Violence is a key theme in narrative, says Far Cry 3 dev

To lead game designer Mark Thompson, violence is justifiable as long as there's a good enough purpose for it.

"Violence and artistic value aren’t mutually exclusive," the Far Cry 3 developer told VG247. "It’s more about how honest you are with people regarding the games’ core mechanics and the story’s characters.”

Thompson said that to ignore the violence in a game, or pretend like players aren't being rewarded for killing, devalues the narrative and core mechanics. Making the story about killing solves this problem.

“It doesn’t judge whether this is right or wrong,” said Thompson. “It isn’t about creating a morality play. We simply take someone who hasn’t killed before and force them to kill, in order to save their own life and then the lives of their closest friends.”

That core mechanic, killing, then becomes a key theme in the narrative.

"If it wasn’t, then any literary or artistic value would be undermined by the moment-to-moment gameplay, the story told through the player’s actions.”

Far Cry 3 hits PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on December 4.

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