Kojima Says Back Stories Justify Sexualization, but There's More to it Than That

Hideo Kojima wants his scantily-clad characters to have a deep backstory explaining why. But does shoe-horning a narrative rectify over-sexualization?

[NinjaSqrl]

Kojima's explanation of Quiet's dress is laughable at best.

[ElisaDS]

Coulda just said bullet-proof skin, I'm telling you. :) I love the man, but come on...

[yarbie1000]

He's only doing it to appease the snowflakes. 95% of the population don't care about why there's a sexy character on screen. Nor do i need to know the backstory of every sexy dressed girl i see on the street. I'm glad he's not backing down and still intends to create the art he wants

[Lamboomington]

and people will criticize his art.

Sexuality is an aspect that can be criticized just like any other aspect of a game. Quiet's clothing stands out. The sexuality is very obviously forced. For those who enjoy that, sure, but for others it is completely immersion breaking. It adversely affects immersion, story etc. How can I take Quiet's story seriously when she is dressed like that and is constantly doing obnoxious erotic poses for Snake to look at in the helicopter ? If there was a strong story reason for her dress, it wouldn't be a problem, because it would be believable. However, since the explanation is so laughable, the sexuality is believable and comes across as completely forced. It feels like they put in in their just for the sake of sexualizing and objectifying her - to have some erotic eye candy.

If I criticize sexuality in a game, that doesn't make me a snowflake. It just means I'm criticizing one of the many aspects of the game. Sexuality can be overdone or forced or out of place, just like anything else.

"Nor do i need to know the backstory of every sexy dressed girl i see on the street"

How is that relevant here ? If a character in a game of fiction is sexualized in a way that doesn't make any sense within the game world, it breaks the 4th wall, breaks immersion, just like anything else. Your example isn't connected in any way.

[SpinalRemains138]

Right. They're fictional characters, not our daughters. Some people cannot separate the fact that a divide exists between fiction and reality. That's why the same who are offended by protruding breast are more often than not the same who think that games incite violence. It's almost as if their world view requires a simple scapegoat for everything which isn't comfortable to them. Rather than not engage, they wish to alter the culture altogether.

To me, that's the mental illness. You need to walk it off and worry about yourself, not Bayonetta's sexy sweet hair, hamstring-honey and calf candy.

[Ogygian]

It's coherent, and that is all that is required.

It's "laughable" because it's fantasy, and fantasy is generally "laughable" if you compare it to reality. Do you laugh at Tolkien's explanation of orcs and magic, because they are ridiculous?

[Lamboomington]

It is 'laughable' because everyone knows that the designers only use that reason as an excuse. The real reason was they wanted to include erotic eye candy for the sake of it. That's why it's laughable. Your comparison to Tolkein doesn't work.

If you really believe they dressed Quiet like that for the story reason they gave, sure. Most of us don't believe that, obviously.

[Ogygian]

@Lamboomington

Well yes, of course. Every work of fiction is designed so as to evoke sentiments in the person experiencing it. Fear, joy, awe...arousal is but one of many. Even the works which attempt to provoke thought seek to manipulate our emotions so as to better understand its sentimental underpinnings. A writer might seek to make us feel an intense empathy, for example, in order to show us the disastrous effects of government policies, or social actions.

Do we complain when story writers have moments which make us weep? Do we say "we know they just wanted to make us cry, so the backstory is an excuse"?

Kojima wanted us to feel aroused by Quiet, possibly so that we would feel more attached to her.

I think perhaps the problem is that you are looking at this back to front. The skimpy outfit does not come from the story itself (this is what you think Kojima is saying). Rather, Kojima wanted to evoke a certain emotion in the player, and so found a way to tie the skimpy clothing into the story to achieve this.

Emotion > Outfit > Story, rather than Story > Outfit. The first approach (emotion > story) is quite common among Japanese writers, so perhaps this is where the misunderstanding comes from.

[DashArrivals]

Maybe people should just let creators do whatever the hell they want and not have to worry about ridiculous SJW's getting triggered over any little thing.

[SoulMikeY]

This new generation an the use of the word "immersion"....

I play video games to have fun, not to be immersed. I live real life, it's immersing enough. lol. All jokes aside though, if boobs or weird outfits bother you, why do you play video games?

[Gardenia]

He could have given her small breasts, just like Stefanie Joosten in real life. But hat would not have given it much attention

[Player3Podcast]

The Quiet explanation did seem odd when I played it, but I guess in the MGS universe, its absurdity fits.

