What is the appeal of playing as “evil”?

[Kabas]

I tend to feel bad if i say something rude to a NPC but...



being a mean asshole can be really tempting sometimes.

 

[jaekl]

bullying npcs is funny and i've enjoyed it since i was a kid, but if a game designer puts in evil options then that's gay and boring. i want to misbehave in ways that the developers wouldn't approve of.

 

[babayaga]

RPGs almost never put any consequences behind being the most altruistic person ever. You can always save everyone and usually get rewarded with the best loot also. There's no sacrifice involved in being the ultra goody two shoes.

I think this is done in games to keep the idealistic power fantasy where you can save literally everyone like superman with not a single person dying because you are that amazing and capable.

I always liked the idea of players being punished for being too naive and good just like punishing evil dudes for fucking around.

 

[Larianshill]

I always liked the idea of players being punished for being too naive and good just like punishing evil dudes for fucking around.

Sometimes, they do. For example, in Cyberpunk you get this opportunity to fix a boxing match and take a dive. If you entertain the possibility, a tearful child takes you aside and tells you the story of how the opponent boxer beat her father into vegetative state. If it changes your mind and you decide to fight to win, it's revealed that the child was just acting, and your alturism was exploited by some other match fixers. In Banner Saga, there are many memorable moments where being altruistic and giving a chance to people results in being tricked, ambushed, losing valuable resources or your people dying.
The danger of this approach, if it's not used sparingly, is making the story too bleak. Why should I care about the characters in this game, if the plot clearly doesn't want me to? And if I don't care, why should I keep playing?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

bullying npcs is funny and i've enjoyed it since i was a kid, but if a game designer puts in evil options then that's gay and boring. i want to misbehave in ways that the developers wouldn't approve of.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The appeal is doing things you wouldn't normally see in a game, but that's diminishing now that it's not unusual anymore.

 

[mondblut]

Sometimes, they do.

Almost every game has a mandatory gotcha encounter with fair maiden screaming for help from the deep wood, but that aside, game developers are too much of a pussy to acknowledge that being a wandering do-gooder means being a guy everyone is taking advantage of and laughing behind his back.

 

[Sibelius]

RPGs almost never put any consequences behind being the most altruistic person ever. You can always save everyone and usually get rewarded with the best loot also. There's no sacrifice involved in being the ultra goody two shoes.

I think this is done in games to keep the idealistic power fantasy where you can save literally everyone like superman with not a single person dying because you are that amazing and capable.

I always liked the idea of players being punished for being too naive and good just like punishing evil dudes for fucking around.

KOTOR 2 doesn't really punish you for being altruistic, but it does have Kreia...

 

[BruceVC]

Sometimes, they do.

Almost every game has a mandatory gotcha encounter with fair maiden screaming for help from the deep wood, but that aside, game developers are too much of a pussy to acknowledge that being a wandering do-gooder means being a guy everyone is taking advantage of and laughing behind his back.

I dont know, do you read Conan?

You help the fair maiden screaming for help in the woods and she rewards you by fucking your brains out

It seems like a good outcome to me

 

[mondblut]

Almost every game has a mandatory gotcha encounter with fair maiden screaming for help from the deep wood, but that aside, game developers are too much of a pussy to acknowledge that being a wandering do-gooder means being a guy everyone is taking advantage of and laughing behind his back.

I dont know, do you read Conan?

You help the fair maiden screaming for help in the woods and she rewards you by fucking your brains out

It seems like a good outcome to me

And dweebs who thought they're Conan kept falling for this oldest trick in the book ever since.

 

[Froila]

Sometimes, they do.

Almost every game has a mandatory gotcha encounter with fair maiden screaming for help from the deep wood, but that aside, game developers are too much of a pussy to acknowledge that being a wandering do-gooder means being a guy everyone is taking advantage of and laughing behind his back.

Even Fallout 2 has a similar encounter, but instead of wood there is an outhouse, so you can literally shit all over a town whose residents think you are their bellboy.

 

[BruceVC]

Almost every game has a mandatory gotcha encounter with fair maiden screaming for help from the deep wood, but that aside, game developers are too much of a pussy to acknowledge that being a wandering do-gooder means being a guy everyone is taking advantage of and laughing behind his back.

