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[editor’s note : For those not familiar with the Metal Gear Solid videogame series, you might want to check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid_2:_Sons_of_Liberty if you want some information about what the following article is about.]
Today I was sitting down pondering upon what the hell had happen to my life. I have become a stingy, stubborn, bitter human being who excelled in all things Metal Gear. I fancy myself a “Metal Gear Elitist” who quietly but viciously preys on the weak.
And guess what? That’s just how I like it. So what 4+ year old game could possibly keep me coming back and spending hours upon hours writing and discussing issue after issue? Metal Gear Solid 2, that’s what game! I’m so disgusted of all this nonsensical and irrational bullshit people just throw at MGS2.
“The Story is so confusing.”
“Raiden is so gay.”
“The cutscenes are so long.”
Boo-fucking-hoo. I’m here to stand beside and defend Hideo Kojima’s highly underrated masterpiece. Yeah, I said it, “underrated” not “overrated.” It’s an unforgivable sin that to this day, MGS2 is deprived from the respect it so rightfully deserves from the industry it helped to shape. MGS2, loved or hated, it cannot be undermined the sheer impact this game had on cinematic storytelling in videogames.
I must first thank Artemio Urbina, for writing his ending analysis of MGS2 years ago, it has always inspired me and I believe it is quite evident that I base many of my ideas off his initial findings. Richard Dawkins, for continually writing the best books one can buy to gain intelligence in the inner-workings of the mind. Thank you to the many people who have chatted MGS and exchanged memes with me throughout the years. I’ve gained a lot of confidence in the field of MGS and appreciate the small group that shaped me into what I am.
Metal Gear Solid 1 dealt with the question: “How do genes define a human being?” It briefly explored the territory of natural selection. For some reason, people find Metal Gear Solid 2’s story and themes bizarre and radically different when compared to MGS1, however upon closer observation you discover MGS2 was strongly built on the foundation constructed by MGS1.
How does information define a human being? The central theme to MGS2 deals with the possibility of controlling one’s will through the manipulation of information. The plot investigates the realm of natural selection within the information pool.
Natural selection is: “The process by which favorable traits that are heritable propagate throughout a reproductive population: individual organisms with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with unfavorable traits. If these traits have a genetic basis, then the genotypes associated with the favored traits will increase in frequency in the next generation. Given enough time, this passive process results in adaptations and speciation”
The Patriots conceived their own artificial “natural selection” of information, called the S3 Plan. The S3 Plan was a process of producing direction for the misdirected. The JFK AI states that it was designed as a system for controlling human will.
Rose: We started with genetic engineering, and in the end, we succeeded
in digitizing life itself.
Colonel: But there are things not covered by genetic information.
Raiden: What do you mean?
Colonel: Human memories, ideas. Culture. History.
The AI Colonel is talking about “memes.” Richard Dawkins talks about memes and their cultural effect in his novel, “The Selfish Gene.” To quote him:
"The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. `Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like `gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to `memory', or to the French word même It should be pronounced to rhyme with `cream'."
"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. As my colleague N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up an earlier draft of this chapter: `... memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but technically. When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous systems of individual men the world over.”
Rose: Genes don't contain any record of human history.
Colonel: Is it something that should not be passed on? Should that information be left at the mercy of nature?
Rose: We've always kept records of our lives. Through words, pictures, symbols... from tablets to books...
Colonel: But not all the information was inherited by later generations. A small percentage of the whole was selected and processed, then passed on. Not unlike genes, really.
Rose: That's what history is, Jack.
Colonel: But in the current, digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible.
Rose: Rumors about petty issues, misinterpretations, slander...
Colonel: All this junk data preserved in an unfiltered state, growing at an alarming rate.
Rose: It will only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution.
The Patriots divulge all this information onto Raiden for two simple reasons:
1) He is a disposable pawn.