[ElisaDS]

Considering the absurdity, you make a good point. That's kind of part of the MGS world...

[Nitrowolf2]

Look developers can make characters however they want. Dont think this only affects female characters, people just make a bigger deal. Playing Yakuza 0, you really think all japanese overlord who are what in there 50's have chizzled bodies of a 20 something year old? No, but they dont need to explain it to me either why.

I feel Kojima is trying to hard to make some sort of justification, because i remember him saying pre launch how we would all feel ashamed specially people seeing quiet the way they are. The reasoning is laughable, but at the end of the day it really doesnt bother me cause i dont see it as such anyway, just another character with a design that they picked. Like i said, female characters are more focused upon when it comes to stuff like this, but there are just as many men characters fitting the same boat.

In my honest opinion they dont need a back story to be the way they are. I dont approach super skinny people, fat people, odd shape people, ripped people and ask them for a back story why they are like that. I can make assumptions, but at the end of the day they are a person. Now dont get the firsf part of this paragraph confused. I like back stories, but dont use it to justify a situation concerning character designs.

I dont sit there and play a game and wonder "what if this character had a different physique" as long as the games good is all that matters to me really.

[ElisaDS]

You're right, men are objectified too, it's just maybe a level of what is considered socially acceptable, like we're all used to seeing shirtless men in games. I know I don't mind how anti-shirt Dante from Devil May Cry (original series preferred) is.

[Ogygian]

Every human on Earth objectifies other people to some extent, which is why the feminist arguments are so absurd.

Those who did not objectify did not mate, and so left the gene pool many millions of years ago.

[Player3Podcast]

This is a good point. People may draw assumptions about people based on their appearance, but rarely do we demand their backstory. In games, forcing that explanation almost draws more attention to the clothing choice than necessary.

[Count_Bakula]

Exactly People are such pussies now I feel like. Stand up comedy, art, game development, they can do whatever the F they want, and if you can't stand cussing, sexualization, rape, divisive issues, then don't buy or watch. There's so much whining now like the world owes them something. You chose to buy/watch whatever it is that's offending. Those of us that appreciate storytelling and aren't triggered by every sudden, eye-opening topic shouldn't have to suffer changes to our favorite IPs just because there's a group of thin-skinned millennials that are unable to see context from even the most discriminating of topics.

[Lamboomington]

" I dont approach super skinny people, fat people, odd shape people, ripped people and ask them for a back story why they are like that. I can make assumptions, but at the end of the day they are a person. Now dont get the firsf part of this paragraph confused. I like back stories, but dont use it to justify a situation concerning character designs. "

How is that relevant here ? Your analogy doesn't work. Let me explain.

In a work of fiction it's completely different. It's not about wanting to know the backstory for anything. It's about having a reasonable, BELIEVABLE explanation for everything. It's about immersion and not breaking the 4th wall. In real life this is never a problem, because it's real life.

In a game, if a character is over sexualized in a way that does not make sense within the game world, then I'm immediately going to be pulled out of the experience and think "yeah they put that there just for the sake of eye candy". In Quiet's case, it's kind of ridiculous. You can't have a serious, emotional story for her while at the same time breaking the 4th wall and obnoxiously treating her like a stripper throughout the game. That just makes it weird.

What I'm saying here does not apply only to sex, but it applies to literally everything. If you have something ridiculous or over the top or even unusual in your game, ofcourse you need an explanation for it. How else are you going to give the player a believable experience ? If you don't have a sufficient explanation for it, it's going to seem out of place in your game world. It's that simple.

[Jared8Randall]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? He may be either insecure about the content and wanting to sell more or a little preoccupied and wanting to put that in the game for other objectifiers. Perhaps it is both, but I think him not just saying "yeah, we wanted to sell more copies" says something about the attitude of the industry and those who play games. The real question though; was anyone swayed one way or another to buy this game because of seeing Quiet? perhaps even subconsciously. I think I am consciously rejecting this game (on its face, I'm sure it's pretty good based off reviews and just fun in general) because of the baseness of this objectification

[ElisaDS]

It does almost feel like insecurity. Maybe it's the fact that this is his first outing as Kojima Productions and not with Konami, but I think we all know his work speaks for itself and doesn't need a busty woman to support it.

[MKUltra]

I remember the developers of Halo saying something similar about Cortana's design. They claimed that Cortana uses her "body" as a means of distracting people (heavy paraphrase there) and that her sexuality is something she uses knowingly. It was very clear they backed into that answer after designing a character for a specific audience in the first two games. There's a conversation to be had about stylistic choices like that but it needs to be thought out and done so that the audience knows what's going on.

