GTA 5's Pacifist Players Defy Game Mechanics

There are several games out there which give you the option — or even encourage you — to finish the game without killing a single other living being in the the virtual world. Usually RPGs like Deus Ex, boasting player freedom or stealth games like Thief or Dishonored are among those which offer this route. Some other games also facilitate pacifist runs.

GTA 5 isn't one of them. Or is it? A game that's all about crime, murder, power and money generally doesn't leave too much room for players to go all goody-two-shoes and spare the rod (gun?). The game hands you a weapon and boots you out into a rough and dangerous world.

Countless missions specifically have an objective of killing someone or even multiple someones. Other objectives cannot be completed without killing multiple someones. Even if neither of these are true, it is generally really really hard to complete any mission objective without taking a life.

Well, some players have decided to defy this mentality and the game mechanics themselves. When you've got players posting pacifist runs of freaking Call of Duty, then doing one in GTA can't be too difficult, right?

One YouTuber has decided to test this theory. Jeremy Mattheis, who has several running Let's Play series going on, jumped into a pacifist run of GTA V with a twist — not only is killing banned, but so is harming anyone in absolutely any way.

Before you begin writing your condescending comments, see what the creator has to say:

It’s important that no-one thinks I’m advocating universal non-violence or the banning of guns in games or anything like that. I think players have a right to explore ideas, and death in games is an inconvenience at worst.

This isn't some misguided attempt at purging violence from video games, but rather a gamer's quest to see how far he take deviate from the developer's vision of what the player should do. Gamers have been trying to "break" games ever since video games have been in existence.

It’s not about censorship, or protesting or hating people who are playing differently than me. It’s about assuming the role of Francisco, a ’normal’ person in a hyper-violent world, and trying to survive in spite of it.

How do you assassinate a target without killing them? How do you steal drugs from a rival gang without offing a few of the bangers? How do you survive in GTA V as a pacifist?

Have you guys ever tried to play a session of GTA V as a pacifist?