Metal Gear Solid V – Interactive Digital Narratives

Final Reflection

Throughout the semester, I found our unit on the portrayal of race and gender in videogames to be one of the most interesting topics we covered. In my previous exposure to videogames, I have always been more of a passive absorber of subliminal messages. I was never really aware of the problems with the decisions programmers make about race and gender until experiencing this unit. As such, many of my posts critiqued the portrayal of gender in the videogames I played, and I was extremely happy to see posts that did the same, or critiqued the portrayal of race in videogames.

I noticed that the majority of the games critiqued for their portrayals of race or gender by our class were big-budget, console games. Chris, points out the sexist lack of agency in the female characters of Skyrim, while Desmond points out the villainous and weak portrayal of Arab soldiers in Metal Gear Solid V. Sam critiques Grand Theft Auto for including the mechanic of easily obtaining a prostitute and sleeping with her, sexualizing the few female characters in an extremely successful game franchise.

I think that Sam really highlights the main question that everyone should be asking of the decision to sexualize females, give them no agency, or to portray race in certain ways: why include the mechanic? In a videogame the creators must code everything that happens, so no decision is made “just for the heck of it.” Even a game that attempts to break stereotypes like Paul claims The Walking Dead does still fall into racist assumptions.

I think that it is extremely important to engage with videogames so that we can learn the effects they have on society. Players must take note of the underlying assumptions found in games, so that they can then take note of the underlying sexist and racist assumptions that permeate our society. As Violet points out in her post, the assumption that only white, heterosexual males can make believably strong characters simply illustrates that society only values white heterosexual men.

The more people that notice this problem, the greater the chance will be that differences can be made. With my final project, I was inspired to make a game that works against these tropes thanks to my eyes being opened to them. As we teach people to draw attention to problems, we increase the chance that people will work to solve these problems. If we have more people inspired to engage with—and even make games that subvert—painful assumptions in videogames, we begin a path that can lead to society correcting these assumptions.

Game Log #11 (Reflection): Summing it All Up

Looking on back on the various topics I discussed in my Game Logs, I am actually surprised by the lack of constant themes that tie my logs together. I find it pretty impressive that the games I chose were able to spawn unique topics of conversation that did not overlap with each other, especially when considering the fact that one of my games was Ratchet and Clank (not exactly a work renowned for its intellectual musings). There are some notable similarities, however, between some of the topics I discuss in my posts and posts authored by other members of the class. While on a base level this is perhaps not the most earth-shattering revelation, given the fact that as a group we studied the same topics and read many of the same assignments, I do find it interesting the Game Logs of my classmates actually serve to support some of my arguments and suggest that my posts were not simply incoherent ramblings.

For instance, Patrick’s post on death in Infinity Blade III relates to the concept of death in games that I discuss in Game Log #10, specifically in how we both explore how games can use death as a mechanic that ultimately leads to the development of a player’s skill. While Patrick tends to focus more on how this mechanic assisted his immersion in the gameplay, we both come to similar conclusions that death does not always act as a simple punishment for the player. Instead, it can provide a player with greater knowledge, skill, and power that will assist their next attempt. Another one of Patrick’s posts discusses the definition of a casual game in a way that mirrors my thoughts in Game Log #5, in that we both played iPhone games that defied the simplistic tropes tied to most mobile experiences. Several posts also discuss race in a manner that reflects some of the discussion I attempt to carry out in Game Log #6. Sam’s mention of potentially unintentional racial undertones in the intro of Grand Theft Auto V and Desmond’s exploration of Arab representation in Metal Gear Solid V point to the sort of conclusions I make concerning the depiction of Lee’s character in The Walking Dead.

I found Violet’s take on The Last of Us to be particularly intriguing. While her analysis tends to center around feminist critique, it also shares some interesting parallels to the popularity of zombie media I discuss in Game Log #7. I argue throughout my post that the recent decline in zombie games and the continued popularity of The Walking Dead can be attributed to a lack of public interest in the same old shoot-em-up gameplay that has characterized zombie games for years. The personal, human issues discussed in The Walking Dead are at the forefront of its appeal, with the apocalypse setting eventually fading into the background. I found it interesting that Violet’s distain for The Last of Us’ inability to accomplish anything interesting with its protagonists’ relationship resulted in her calling the game “another tired hyper-masculine experience.”

