Anti-Nuclear Metal Gear Solid. 11 video games with a powerful message
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Despite its undeniable storyline eccentricities, the plot of Metal Gear Solid series addresses some real and serious problems. It contains a fairly clear anti-war message and even a protest against the nuclear proliferation. Considering the history of Japan (where the game was created) as the only country which experienced nuclear annihilation it actually makes sense. Hideo Kojima himself has emphasized in interviews that he is a pacifist due to his parent's stories about Tokyo bombardments which occurred during World War II.
Maintained in a military atmosphere, games of the Metal Gear franchise contain strong anti-military overtones. We can start our list with the fact that most missions in these games can be completed without killing even a single enemy. It is certainly more difficult, more time consuming, but it fits perfectly with Kojima's pacifist views. The antinuclear message, on the other hand, is most evident in the installments that take place during the Cold War. In MGS: Peace Walker, the plot focuses on "nuclear deterrence theory", a concept in which two sides have the power to destroy each other. In such a situation, nobody wants an eruption of a conflict that couldn't be won in any way. In the game, the CIA finds a gap in this theory and wants to fill it with an atomic missile machine controlled by artificial intelligence, which leads to further questions. Should such weapons be controlled by computers?
An extremely original approach to the anti-nuclear topic can be found in the latest part of the series – Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. Players who expand their bases can eventually equip their headquarters with atomic weapons. However, Hideo Kojima has hid a special cutscene in the game – it was meant to be displayed only if all players would get rid of their nukes in the multiplayer mode, that is, they would lead to the global disarmament of the virtual world. Although the aforementioned in-game footage was quickly extracted from game files, many players have found a new objective in the game – create a world free from nuclear weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, as a result of a glitch or unwanted interference, the whole campaign ended up prematurely on the PC platform and players were able to watch the announcement about the disarmament before the nukes have actually disappeared from the servers. However, a certain effect was achieved – everyone wrote about the nuclear disarmament!
