"Metal Gear Solid" and the Psychology of Canines in Battle

 "Metal Gear Solid" and the Psychology of Canines in Battle

The plot and character development of contemporary video games are far better than those of the early releases. Now, the ins and outs of the game are secondary to the characters' psyches and personalities, whether they be heroes, villains, or recurring figures.



Characters in video games, similar to those in comic books prior to Stan Lee's "Spider-Man," are often simplistic representations of actual people; unfortunately, negative emotions and mental health issues such as social anxiety and depression are typically associated with villains. Still, there are rebellious character designers out there who have created heroes that defy categorization, even in this context. The "Metal Gear Solid" series by Hideo Kojima is a top example of this type of game.



The game's rich array of characters is essential for its exploration of both the psychology of war and its strong pacifist subtext. As befits a game that places a premium on character traits, every single one of the playable characters suffers from a mental illness. Kojima has gone to tremendous efforts to portray his characters as possibilities that arise when psychology meets warfare, even if some may first perceive them as excessive reactions to their circumstances. One interpretation of the characters in the MGS series is that they stand for the different ways in which being a soldier, a commander, or even a bystander can impact one's mental health. He does this through the characters' traits and interactions with the main character, elevating them beyond the role of mere roadblocks to victory.



The lady known just as Sniper Wolf has been a favorite of Kojima's many enemies for quite some time. Some have speculated that her seemingly normal personality is a result of her upbringing in a conflict zone, even though she seems totally normal at first look. Her emotional development and mental health were both negatively impacted by her time spent living in war-torn Iraq. The natural reaction of youngsters who have grown up in a conflict zone is to try to escape the devastation and mayhem they've witnessed. Even after she was rescued, Sniper Wolf's mental health was still deeply affected by her experiences. The only way for her to overcome the long-term trauma was to immerse herself in it. She wanted to separate herself from it, though, maybe because of an anxiety issue. The thing that had scared her as a little girl eventually became an integral part of her life as a soldier. Being a sniper allowed her to escape the dangers of the front lines and take lives from a safe distance, which may have helped her overcome her fears and anxieties as a child. In the impending climax of the MGS series, the "Beauty and the Beast" military unit takes a more literal approach to the subject of a person becoming a part of what wounded them in their youth.



A number of mental problems are displayed by Liquid Snake, a major adversary in the series. His true intentions become clear as the story develops, but at first glance they seemed to have been superficially focused on the "world conquest" ideal. Liquid, the genetically modified "twin brother" of Solid Snake, the protagonist, shows symptoms of status anxiety related to his sibling relationship. Despite being genetically engineered to be the weaker sibling, Liquid made it a point to excel in every facet of his military career. Attempting to surpass his father and establish a utopia for troops, he was also driven to organize a rebellion of soldiers by his status anxiety. Anxieties about his social standing motivates him to kill his sibling in a bloody rivalry; he wants to show his father and brother that he is superior. His drive to surpass his father and brother is a recurring theme throughout the book. He shows a hint of a Messiah complex in his ambition to realize his father's vision, which he broadened to include the destruction of governments that would exploit and dump soldiers, as well as the creation of a safe haven for them.



The aspirations of Big Boss, Liquid, and Solid Snake's "father" also hint at the presence of status anxiety. A man who was considered the "ideal soldier" had his DNA used to produce a son, and he even had one of them altered to be weaker than the other. He came to terms with the fact, as a soldier, that his kind would eventually be considered expendable by the governments they served. A combination of his personal status anxieties and his disappointment with how the US government had betrayed his mentor in order to preserve their reputation gave rise to the concept of a soldier's utopia in his thoughts. The second time he tried to create this utopia, he called it "Outer Heaven," his genetic son Solid Snake killed him in battle. His status anxiety over the events that gave him the moniker "Big Boss" is evident in his stubborn resistance to being called by that term. He has bitterness toward the government for its political convenience in discarding and abandoning his mentor, "The Boss," despite her devoted devotion, and for that reason he was given that pseudonym. He has not been oblivious to the name's grim irony.



But among the members of the Master of the Saturn series, Solid Snake stands out as one of the most compelling cases from a psychological standpoint. Snake showed symptoms of social anxiety beginning in his early years, according to records scattered throughout the games. Growing up, he was taught to fear getting too attached to anyone or anything and to see intimacy as a sign of weakness, all in the name of becoming the ideal assassin and stealth soldier. The fact that he had to eliminate his father and closest friend in order to complete his second big mission only served to heighten his social anxiety. He exhibited performance anxiety in his confrontation with Gray Fox, his best friend, since he was terrified of losing against a man he saw as both a friend and a combat expert. Not in the way most would think, but his character is also impacted by his remnants of status anxiety. He doesn't see himself as the hero everyone else does; rather, he sees himself as "an old killer, hired to do some wet work." He can't seem to tear himself away from the battlefield, yet he appears to have an enduring desire to prove that he is more than simply the soldier he imagines himself to be. His desire to avoid conflict and spend his life alone is a subtle manifestation of his conflicting status anxiety. But he knows that in the middle of the mayhem of a battlefield, he is and always will be a soldier.



The inability to feel sorrow over loss is a prevalent characteristic among the protagonists of the MGS series who are soldiers serving on the front lines. The rationale behind this was that the indescribable atrocities of battle made it harder for them to mourn the deaths of loved ones and fellow soldiers. According to popular belief, this is a natural consequence of the psychological toll that war takes on its victims, and it was especially hard for Big Boss and Solid Snake to deal with the pain of killing someone they cared about.

Location:

Share :