I am satisfied with the similarities that cross between my posts and the posts of my peers, as they allow me to fill in the gaps where my Game Logs fail to speak to each other. If I had to find a significant similarity that exists between two of my blogs, however, I would have to point to the personal anecdotes I use in Game Log #3’s discussion of Bioshock’s music and the gameplay of Halo I mention in Game Log #10. In both of these instances I used memories of my old gaming days that I had not thought of in years in order to prove my points. In writing Game Logs about them, I was able to determine what it was about these memories that made them so special to me in the first place. This was certainly an educational and valuable experience, as I was able to greater contextualize the joy I felt playing Bioshock and Halo for the first time all those years ago.

Arab Representation in Metal Gear Solid V

In Vit Sisler’s “Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games,” he introduces what representations of Arabs exist in media and how video games can further the current narrative or change it in a fundamental manner. Sisler quotes Gonzalo Frasca, who writes, “Unlike narrative, simulations are a kaleidoscopic form of representation that can provide us with multiple and alternative points of view. By accepting this paradigm, players can realize that there are many possible ways to deal with their personal and social reality. Hopefully, this might lead to the development of a tolerant attitude that accepts multiplicity as the rule and not the exception.” Here, Frasca shows what video games, or simulations, can do differently than narrative. While playing Metal Gear Solid V, I wanted to see if these “multiple and alternative points of view” existed within the game.

I was playing a mission that took place in Kabul, Afghanistan, a prime location for stereotypical Arab representation. As your player moves into the base, the Arab soldiers you fight are faceless, shooting characters. The voice that speaks to you tells you that this is an insurgent base that needs to be taken. It is all incredibly stereotypical. Furthermore, you are fighting alone against possibly 40 or 50 enemies. This 1 on 40 mission is incredibly unrealistic. No actual army mission would take place under these circumstances. By making it so uneven, it empowers your player as invincible. If you do die, you come back as in most war video games and try again. But the fact that you can and are supposed to beat the mission without any aid delegitimizes the Arab soldiers.

As mentioned in the previous post, I wanted to see if Metal Gear Solid V presented political issues in a thoughtful way at any point in the game. This mission, which is what I spent most of my second time playing the game doing, did not do that in any way. In fact, it represented a political issue, the rise of terrorism from Middle Eastern countries, in an incredibly unthoughtful manner, furthering the common narratives around terrorism.

American Strength in Metal Gear Solid V

Metal Gear Solid V is the most stereotypical video game out of the video games I have been blogging about. It is a typical war, action-adventure game in line with games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. It is also by far the most political game I have played. When playing The Last of Us or The Room 2, it was easy to focus on what the game play and game mechanics did. In Metal Gear Solid V, it is hard to not think about the military’s role in our society, and specifically America’s role in foreign issues.

One of the missions places Venom Snake, the main playable character, in an African village where there is an oil refinery. Venom Snake must destroy the oil refinery, because the company that owns it is refusing to acknowledge that it is ruining the clean water supply in the area. An environmental NGO has hired Venom Snake to do this mission. Though this mission seems like the morally right stance, it is also revealed that destroying this refinery will help another corporation greatly.

This moral dilemma seems to be apt to situations the U.S. military or even the United Nations peace keeping forces often function in. In stopping one evil, they give opportunities for other evils to arise. Yet, simultaneously, because it is a stereotypical video game, you cannot stop play and think about whether to do the mission or not. Yes, you could quit the game, but there is not an option of choosing an alternative mission or doing the mission in a different way. But then again, that is not the goal of the developers of this game. They want to create an immersive war video game. Though they may include political issues in the game, the point is not to address them, but to include them to make the game more realistic.

I want to continue to explore the politics that Metal Gear Solid V addresses as I continue to play. Perhaps they will address it openly and provide different choices for the player. But if they do not, I want to investigate further what it means to present these geopolitical issues within a video game that does not allow much thought about the issues.