Yes, another Metal Gear Solid reference, and one I’m not particularly proud of, sadly…

Raikov’s not exactly Kojima’s greatest moment. Vamp was okay because his character was part of a game experience designed to make the player feel uncomfortable, pointing out the homophobic tendencies lying at the heart of a sizable portion of the gaming audience. MGS2 was about making the player feel guilty for being weirded out by Vamp’s bisexuality and the assumptions one makes because of it, whereas MGS3 makes all those same goddamn assumptions, or at the very least different ones which are no less negative.

Vamp, as a character, harkens back to the tradition of portraying gay characters as morally corrupt, evil and symbolic of all society’s vices. At least in that game, however, the only character who seems disturbed by his orientation is Raiden, who’s quickly called out on the issue by Snake (“Would it be any better if [Vamp] had slept with [his female lover’s] mother [instead of her father]?”). Raikov, on the other hand, is emblematic of the tradition that portrays gay characters, especially gay men, as physically weak, sexually obsessive and completely ridiculous. Spoofing the Raiden character’s seeming effeminate appearance from MGS2, Kojima essentially caved in and allowed the same kind of gamerly gay-bashing that MGS2 subtly protested.

It’s dissapointing to see such an otherwise admirable talent go backwards on this issue, but at least it seems that gay gamers themselves don’t seem to take too much offense, or notice it (at least the people who wrote that article didn’t seem very up-in-arms about it). Maybe it’s just my old standby straight/white/male bleeding-heart liberal guilt kicking in, but I can’t help but feel there’s something not quite right about the presentation of Raikov character, especially in how he becomes such a target of ridicule.

Then again, it could be worse. We could be talking about Birdo, after all…