However, therein lies the problem. Or my problem, at least. This newer approach to non-violence is somewhat hypocritcal when you think about it. When you shoot a guard in the head -- say, right between the eyes -- what difference does it make whether its with a bullet or a tranquilizer dart? You're still firing a pointed, extremely high velocity projectile. In real-life the impact from such a force would be enough to seriously injure, if not kill, a person.

The tranquilized M9 handgun does knock out guards so you don't have to kill them. But if you're like me, you probably end up hitting each and every guy about fiften times before the game's over. Maybe you aren't quick enough and a guy wakes up on his own or after his buddy kicks him...or you have to return to an area several times and are too lazy to sneak by...or you're bored and decide to 'decorate' an incapicated guard with darts.

Regardless, most players hit enemies with multiple tranquilizer darts. In real-life it would slow down their respiration and other life functions to...a...crawl. And then the person would no doubt die, thereby defeating the purpose of using a non-lethal weapon in the first place.

The same goes for fighting bosses. Why use tranquilzers if you're going to hit them with a dozen rounds anyway? According to Otacon, just one of those darts could take out an elephant! Imagine what six or seven or eight of them would do to a human being.

I know it's just a game, and I understand that it's not real. But having tranquilizers in the game can give people a false sense of righteousness. It kind of irritates me how some people boast of beating the game without having killed anyone, including the bosses.

"Good for you. You saved (virtual) lives, but you did fire enough chemicals into characters that probably would've killed an elephant three times over..." And the game actually rewards gamers for this sort of double-standard in its endgame ranking system.

Guns are weapons; they are tools used to kill. They always have been, and always will be. I think Metal Gear Solid 3 should do away with tranquilizers and have really graphic gunshot wound animations instead.

If you shoot a guard in the head, bits of brains and skull should splatter everywhere. You should be able to hide the headless corpse, but you wouldn't be able to get rid of the mess that would alert other guards. If you wound an enemy without killing him, he should scream in pain. Maybe enemies could go into shock and convulse violently. Or they could gasp their last breaths or whimper uncontrollably like helpless animals. And there should definitely be flying limbs.

No, I'm not a sadist and no, I'm not a homicidial maniac. I just believe that disturbing scenes like these, and not having to sit though them, would be REAL incentives to use stealth in the next MGS game. (Bosses should be still be killed with extreme prejudice though). This way, Kojima's point of avoiding fights and using non-violent solutions would really get across.