January 6th, 2020 - Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Dear TNY,

First story of the year; “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain”. 

And I’m not mad at it.  Actually, I cannot quite articulate how I feel about it. It’s…a dodgy one.  If I was being pinned down to a feeling, I would say that I feel like it’s very, very close to being a soulcrusher of a story in the best way.  But…I don’t know what’s missing.

I think we need to address second person POV.  There are strong opinions about this POV.  When it fails, it fails almost immediately and catastrophically.  This did not do that.  It worked for me.  The character was similar enough to my experience (I fucking love that late teen life in which you had money, but never enough, and you were so excited about a new video game that it was your whole existence (Note:  I don’t play video games anymore because I reached an age where I could no longer turn away from the fact that they were a time-suck, exceptional storytelling or not)) that the dissimilarities (Afghan culture, et al) were not enough to eject me from the story.  The reason second is so tricky is no one likes being told what to do.  In first, the I is doing everything, so it’s never the reader.  And in third, you are watching someone else.  But second tells you what to do and most people don’t like being told what to do in real life or otherwise.  So, I was into the POV.

The other reason I was into the POV is that this story is one scene (with a few digressions that were not cumbersome).  The fact that it’s one scene renders the pacing tight and juggernaut-unstoppable.  There really isn’t a lot of time for the reader to wonder why shit is happening the way it is because it’s always moving forward in a measured, heavy way.  Very much dig that.

This story reminded me of another story I read awhile back (Maybe BASS 2012 or 13).  It’s got a father and son that are playing a video game in which each new item you receive or level-up you lose a capability.  And at the end, the character is crawling around, blind, trying desperately to reach the finish.  That story hit me like a ton of bricks.  This one, MGS, did not get that final step.  I was so in and ready to fall apart when the dude started going to his hometown.  And more so when he found his dad and uncle.  But, I don’t know, the followthrough of the ending wasn’t quite there.

The disappointment of a really original, crisp, well-written story that doesn’t knock it out of the park is far worse than a story that’s a shitball beginning to end.  This story is in that realm of worse disappointment.

Oh, the title blows.  It’s way too fucking long and seems like a bad title of a video game review.

Even still, I am glad I read this.  I’m glad you published it.  I’m glad it exists.  I will remember it exists.

And it’s not about a writer writing!

Later.

Nick