Good vs Evil in games (spoilers)

[Boozy]

I get in to the mindset of an evil character, the good ones all come off as patronizing and condescending.

I can see that. I think hubby's problem is that he tends to play games through as a "good" character first. So when he tried to replay Fallout 3 (for example) as a bad guy, he felt bad about betraying all his former buddies.

[BroomJockey]

Oh bah. You had to bring up Fallout 3. I just cannot manage to be evil in that game. The closest I come is stealing something I really need, if I can get away with it. I don't know why that game's so special. I can max out the evil-meter in ANY other game. >_<

[smileyeagle1021]

Fable wasn't that bad as far as Good vs. Evil. A lot of people didn't like the game but I loved it.

oh, it was amazing for the good and evil and somewhere in between... also you could determine your sexuality... somehow my characters all turned out to be gay... I wonder why

First let me preface my behavior with the fact that I have no ill will toward you guys. But I simply can't play evil characters in video games or even table top. I just can't. .

Heh, my husband laughs at me because I have guilt if I try to be evil in games. I just can't do it. My character in KOTOR was so far over on the light side she was glowing.
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I'm the same way... I just can't be evil in video games... I've only once done an evil character in fable... and I deleted that profile after one sitting. Hell, even in Bully where the point is to be bad, I'm a benevolent bad (if that makes any sense)... Black and White (I really should pull that game out again) was of course good...

[Fire_on_High]

I can play "light" criminals in a non-realistic setting. I steal in Neverwinter Nights, for example.

I'm lousy at evil as well. Closest I've gotten is an over the top human-hating druid in NWN. She was actually pretty fun to RP, since I made her basically the most over the top stereotype possible.

[Talon]

I can't play evil characters either. On the other hand in KOTOR, while I was solidly lightside, I was all for using some of the saltier dialogue options with Bastilla.

"Blah blah blah. Don't you ever stop being so preechy?"

"Oh great another lecture, this never gets old."

I suppose the above options were intended for Darkside characters. But they didn't actually give you DS points, so darkside lite?

Hey come to think of it, I think a Darkside character would have an easier time seducing Bastilla than a good upright, but boring Lightsider. She wouldn't be the first girl to fall hard for a bad boy.

[Nyoibo]

KOTOR was I think the only game where I liked the evil ending better, I would have however prefered an option to just let party members go rather than have to kill them, I'm very much a Lawful Evil person.

[Savannah]

I don't mind the goody-two-shoes vs. ultimate evil as long as it makes sense in the context of the game, like Jedi vs. Sith in KOTOR. (And I always play through as good first, then as evil. I do get occasional twinges of guilt at being mean to characters I helped before, but I agree with BroomJockey---you just have to get into the evil mindset )

The system I really hated was in Jade Empire, which uses "open palm" and "closed fist" rather than good and evil. In the beginning, it stated that closed fist was a "survival of the fittest" path. Followers might refuse to help someone because helping would ultimately make that person weaker. It also said that some people would use closed fist as a way to be selfish, but they were not true followers. However, 9 times out of 10 the only choices you have are goody-two-shoes vs. evil. It wouldn't even have been hard to have "Yes, I will help you", "No, I will not help you because you need to help yourself", and "No, I'm going to help myself". And, after saying that people who were selfish were not true followers of closed fist, you got closed fist points for being selfish. The game had the chance to go beyond the normal black-and-white system and really blew it.

[tabbyblack13]

I am a good person but there are times that I want to be evil. Usually when I'm evil I have had a bad day at work or in a bad mood. I remember being evil when playing "Black and White" and "Fable" and it was fun after a bad day.

There was an article I read that talked about playing evil and good in games. It also talked about how it evolved.

[Darrien]

I was a DM for a Neverwinter Nights 2 Persistant World server, the setting was based in the Unapproachable East. I ran the Shadow Master faction and my job was to control the city using the players that were in the faction to be manipulative, thieves, assassins. I also ran a lot of evil based plots where I helped create the Banite Faction as well as plots by the Red Wizards of Thay.

Right around, whenever I play single player campaigns in NWN2 or RPGs, I generally find it difficult to play the evil character but will do the occasional light evil thing, ie. picking up villagers in Black and White and throwing them half way across the world.