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<blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 404135" data-attributes="member: 317">Personally, I don't think that characters that have black and white morality are very compelling characters- whether its a game, book, or movie.&nbsp; People are more than steroetypical behaviors or moral absolutes, and I feel representing fictional characters as one-dimensional takes a lot of depth out of a game.&nbsp; After all, paladins who never do wrong, or evil wizards who always torture babies are much less interesting than the cleric who struggles to adhere to his faith, even though he knows his views would be considered somewhat heretical to his church.I don't think that playing evil characters modifies our actions in real life in any meaningful way.&nbsp; After all, RPGs are just games, and we know no matter how bad things get in a game, it is still just a GAME, and that our actions in the game have no consequences in real life.&nbsp; I think most gamers have a good enough grip on reality to realize that games offer a chance to escape to another world for a little while- and to try things that would not be possible IRL.&nbsp; Exploring the darker side of human nature is healthy- it makes us examine our beliefs and convictions from a different perspective, and often reinforces our morality.&nbsp; Anyone who denies ever having had &quot;evil&quot; thoughts about something and not fantasizing about it is simply lying.&nbsp; Channeling than energy into a harmless and creative outlet like gaming is a lot more healthy than building up all the frustration and anger inside, and you might learn something about yourself to boot.&nbsp; I know the most memorable and interesting characters I have played over the years have been evil ones- usually LE or NE by D&amp;D standards.As for what I have learned from D&amp;D:1.&nbsp; It has made me re-examine my own beliefs many times by placing my character in difficult situations, and putting the responsibility for the outcome on me- not transfering blame to others.2.&nbsp; I have become better at problem solving and logical thought.3.&nbsp; It has taught me empathy for other people's feelings since I can distance myself from my own POV and look at the situation from another angle.4.&nbsp; Most importantly- don't screw with the DM and freeze his favorite white d20 in an ice cube- that just begs for grudge monsters!!! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gothmog, post: 404135, member: 317"] Personally, I don't think that characters that have black and white morality are very compelling characters- whether its a game, book, or movie. People are more than steroetypical behaviors or moral absolutes, and I feel representing fictional characters as one-dimensional takes a lot of depth out of a game. After all, paladins who never do wrong, or evil wizards who always torture babies are much less interesting than the cleric who struggles to adhere to his faith, even though he knows his views would be considered somewhat heretical to his church. I don't think that playing evil characters modifies our actions in real life in any meaningful way. After all, RPGs are just games, and we know no matter how bad things get in a game, it is still just a GAME, and that our actions in the game have no consequences in real life. I think most gamers have a good enough grip on reality to realize that games offer a chance to escape to another world for a little while- and to try things that would not be possible IRL. Exploring the darker side of human nature is healthy- it makes us examine our beliefs and convictions from a different perspective, and often reinforces our morality. Anyone who denies ever having had "evil" thoughts about something and not fantasizing about it is simply lying. Channeling than energy into a harmless and creative outlet like gaming is a lot more healthy than building up all the frustration and anger inside, and you might learn something about yourself to boot. I know the most memorable and interesting characters I have played over the years have been evil ones- usually LE or NE by D&D standards. As for what I have learned from D&D: 1. It has made me re-examine my own beliefs many times by placing my character in difficult situations, and putting the responsibility for the outcome on me- not transfering blame to others. 2. I have become better at problem solving and logical thought. 3. It has taught me empathy for other people's feelings since I can distance myself from my own POV and look at the situation from another angle. 4. Most importantly- don't screw with the DM and freeze his favorite white d20 in an ice cube- that just begs for grudge monsters!!! :D [/QUOTE]

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