I dont know, do you read Conan?

You help the fair maiden screaming for help in the woods and she rewards you by fucking your brains out

It seems like a good outcome to me

And dweebs who thought they're Conan kept falling for this oldest trick in the book ever since.

Heres how I always act in RPG with the classic "save the fair maiden in deep woods " stereotype

I will always help the fair maiden but I have an expectation around a reward that could be sexual or getting items or money

So its motivated by a combination of a transactional outcome and an inherent view to be a Conan type personality

I dont see myself as falling for a trick if there is a reward?

 

[Fargus]

Maiden screaming for help in the woods because she is getting raped by the player character.

 

[Readher]

The vast majority of books, movies, TV series and games end up with the good guys winning, no matter how improbable it is considering the setting. The main character(s) will save the day and will range from being a total goodie-two-shoes to somewhat flawed individuals. The bad guys will either be defeated, killed, or will redeem themselves in the end. How many times can you read/watch/play that stuff before it gets boring? At some point, it feels pointless to start something, because you more or less you know the outcome anyway.

Then come the exceptions. Something like No Country for Old Men, which just tells a story. It doesn't really teach you anything (aside from the fact that real life is not like movies I guess), there's no moral at the end, the bad guy survives largely unchanged and presumably continues to do what he did. It's refreshing to just enjoy a story that isn't trying to teach, moralize or attack you with propaganda.

Others already touched on the subjects of evil (or "evil") characters being simply cool. And now, thanks to some games, you get to play that cool guy and actually win.

For me, personally, there's also that great untapped potential of defiling expectations. The best example is probably playing a Sith in SWTOR, where other characters will be often completely baffled whenever you act in a non-Sith manner. It makes "good" choices all the more impactful, completely opposite to when acting like a good boy is the default, expected behavior.

That said, for me to play as an evil character, requires "evil" options that actually make sense. That means usually very pragmatic choices, morally dubious, but that offer a result that has a merit. Being a murderous psycho has little appeal. What you want is an end justifies the means approach, a faction that offers e.g. security at the cost of freedom vs a faction that offers freedom at the cost of security. Sacrificing an entire race for a guaranteed survival with little losses of other races vs attempting to save said race, which results in a war that might be lost and will surely cost a lot of lives. Basically, choices where you throw your empathy and morality out of the window, but which everyone asked will eventually concede that you had your reasons to make them. There's no reason to bully a kid and steal his toy other than satisfying your sick psychopathic tendencies, and while choices like that are okay every here and there as a gag, they get boring quickly and should never form the basis of evil choices/playthroughs.

• Someone was perfectly happy to kill you without any question just a moment before, but is now begging for mercy? Execute them, it only makes sense.
• Your opposing faction high-ranked member surrenders, but you know they'll be very dangerous as long as they're alive? Throw the Geneva Convention out of the window and execute them, your faction's victory is more important than everything else.
• Your mission requires you to get a device that a scientist came up with. He hates your faction, though, and while he reluctantly gives it to you to save his own life, he wants nothing to do with you later. Either kill him or kidnap him for your faction, he's too dangerous to be left alone and might end up working for your enemies.
• Torturing someone to get information that furthers yours/your faction's goals? Sure.
• Framing someone innocent to save your own skin or that of your companion, or someone important from your faction? Makes sense.
• Murder and raze an entire village and blame someone else for it so that you get crowned the Lord/Lady or whatever instead of them? A beneficial choice.

These are the types of evil choices I want in games.

If I had to pick the game with best "evil" playthroughs, then SWTOR definitely takes the cake. On the Republic side, it basically means playing renegade Shepard, while on the Sith Empire side it varies between the stereotypical angry Sith that just kills everyone left and right as they see fit and a very pragmatic person. The pragmatic choices are further split into being self-serving, power hungry, deceitful and Imperial loyalist, interested in the common good of Imperial citizens, and firm but fair. It's a real shame that it's all locked behind a shitty MMO gameplay.

As for evil waifus, they're attractive because they usually display a set of traits that rarely if ever materializes in real life at the same time. Attractiveness, sensuality, ambition, authority, capability, intelligence, drive, etc.

