Fan Liz Edwards re-designs Metal Gear Solid 5's sniper Quiet, explains why

Ever since creator Hideo Kojima lifted the veil on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's sniper femme fatale Quiet last week, writers, gamers, fans, developers and more have all found themselves neck deep in the debate over hyper sexualized female characters in gaming.

Never mind the fact that her outfit isn't exactly what you could call tactical, but with in your face breasts, ripped stockings, bare midriff, and see thru thong, Quiet's design was no doubt going to cause a bit of controversy, and everyone on either side of the issue has been speaking their mind on the issue ever since. In the wake, we've seen a rash of backlash, including a humorous bit of costume reversal, and even a Twitter account from Quiet herself.

Words are great, and this being the Internet, everyone's entitled to express themselves. Like many others, Liz Edwards wasn't a fan of Quiet's outfit: "It's gross. I think that Quiet's face is really lovely but the rest is a huge mess." Instead of simply complaining about it like so many others, Liz opted for a more creative solution, and re-designed it from the ground up, seen above

"I threw a generic soldier outfit on her because I wanted to see what she might look like if she had been designed as a person and not as a sexy thing," Liz told us. "It was more a cathartic exercise than a serious attempt at a redesign. What it boils down to, though, is that a real person would never dress herself like that. It goes beyond her simply being a soldier who chooses to dress a bit sexily."

When making a game, developers obviously have a target demographic in mind, but as far as making the game successful, you never want to limit your audience completely, which is an unfortunate side effect of Quiet's design.

"It's cranked all the way up to grotesque and the result is a character I can't relate to. She doesn't come across as a person but as an object carefully designed to be leered at," wrote Edwards.

"The fact that she has exposed skin is NOT the issue. The issue is that the clothes she has on are clothes designed to be appealing to men and are to the detriment of her comfort. I don't know if guys understand what it's like to be subject to this kind of thing so constantly. I freakin' love video games but my gender is underrepresented and oversexualised by default. At best - with a few amazing exceptions - female characters are a little disappointing. At worst, they're implausibly sexualised or trophies to be won or created for the sole purpose of being killed. Then there are the games with no female characters at all. It's awful."

Kojima himself noted the various criticisms of Quiet's costume, as did Phantom Pain designer Jordan Amaro. Both said that Quiet's outfit "will make sense in time. It's not gratuitous." But that explanation isn't here yet, and even when it does arrive, it might not be enough to justify Quiet's costume, or lack thereof, to gamers like Edwards.

"No, I can't imagine how this outfit will ever make sense. Some reckon she is wearing those clothes because of the torture thing," wrote Edwards. But bringing up an interesting point, Edwards also noted, "But if she can scrounge up a gun and webbing and incendiary grenades and boots and gloves she can scrounge up a pair of trousers, surely? Then there is speculation about photosynthesis and OctoCamo skin, like that justifies a tiny bikini and ill fitting tights that would be a literal pain in the ass. You can bare skin and still be practical and comfortable!"

Case in point, look at the first fight against Olga Gurlukovich's on the Tanker in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of the Patriots. The wet t-shirt was, well, striking, I'll admit, but the outfit itself was far from a base appeal to fans, and didn't sacrifice anything as far as tactics or traditional military garb. It struck the proper balance between being realistic enough to be plausible and still be alluring.

Given Kojima's penchant for interconnected backstories and numerous plot twists, anything's possible, even Quiet's outfit. "That said, I would be thrilled if Kojima manages to pull off some subversive twist and hey presto, let's all respect women!" wrote Edwards.

Obviously, there have been some detractors for Edwards re-design. You can see a few of them on Edwards' own Twitter page, as well as in the comments section of this GameRanx article. It's obviously a heated issue, but those supporting Edwards drown the cries of hate out.

"Responses on Twitter and Tumblr have been overwhelmingly positive outside of a scarce few crying SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR and CENSORSHIP and fervently defending their right to have scantily clad women in their video games. It's really kind of incredible. I don't know the context for the design and out of context it comes across as something terrible. But some people are looking at this ridiculous design in isolation and approving of it. People are blindly defending it. It's just a video game, why are you offended! Get over it! A bikini, big deal! Worst of all are those who don't understand what the big deal is because women have always been sexualised in MGS."

Granted. There is a bit of history in the MGS series for a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, with the girly posters and magazines, various outfits of female characters, and so on. But that's not enough of a reason for Edwards to sit by. "They [certain gamers] are perfectly happy to stagnate and let the same dumb objectification of women happen over and over even though it so much worse than before. Unbelievable. I don't have anything to say to them."

Many have drawn the parallel to the way women are perceived in the MGS series isn't too dissimilar from the way men are when it comes to physicality. Snake and Big Boss, the ultimate soldiers, with the ripped abs, bad ass attitude, master of unarmed and armed combat, refusing to submit to torture. Hell, losing an eye or getting old doesn't slow them down, it just makes them more pissed off and hungry for victory. Consider Vulcan Raven and Volgin, giant monoliths of men who are essentially the physical embodiment of Adonis. And of course, the cartwheeling Raiden, who still managed to take out an armada of soldiers, all whilst sneaking around and cupping his privates. No, I'm not referring to rank. However...

"People are comparing Quiet's outfit to that one time Raiden was naked like it is somehow something similar. To paraphrase a conversation with a good friend (@agoodetime) and big MGS fan: Raiden's nudity wasn't an attempt to be sexy. Men aren't objectified on the same level as women are. It wasn't thrown in to try and cop a look at girls in fancy dress at conventions. Raiden was stripped down to make a point that the Patriots could do that and to show that he can bounce back. It is clear in Raiden's body language - his tragic sheepishness, hunched posture and clutched nethers - that it isn't meant to be a sexy scene. Raiden has lost his position of power and he is vulnerable. It's not about oogling his sexy bod - it's about upsetting the status quo. The same can't be said for Quiet who comes across as the same generic sexy (but strong) female character we've all seen a hundred times before."

My own personal opinion? You didn't come here for that. But if it's more of Liz that you're looking for, you can see more her work at her Tumblr page, or read her thoughts and opinions at her Twitter.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is set to release later this year on a multitude of different consoles.