[ElisaDS]

You hit the nail on the head, that's exactly it. Maybe it's that a lot of gamers are in their thirties now, and now view the world differently. Things that used to be acceptable have changed and evolved just like everything else in the gaming world.

[Skaymore]

I wonder why quiet would wear long pants instead of shorts then lol

[_LarZen_]

I dont get why sexualization in games has to be justified when it dont need in the same way in other media. At least not anymore. Guess it just shows that games as an media still has allot of growing up to do.

[Lamboomington]

It has to be justified the same way everything has to be justified. That's how you give the player a believable experience. Sure you can have a game in which the female character is dressed like a stripper and pole dances for you all the time and does her best to erotically pose for you. Sure, go ahead, but good luck having a believable experience with that. If you're also trying to tell an emotional, serious story with that character, you're screwed lol. This is common sense.

Ofcourse people will criticize the game for that. Why wouldn't they ? If the sexuality is portrayed in a way that makes no sense within the game world, then it will be criticized for it. The same is true for any aspect.

[Auron]

There shouldn't be any need to justify anything in your game! If you want it in your creation put it in there!

[KillZallthebeast]

Who cares sexualization is fun. No one really ever cares about overly fake masculine men running around so f off about the women.

[opinionated]

"But does shoe-horning a narrative rectify over-sexualization?"

A better question is if it needs to be "rectified". Easy answer: It doesn't. The guy lends an olive branch to tell the mental midgets that they aren't just eye candy and you question whether it's good enough? Fuck off I'd say, nobody needs a reason to add dumb slutty characters.

[Enigma_2099]

Kojima... just own up to it. Next time you slap T&A in a game, don't bulls*** us with some stupid explanation.

[GrimDragon]

I'd like kojima better if he just said "because I felt like making her hot." no need to explain anything.

[sullynathan]

Kojima isn't a good writer so he has to stick to ridiculous explanations for stupid fanservice while his fanbase eats it up as "art".

Utterly ridiculous,

[PhoenixUp]

What's Vamp's backstory for dressing so scantily clad?

Hideo Kojima is one of the few videogame auteurs who constantly produces equal opportunity fanservice in his titles.

[Bercilak]

I want every single game that I play, regardless of genre, to have only women who look like this--and for no other reason than that it's incredibly hot.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[iofhua]

I just want over-sexualization for sexualization's sake. Make games sexy again!

[kevnb]

The male characters are just as sexualized.

[Mrveryodd]

Yea freak ...whatever
It's ok for males to laugh it off ... But I'm old enough to see this downward spiral in human nature ... Unless you are over 40 or near enough .... You will know what im talking about .... There is no respect anymore .... Some young punk gave me a hard time the other day ... Till I got out the car ... I am 6.1 125 kg covered in tattoos ..... This stopped him in his tracks .... But if I wasn't that large ..he most likely would have tried to bash me .... Over a fn car park.... No respect for women , the old .. The damaged ... It's not getting better .. It's getting worse... That is the way i see it.

[phantomexe]

Don't care for the guy but he does make games for guys so yea. Don't see it as a big deal. Guys like half naked women its normal dispirit what extreme feminist tell ya.Creative freedom

[TheCommentator]

Wait, there's such a thing as over-sexualization coming from Japan? Huh, I never see that in any of their video games, anime, manga, film, game shows, eating habits, exercise equipment...

[rezzah]

The explanation for Quiet also explains why she is a sniper, she can remain absolutely still without having to hold her breath.

Her choice of clothes makes sense to some degree, I have not played the game yet so I cannot think of a reason why she would not have access to a specialized suit for her condition. Perhaps if she was on the run from the organization that changed her then it would make sense why she does not have a special suit made for her.

[zb1ftw777]

I feel sorry for the millennial snow flakes who actually think sexualisation is even wrong in the first place.

Creating sexy females and sexy men that ooze sex appeal is a beautiful thing.

You lot go and watch mundane crap on the TV..... ill be sexing it up with the sexies.

[MatrixxGT]

Good lord some people take this shit way too seriously.

[StormSailor]

I'm tired of those dumb fags and retarded feminists complaining about the sexualization of "virtual people" in games. I hope that Kojima san does what he wants to do, ignoring assholes

[SpinalRemains138]

Why does he even have to address this? Why are people in the US so offended by sexuality? They're just characters who happen to have accentuated endowments. No back story needed.

[aaronaton]

I think she has an fantastically aspiring figure that both Women and men can appreciate.