What is a Pacifist

What is pacifist? #

A pacifist character is very similar to a pacifist in the real world. By definition, a pacifist is a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable. This means the as player I wouldn’t take part in any kind of violence or war. I will take part of actives and content that doesn’t require the character to inflict pain and/or death upon anything alive.

How I view a pacifist #

I view a pacifist character as someone who will not harm anything living. This includes creatures that may have created by dark magics, such as zombies. Pacifists are resourceful and make sure nothing goes to waste. If I find a dead creature, I would harvest it for the meat, bone, fur, and any other resource so that it may be put to use rather than let it rot. I would be skilled in the ways of living off the land in both gathering materials and crafting items. I wouldn’t align myself with violent people as they may influence myself, however I will provide assistance by selling my goods and wears so that they don’t die while adventuring and I can provide for myself. I’ll do my best to buy resources from a person who doesn’t brag about inflicting harm upon others. I’ve also adopted a ask no questions policy when it comes to trading materials, I find it easier to trade when the other person isn’t bragging about how they slaughtered anything alive.

Categories of Pacifists #

Due to the nuances of what is and is not considered a pacifist, I felt it would be ideal to break a game down into different categories. Below I’ve broken down each type and explain the idea behind each of them.

Each game review that I complete on this website will have a classification of each of the pacifist types so that the user will have a better understanding of the type of pacifist you will have to be to play that method.

Previously I had a category of “True Pacifist” however I felt that was too ambiguous, so I’ve broken it down much further.

HP - Harmless Pacifist #

A Harmless Pacifist is a player that will do no damage to an enemy’s hit points. This category is very similar to the PP, however this draws a clear line as to if the target can feel pain or the argument if the target is alive. Additionally, if there is any sign of sentience with-in the entity, it will not be harmed without consent.

Examples; A HP will not inflict damage on a zombie, ghoul, or any other ‘undead creature’ as they are uncertain if they are alive or if they feel pain. This includes anything that can be considered alive and/or sentient such as a sentient sword. As sentience is the base-line for this, a HP will chop trees, gather fruits, as long as the entity consent or is not sentient in nature. A Treant may offer their fruits to the player, however a HP will not take fruits from a Treant without consent.

PP - Painless Pacifist #

Painless Pacifist character will inflict no pain upon anything living. This doesn’t include plants because of the definition of pain requires the entity to have a brain and neurons in order to feel pain, thus plants do not feel any kind of pain. Meaning if the game has ‘aliens’ that have neither brain or neurons they are fine to inflict pain upon.

Previously I called this a “True Pacifist”, however upon further discussion with other people about the limits of a pacifist, I’ve changed it to be the Painless Pacifist.

Examples; The PP will not inflict pain on anything that they believe can feel pain. A cleric can think that undead are unholy beings that are not truly alive; thus it is fine to purify the bodies and lay them to rest. However this same person will mostly be vegan as they will not harm animals for subsistence, but may be willing to eat meat if the animal died of natural means.

KP - Kill-less Pacifist #

A Kill-less Pacifist will inflict pain upon anything alive, however will not kill them for any reason.

Examples; The KP are willing to do anything, but kill, to keep themselves alive. They may trap their foes and keep them in major pain to prevent them from attacking. A KP will not kill animals as they are not willing to kill anything. A KP will not kill plants, however they harvest plants that will die from being harvested; such as berries and fruit trees.

NP - Necessary Pacifist #

The NP is similar to the KP in such a way that it is willing to do anything needed in order to stay alive. This includes killing animals, fish, and anything else required to stay alive, however it would only do this out of necessity. Meaning, when a NP kills, it does it for a reason. Mindless killing does not align with the NP as there has to be a valid purpose to the kill.

Examples; A person living off of the land with a farm. Willing to kill cattle, fish, chickens, and more to stay alive, but will only do it to stay alive. A NP will be willing to try and do everything else before killing for subsistence. A NP would be willing to hunt and fish for money to stay alive, however it may not be their main focus unless they feel it is needed. Additionally, when they do kill, they will use all the resources from the corpse. Failure to use all the resources would mean it wasn’t a necessity and considered joyful killing. - This also means they will not kill for self defense, they would run away and severely injury anything hostile.

GP - Game Pacifist #

This means the game has an intended Pacifist play method for the player. It may not always align with the methods on this website, but if you complete the methods within the game you can complete a pacifist run.

TP - Tutorial Pacifist #

There is the existence of games in which you can play most of the game without killing, however the tutorial forces you to kill to progress the story. I created this category for this reason; you can play the entire game without killing, but are forced to do so in the tutorial only.

Possible TP Options;

• Skippable - The game gives the player to skip the tutorial.
• No Pain - The player can complete the tutorial without causing pain.
• Killer - The player must kill in order to progress.
• Yes - The player can complete the tutorial without killing, but may inflict pain.
• N/A - The game doesn’t have tutorials.

CP - Community Pacifist #

A Community Pacifist is something the game community sets as the rules for it to be a Pacifist run. These rules will vary game to game as people love a good challenge run. The rules will not be explained in this section of the website, rather it will be posted with the game that has a Community Pacifist run associated with it. Ideally though, it should somehow relate to being pacifist in some form or another.

For example, Pokémon LeafGreen and FireRed, the community setup a Pacifist run whereas you are unable to deal direct damage. Indirect damage (burn, poison, spikes, etc) are acceptable methods to win a Pokémon battle. The idea is that you are defending yourself, but ultimately it’s the attacker’s fault for pushing too far and fainting by not taking the hint/warning.