You probably have heard of speedruns. In case you haven’t, it’s an unofficial gaming competition, in which the players are rewarded for finishing a game as quickly as possible. 

There’s also another, lesser known type of gameplay: finishing a violent game without killing anyone. 

This is a fascinating approach: it’s basically going against the grain. Unlike speedrunning an already fast paced game makes a lot of sense, this approach shifts the expected player’s mindset altogether. It’s the same product viewed from a different angle.

The video below, produced by the brilliant channel “Pop Culture Detective” explores a pacifist approach to Fortnite’s Battle Royale, a gameplay mode which is almost pure violence. You win by eliminating all opponents. 

You could theoretically let all other players kill each other, until there’s only you and the most efficient killer. But here’s the kicker, in order for you to win, the only way is to let the other player make a mistake, by getting hit by the killer storm.

On the one hand the game acknowledges the achievement. On the other, it rewards you ridiculously compared to the effort invested to reach this achievement.

The video takes this approach one step further. The narrator wanted to make friends in a game that incentivizes antisocial interactions.

What’s interesting is that there’s an unofficial code for non-violence, that some players are aware of and also respect. This opens opportunities for communication where direct dialogue is impossible.

It even manages to prove the impossible possible. Altruism.

This raises an interesting question: is it possible to talk of pacifism in a competitive environment? Moreover, what would happen if all players adopted this attitude at the same time? Can we talk about winners? Is it still pacifism if the hidden assumption is that other players must relinquish their avatars by suicide?

At the end of the day, not only this is a fascinating experiment into finding new meanings by going against the product’s inventions, but a reflection on the fictional setting, inspired by the book “Lord of the Flies” vs. what would happen in a real world setting. See the video to the end for a surprising answer.