 

[mondblut]

Heres how I always act in RPG with the classic "save the fair maiden in deep woods " stereotype

I will always help the fair maiden but I have an expectation around a reward that could be sexual or getting items or money

So its motivated by a combination of a transactional outcome and an inherent view to be a Conan type personality

I dont see myself as falling for a trick if there is a reward?

Dude, do you even play games? "A fair maiden screaming for help from the deep woods" means an ambush. No exceptions.

This "stereotype" has been already subverted by the fucking Homer, and never played straight since.

 

[Morgoth]

Games that still present me with comical Good vs Evil paths are usually trash and not worth playing.

 

[damager]

"What is the appeal of playing as evil?"

I don't know man. What is the appeal of playing lawful good? What is the appeal of roleplaying? What is the appeal of playing a rpg? What is the appeal of taking steak on Tuesdays and pasta on Wednessday? Do you have autism?

If you always take the same path you might as well just play Call of Duty or watch a movie and call it a day.

 

[d1r]

While browsing the internets for opinions and reflections on rpgs I came across few but very vocal “evil players” that worship their evil waifus and derive this immense gratification out of their paths. I always found it silly or nonsensical but now it makes me wonder, why?

For clarification, I am a proud lawful good enjoyer. I pick a paladin, almost always prioritize the wellbeing of game characters and punish evildoers and lawbreakers.
Therefore it is difficult for me to grasp why one would choose an evil path to hurt others, corrupt innocent and just in general fuck with and destroy everything.
The idea of negatively affecting/hurting anyone, even my enemy does not bring me joy or pleasure.

I develop small games and my dream is to make my own rpg. For that reason I'd like to make sense of the other side. It is essential to grasp the full picture to create a truly engaging piece of media rather than just forcing people to play like my autistically righteous self.

Thus I ask, what is the appeal of playing an evil path? What do you get out of it? What makes it interesting? What sort of feeling are you pursuing?
Is it to let out steam? To feel in control? Is it a morbid curiosity of what would happen if you chose these options?
What games cater to your wants the best?
Lay it out here and perhaps I will be able to deepen my understanding.

Because immersion? Roleplay reasons? Not everyone likes to play as a Cuck, respectively Paladin.

 

[damager]

Games that still present me with comical Good vs Evil paths are usually trash and not worth playing.

Thank god a scholar of good writing like you has games like Avowed, in which you rescue a girl from a Ogre to than get scolded by her for systemic racism. Now this is what I call a proper moral dilemma.

 

[Morgoth]

Games that still present me with comical Good vs Evil paths are usually trash and not worth playing.

Thank god a scholar of good writing like you has games like Avowed, in which you rescue a girl from a Ogre to than get scolded bye her for systemic racism. Now this is what I call proper moral dilemmas.

The point of Avowed wasn't the C&C or the story though...

 

[jaekl]

bullying npcs is funny and i've enjoyed it since i was a kid, but if a game designer puts in evil options then that's gay and boring. i want to misbehave in ways that the developers wouldn't approve of.

i would get fred stuck on the fence and throw rocks at him for an hour if that's what it took

 

[NecroLord]

Baba Yaga: "I am a proud lawful good enjoyer."

What is wrong with Lawful Good?
You don't fancy playing as goody two shoes boy scout Paladin?

 

[Zeriel]

"Evil" is not good for evil sakes, its because when taking an "evil" path intentionally in writing devs tend to let off the shackles and not be so ideologically confined. Also, the mere presence of actual, genuine options means that choosing the conventional option has weight. It becomes a choice rather than a railroad.

 

[Readher]

Baba Yaga: "I am a proud lawful good enjoyer."

What is wrong with Lawful Good?
You don't fancy playing as goody two shoes boy scout Paladin?

 

[Froila]

Baba Yaga: "I am a proud lawful good enjoyer."

What is wrong with Lawful Good?
You don't fancy playing as goody two shoes boy scout Paladin?

Another one didn't get it.

Lawful good Baba Yaga is like haredi Greta Thunberg. It's a nonsense.

Baba Yaga could really enjoy lawful good-doers. But only as a meal.