2) It is an experiment to find out if the individual, knowing he is being controlled, can still continue being controlled. This mirrors the experiment of Liquid being told he was the weakest even though he wasn’t, to discover if information given to an individual could actually affect genetic capabilities. Liquid thought he had the recessive genes, which in reality he had the dominant genes. Solid Snake, the genetically inferior being defeats him.
The Patriots have come to the conclusion that in the modern digital age, there is an alarming rate of uncontrolled, misdirected information accumulating in a pool of waste. This information will "...only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution." Much like Natural Selection terminates the unwanted and weak genes in replace for more suitable effective traits; The Patriots are trying to devise a Natural Selection system to decipher information, which would ‘weed out’ a percentage of information, smoothing the flow of information regulated within the meme pool.
Emma: The alphabet... 26 letters, right? It could’ve been 30 letters. What if the 4 deleted letters were controlled by a program?
Raiden: Impossible.
Emma: It’s not. In fact, something similar is already underway. Do you know how many genes exist in an individual?
Raiden: About 30 to 40 thousand.
Emma: Right. That’s what was announced at the end of the century. But there’s actually 100 thousand, according to the original theory advanced by the scientific community. Information regarding the remaining 60 thousand was suppressed by the Patriots.
Raiden: No...
Emma: Why? How would you know? Do you know what a gene looks like? Did you count them yourself?
Raiden: There are research organizations... (they’d realize)
Emma: Of course... and their reports have already been subtly altered. They’re even beginning to believe the doctored reports. GW is a system that allows the Patriots to decide what will be recorded in tomorrow’s history.
The Patriots test the S3 Plan’s effectiveness on Raiden. The final results answered if it’s possible to control an individual knowing he is being controlled.
Colonel: I think that’s enough talk. It’s time for the final exercise. Raiden, take Solidus down.
Raiden: Think again! I’m through doing what I’m told!
Colonel: Oh really? Aren’t you forgetting something?
Colonel(Olga): If you die, my child dies.
Colonel: The termination of vital signs from your nanomachines means the death of Olga’s child. Not to mention the death of Rose. She’s wired the same way.
By manipulating Raiden throughout his mission and testing him in different exercises, controlling the different variables, The Patriots found the S3 Plan was in fact, a success with immense results.
Colonel: Your persona, experiences, triumphs and defeats are nothing but by-products. The real objective was ensuring that we could generate and manipulate them. It’s taken a lot of time and money, but it was well worth it considering the results.
I believe a lot of people undermine the true power behind the Patriots. Every part of the S3 plan was executed with perfect precision. As the game’s plot spiraled more and more out of the ordinary, it created an unreal sense of confusion. It threw the player into a world where nothing seemed real. However, upon closer investigation, every single event played perfectly to the tune The Patriots were orchestrating. Every single affair was another piece of the puzzle, flawlessly completing The Patriot’s script.
1) The Marine Corps transported RAY on a false oil tanker. The media believed the sinking was one of the worst environmental disasters in history and The Patriots got to build their cleanup facility to mask the construction of Arsenal Gear. Perfect.
2) Ocelot earned the trust of both Scott Dolph and Sergei Gurlukovich. He was able to get Gurlukovich’s men to do all the dirty work and then just come in and hijack RAY with relative ease. Perfect.
3) When Ocelot sank the tanker; it killed all the Marine Officers who knew to much, while framing Solid Snake as a terrorist, who The Patriots had deemed as gaining to much unwanted popularity. Perfect.
4) Ocelot was the perfect inside man, gaining Solidus’s trust while inserting all the events into place with mathematical precision. Keep in mind he was also the man who stole REX and sold it to the black market, which in turn was a smokescreen for needing RAY, which he stole. Perfect.
Metal Gear Solid 2 even broke the realm between reality and fiction.
The Patriots tricked us; the player. We expected Solid Snake; we were given Raiden against our will. We all thought RAY was the next big Metal Gear threat to take out and save the world, when the whole time it was a smoking gun for something on a much grander scale; Arsenal Gear. The Patriots kept our attention away from Arsenal and onto RAY. These are just minor examples of how The Patriots used the S3 Plan to manipulate information and control our own will.
