it.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Design wise its not bad, but what I would really like to see is something deeper beyond the design... like a character... a well written one....like The Boss.
Cause so far all we know is that she's a sniper, a child soldier, she seems to enjoy Afghan enough to wear nothing but a bikini, and that she's theoretically mute.

I know Kojima has some wacky "don't give a f***" directions in his writing and I like him for that, but when you're game is finally showing off those themes that were hyped up since MGS2 and briefly mentioned in Revengeance about losing one's innocence as child by becoming a soldier and the darkness that comes with revenge, then don't make Quiet simple eye candy, make her the star.

Oh yeah, and David Ellis needs to get his head out of his ass and look at how he implanted breasts into an AI. People like him make me forgive Joel Schumacher for the Bat nipples.

 

[Coreless]

Design wise its not bad, but what I would really like to see is something deeper beyond the design... like a character... a well written one....like The Boss.
Cause so far all we know is that she's a sniper, a child soldier, she seems to enjoy Afghan enough to wear nothing but a bikini, and that she's theoretically mute.

I know Kojima has some wacky "don't give a f***" directions in his writing and I like him for that, but when you're game is finally showing off those themes that were hyped up since MGS2 and briefly mentioned in Revengeance about losing one's innocence as child by becoming a soldier and the darkness that comes with revenge, then don't make Quiet simple eye candy, make her the star.

Oh yeah, and David Ellis needs to get his head out of his ass and look at how he implanted breasts into an AI. People like him make me forgive Joel Schumacher for the Bat nipples.

I think people are now saying that she has the ability to alter her skin color to camouflage herself, not sure if that is official or not but that is the word on the net.

 

[NeedsaBetterName22]

I think people are now saying that she has the ability to alter her skin color to camouflage herself, not sure if that is official or not but that is the word on the net.

I seem to also recall The End's ghillie suit being an actual part of his body, so he could alter it to fit different forest colours (when he dies the leaves on it turn brown and wither as well). So that actually kind of fits into Metal Gear canon.

 

[ProtoChimp]

Okay this is a huge messy... um... mess (thanks brain) and there are so many factors of this which can be defended and attacked from all sorts of angles but one thing I haven't seen anyone say (actually it probably has been I just don't have the time to read it so I will shut my lying mouth if I'm not the first to point this out) is... well...

Okay making a character design which then gets cosplayed happens all the time.
Making a character design which the creator considers sexy, then gets cosplayed also happens all the time.
Making a character design which the creator considers sexy... so cosplayers will cosplay it? Maybe I'm making a big deal over this but there's a bit of a creepy air about this, like he's just hoping people will cosplay a sexy outfit to get his rocks off.

Now I understand that is quite a leap, I will admit that. But this is the game industry (where don't even try and deny, there is an absurd, ridiculous amount of perversion and misogyny, don't even pretend there's not you're just denying it because you don't care), and also this is Hideo Kojima. Just look at his track record of female characters and their designs in particular. You go from the sexy but practical and brilliantly written (Sniper Wolf), to the just freakin pervy and creepy and weird (every single damn one of the B&Bs). Sure sometimes we get a Meryl and Boss (um, The Boss? Fucking sentence structure is escaping my brain today) but it is a rare occurrence.

Hang on there is Para Medi- huh... he's not so bad compared to some others. Still though to say that Kojima has never made a character for his own perversion would be a lie and you know it. Its just a touchy and as I started this off with, messy... mess filled... mess... I hate my brain.

 

[verdant monkai]

Cut the guy some slack Japanese to English never comes out right.

 

[Hazy]

A 343 Halo designer was criticizing someone else's character designs?

Yeah, good luck with that one, sweetheart.

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

Turns out Quiet might have a genetic ability to change the pigmentation in her skin. check the MGSV trailer below (4:49 onwards) and the marking around her face quickly fade, if it applies to her whole body it would explain the outfit choice.

Ah! I'm glad someone else noticed that, it's been annoying me for a while. When I first saw that trailer I spent ages rewinding the video trying to figure out why her eye make-up just seems to disappear. It makes a lot of sense that if she could control her skin pigment, she would blacken her eyes to cut glare while aiming.