Discussion: Metal Gear Solid V, Too Erotic Debate. Sexism In Games?

Controversy has gripped Kojima as he came out on Twitter and said that he wanted his female characters to be more erotic. This sparked discussions on the topic, so I thought I would put in a couple ideas. Video games have always been the scapegoat of controversial topics, for example violence being blamed on video games. Eg, Grand Theft Auto. A quote from Forbes really summed up the whole thing for me "Models in a magazine might be just as scantily clad and sexed-up as a video game character, but we don’t really think twice when we see them." (Article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/09/06/metal-gear-solid-v-sexism-controversy-all-smoke-and-no-fire/ ) Now, we must realise, Kojima has been doing this in previous games. We must also realise, Kojima is a master at telling a story and delivering a powerful message in his games.

Point 2, Quiet, who is the character of controversy here needs these details added, she as we know, speaks very little, these characteristics make her identifiable for the audience. However, I would agree in ways she seems at the moment to be lacking in serious detail, so only time will tell.

I would also like to discuss what Halo designer, David Ellis had to say. Saying how he thought it was a disgusting design, how the industry should be better than this. I would like to start by pointing out, David should be careful at who he targets. As we know Halo features the character Cortana who was heavily sexualised, especially in Halo 4, I don't know what position he has, whether he has any involvement in designing that certain character. But all I must say is, why criticise someone if your company does exactly the same thing? Now I'm sure David Ellis will get into a lot of trouble for his contribution to the discussion, he makes a fair point though.

I'm a gamer who can accept these images, not because I agree, but it's something that won't change. Not just in video games, but in any form of media we see these representations. However I would point out that we don't need sex to promote characters. The recent Telltale's,The Walking Dead featured plenty of female characters who never needed this sex factor to become attached, the story was brilliant and easily attached us to them on an emotional level. We may see a shift in the future, not just for video games, but for media as a whole.