Metal Gear Solid 2 took a risk. It became much more than just a game; it evolved into something much bigger. Art. Hideo Kojima created a platform for voicing life’s greatest questions and mysteries. He beautifully painted a picture of a grim world while injecting social insight to our own.
The plant chapter was designed to emulate Shadow Moses and closely follow the same experience and tribulations that Solid Snake went through. In many regards it almost has an "unreal" feel to it, continually making the player feel uncomfortable. When the FOXDIE virus begins to affect the GW system it is clear to see the game is being observed by a superior authority; The Patriots. "Raiden, turn the game console off right now! ... Don't worry, it's a game! It's a game just like usual. You'll ruin your eyes playing so close to the TV." are clear-cut indications that something is wrong.
In the end of the game, Raiden has a bit of a resolution, as he realizes he had blindly followed orders. He wasn’t living his life for himself, he had nothing to believe in. Raiden represented us, the player. He was a blank sheet character who was just as confused as we were. Together we shared the same reactions and emotions throughout the mission. Think about it. He believed the AI of Roy Campbell was the real Roy Campbell, just like us. He believed RAY was the all-new powerful Metal Gear he had to take out, just like us. When Snake knocked him out and said he never said he was on his side, we truly had no idea what was going on, just like Raiden.
Raiden was completely pinned against the wall when it came to killing Solidus. He wanted to prove The Patriots wrong, that they couldn’t control him, but if he didn’t comply they would have killed Olga’s baby and Rose. We also had to obey the orders and kill Solidus to beat the game, even though we felt strong hatred towards The Patriots. Raiden was the representation of the player up until the conclusion. This part more specifically:
(Snake notices Raiden’s dog tags, Raiden takes it off to look at it.)
Snake: By the way, what is that?
Raiden: Dog tags?
(The dog tag has your own information you input during the Plant chapter)
Snake: Anyone you know?
Raiden: No, never heard the name before. I'll pick my own name...and my own life. I'll find something worth passing on.
I believe this a metaphor for Raiden becoming his own character; much like Solid Snake. He finally chooses his own path, his own destiny. He no longer represents the player but has evolved into his own being with his own experiences and memories. The memes, which The Patriots transplanted into him during the years of VR training simulation, have finally been destroyed.
Snake: Listen, don't obsess over words so much. Find the meaning behind the words, then decide. You can find your own name. And your own future...
Raiden: Decide for myself...?
Snake: And whatever you choose will be you.
Raiden: I don't know if I can...
Snake: I know you didn't have much in terms of choices this time. But everything you felt, thought about during this mission is yours. And what you decide to do with them is your choice...
Raiden: You mean start over?
Snake: Yeah, a clean slate. A new name, new memories. Choose your own legacy. It's for you to decide. It's up to you.
By writing this essay I hoped to some insight on what many people consider to be a “confusing” plot. I cannot tolerate people just running around saying MGS2 sucks. I really hope you took the time to read through all of this (all three of you), as I worked pretty damn hard on it. I’m still baffled as to why I spend so much time dissecting this game, one could easily label me obsessed. MGS2 has layers and layers of “deepness” which never fails to engulf me into the world Kojima has created. There is still a lot that I have left to write about MGS2, so after this and if you people want more I will explore different aspects within the game, as I believe I have done the whole “Patriot, S3 Plan” numerous times. This is the definitive version however, so I hope you gobble it up, come back with feedback and once again actually read the damn thing.
Special Thanks To:
Once again, thank you to Artemio Urbina, whose ending analysis truly helped me to fully comprehend all the elements within MGS2. You’re seriously a great dude.
Semphar, I really enjoyed your MGS series analysis.
Hideo Kojima and his staff, for creating the most mind-blowing amazing game ever created.
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