Who enjoys playing evil characters?

[stonegod]

My own idea reminds me a little of one of the Max Payne games - if you play it through hard (I think that requires 2 previous playthroughts), the ending changes to a happy end!

That was a pretty sweet ending and worth all the trouble from "one of my dearest friend."

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Sten I didn't see as evil so much as single minded. Morrigan OTOH... my wife hates her so much she does everything she can to get her out of the party early.

After she unlocks shapeshifting for the first time, I would guess? That's a case where a selfish, rather heartless character provides a tangible playing option for a mage character (not that unlocking it is hard). The slavers in Fallout 3 also offered you unlimited ammo for the Mesmetron, but that was hardly a necessary item in a game that gave the PC a mini-nuke launcher.

These are the types of little game pluses that I'm interested in seeing. I guess saving and taking a branching path for a while, like an alternate reality, is a possibilty. It's weird, psychologically, though, in that somehow I can segment one play as the "real" playthrough while the other is not, when both are just made-up situations in a computer game. Maybe that's part of the suspension of disbelief that makes such games more enjoyable for me than, say, a straight-forward first person shooter.

 

[MarkB]

I do have a real problem playing evil characters in most RPGs. On my second play through Fallout 3, I did manage to waver along on the evil side of neutral for most of the game, but it was a highly unsatisfying experience.

In Baldur's Gate 2, I have sided with Bodhi on a couple of run-throughs, but only because of the out-of-game knowledge that it works out for the best in the long run, breaking two evil factions' hold on the city instead of just one.

I've never managed to play evil in Planescape: Torment - the game just makes it too personal. Simply reading through some of the occasions your character experiences the memories of his "Practical" incarnation is chilling enough - especially the memory orb experieince where you see his interaction with Deionarra from both perspectives simultaneously. That scene is so well written, it still disturbs me just thinking about it.

I am getting seriously annoyed with Morrigan in Dragon Age. She's far and away the most useful character in the party - wizardly crowd-control makes a huge difference, at least for my playing style - but I've given up talking to her.

 

[RigaMortus2]

When I started Dragon Age, I was playing "evil" too (slaughtering innocents, etc.) And as the game goes on, I keep falling back into the "do the right thing" mode.

 

[sckeener]

I like playing gray characters. I don't want to play someone that is holier than me, but likewise I don't want to play someone that breaks my moral codes for fictional situations.

Since it is a game my moral code has lower standards. Most of the stories in GTA do not bother me at all. I think my limit would be on gross out factor and torture for non-pleasurable reasons.

I also like playing evil characters in very evil worlds because then the little acts of goodness that they do seem all the more important.

Humorous story....a friend of mine plays a warlock on WoW and she actually turns down quests that she deems as too good....rescue some puppies...nah....

 

[frankthedm]

I enjoy having the option to be evil in games. Sadly many games use a karma meter to ham fistedly close doors to evil characters and often give non player characters psychic insight on the characters alignment.

 

[Felon]

I don't enjoy playing malevolent characters--those that inflcit harm without provocation or necessity. OTOH, I do harbor the viepoint that it's not my character's obligation to risk his personal safety without personal incentive unless no alternatives exist. I think that's a pretty pragmatic point of view that real people can relate to.

Anyone remember Mike Baron's run on the Flash in the 80's? In the first issue, Wally West is asked to transport a heart for transplantation through a big blizzard. When he asks what's in it for him, the doctors all act like he spat on the floor. He points out that while he'd do it for free to save a life, all the doctors are being compensated, so why should he be taken for granted? That was one of those seminal moments for a young comic book reader like myself. He made a good case.

 

[Fridayknight]

I played an evil character for my current campaign. He got killed in the first session after trying to sacrifice a slave child. I mean, come on who care if the slave child gets a climbing piton through the chest to satisfy the 8th lord of hell?