So far this and Beyond: Two Souls (in a gametrailers interview) feature black child soldiers with machine guns. Odd little trend.

What do you think about choosing to include this part of the real world in this game?

I always feel like Kojima is trying to say something interesting about modern conflicts and politics, and sometimes he succeeds. I think we love him because even if he fails he does so with such ridiculous aplomb that it's highly entertaining.

Here we have black kids with blood diamonds and wielding AK 47s. Curious to see how they fit into the story. Hopefully you don't use them in your army. That would rather miss the point....

Also I don't want to kill them or fight them. It's a pretty amazing thing to put into a game, really.

Child soldiers and super sexy sniper ladies!

Child soldiers have been a theme of MGS since MGS2, so it's not super surprising to see them actually show up. As to whether or not they should? I dunno. Depends on how it's handled. I'm pretty sure it won't involve being able to kill or fight them in game.

I think the most we'd get would be Big Boss having to recruit them for his army. Or Solidus. That would be interesting.

I wonder what other taboo subjects he talked about are in the game.

Children with guns has been the part of MGS story telling for a long time. Raidens whole backstory is being a child soldier in Africa.

The bad guy of MG1 and 2 (not MGS, Metal Gear) is Big Boss, the guy you are playing as in MGS5. He is someone who manipulates child soldiers. So prepare to get uncomfortable, maybe.

If they'd at least stick to the serious tone...but we already know they're gonna add stupid japanese anime crap on top of it and then it'll get weirdly inappropriate in a really uncomfortable way.

We already got sniper boob lady + ghostface dude + oh my god those poor child soldier kids in the same trailer, imagine what the final game will be like...

I kind of expect child soldiers to be in a Metal Gear game in some way, especially a Big Boss game. I imagine that it will be handled with the level of nuance and care that anything else receives in MGS. I don't think that they'd go so far as to have you sneak-killing kids, at least.

Child soldiers, cyborgs, PMCs. Metal Gear?!

Why would we not kill kids. We did in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Much different time but if anyone could get away with the player getting attacked by child soldiers, it just might be Kojima. That bomb scene was enough to convince me that child cruelty would not be just talk like the recent games.

That or wounding them with a stun gun dart.

@probablytuna said:

Torture. In the extended trailer a couple of characters are being waterboarded. Literally waterboarded, and it's revealed to be Kaz Miller who sanctioned it. My guess is that instead of getting tortured, you'll have some role to play in that.

So far we've got blood diamonds, slavery, child soldiers, child abuse (I don't know what else to call digging through a teenage boy's guts to find a package), and torture. If this is the shit that Kojima is comfortable showing us in a trailer, I fear for what will be in the final game.

Well not really fear, as I salute the man for daring to go to places nobody else in games has the balls to go.

I'd rather see Elderly soldiers.

I'm sorry, I must've misread that. I could've sworn you used "nuance" and "MGS" in the same sentence...

That sentence was worded very carefully.

Sounds great. Games need to explore more risky themes and issues like these.

Big Boss was known to use child soldiers. If that is depicted in this game or not thats unknown but fiction wise BB did use child soldiers.

The theme so far seems to be Big Boss turning into a demon ("Kaz, I'm already a demon"), so I suspect we might end up seeing Snake not as a hero, but as a villain. Hoepfully with motivations, convictions and some possible form of ethics, but Big Boss is not a very nice guy. This game might be uncomfortable to play, I suspect.

I don't see what's so bad about shooting child soldiers in game. If these kids in the game are volatile and it's made to fit in the story well then who cares. Go for it. No restraint.

Know the difference between reality and fiction guys. Anything should go in fiction. Stress about your moral's in reality.

Child soliders are not "volatile" in any context. They're victims. Portraying them as aggressive, "volatile" killers who need to be put down by someone with a controller in their hands is grossly irresponsible, fiction or not.

Very true.

As a game about a man's descent into becoming monster this could be some seriously dark shit.

As long as all the terrible stuff--the torture, the child soldiers, all of it--is never given moral justification, is never made okay, Kojima and I are good. That Big Boss says "no greater good" and the like makes me hopeful for a realistic depiction of the nihilism and dehumanization of these atrocities.

Also wacky silent boob sniper lady getting electrocuted! Yeah, we'll see...

They're victims. But they're still victims that will fucking kill you if you are on the other side. They are sure as hell "volatile."

The word volatile implies a tendency or natural predisposition towards violent or aggressive behavior.

Child soldiers do not possess a tendency towards violence. They're forced into violence out of fear of being beaten, tortured or murdered.

Surely you can identify a problem with a game that lets you shoot such children in the face. Fortunately, that's a hypothetical and is never, ever going to happen.

Considering they're ripping out a box from a child's poen stomach in the red band trailer, I have a feeling they're willing to go pretty far with this. Man, that was disgusting to watch. As for the soldiers themselves, they'll be part of Big Boss' army.