(08-15-2013, 05:13 AM)moody Wrote: I'll be honest. I love having Player 'adversaries' but that doesn't mean player 'villains'.Â
Someone else with goals at odds with mine is excellent. They can even have goals which would be viewed negatively by a majority of players.Â
When it goes beyond that to player 'villains' though... I've had bad experiences 90% of the time or more in most games including city of * where villains were a supported group.Â
Too many people think being a villain means being somehow evil for the sake of evil, and that creates an instantly 2 dimensional character in most cases. I've also noticed that hose who tend to want to make those characters just tend not to be the ones I want to RP with. That doesn't make it wrong, but there's my opinion.Â
I find characters who are 'good' from a different perspective much more interesting. One of the things that I feel a bit disappointed in by FFXIV is that from what I've seen the Garlean empire is just evil for its own sake.
I'm personally hoping that some depth and reasoning, as to why this drive to remove the Primals at the cost of destroying a large section of the world made sense to them, is revealed in the continuing plot line because 'to take over all the things' isn't a very good one. Now '[x] is slowly destroying out traditional way of life and in order to protect our identity we have to be able to stop it' is one. 'Primal forces being used by other nations run the risk of not decimating, but fully destroying the continent and great loss against utter destruction is a reasonably cost' would be another. Both are noble pursuits in and of themselves (protecting your culture or saving the world) but the cost is insane from the PC point of view.Â
;tldr PC villains tend to be done poorly (imo). Anti-heroes are interesting and those with opposing goals can be a lot of fun.
Wall of Text Alert!
In regards with the Garlean thing I don't think they have chalked them up for being evil for no reason. Say if Canadians started invading the US and you lived in the US. It didn't matter what the Canadian's reason for invading was, it was evil in your eyes because they were killing people you knew and taking your land. I think the same is true with the Garleans. They are military technological powerhouse who is invading countries because they are imperialist who want more power and land *cough* (America).
Now about bringing down an entire moon to literally wipe out all life in Eorzea. Think of the atomic bomb or about the massive amounts of chemicals that the US used in Vietnam that destroyed almost all life where it was sprayed. These tactics are used because they are less soldier costly and it is easier to tame a smaller population or a population and army in fear.Â
I had a nice discussion about villains with an old friend of mine about a year back. She didn't understand why characters became villains in real life or games. Though we don't normally get to see why they become villains in games and movies (except with rare cases like Sephiroth), but it seems to be that something traumatic happened and they choose a different way of dealing it than most people. I was watching a documentary the other day about a 16 year old girl who was being tried for murder. She actually seemed like a completely normal person, but apparently in her life she bounced around from abusive foster parents who always "treated her nicely at first, but then turned out to be abusive". This gave her the idea that everyone in the world was the same way and so she always expected someone to do something horrible to her. These experiences created the reality around her.Â
Another interesting thing is just some people are just horrible people (for whatever reason). I was reading a story about a guy who was arrested for drinking in public (which is strange to me because I live in Vegas and there is like 2 or 3 places to buy liquor at every corner). They brought him in to the station, but let him go on a citation. When he left the police station he stole an ambulance. The cops knew who he was and just waited for him at his house where they arrested him and his excuse was "I didn't feel like f***ing walking". Now common sense would tell someone that this is a very wrong thing to do, but for whatever reason, this guy totally lacks that factor that compels him to obey the moral code set in his culture. There are even people who do horrible things because it makes them feel better about themselves or makes them feel powerful and in control. Its sick, but its the way some people tick.Â
While I agree with a lot of what you say, I find the opposite true of good characters. I am pulling this number out of my ass, but it seems like 90% of the RP population in any MMO is "good" whether that is neutral, chaotic good, or whatever, and that just seems dull to me as none of them do horrible things just because they can. People power trip all the time. It gets boring saving lives, paying taxes, and obeying the law. My main gripe with hero and good characters is that there is never any real challenge to them (in games and movies). They always win because they are good and are always expected to win. It could be why I love shows like Attack on Titan and Game of Thrones. It shows that no matter what your moral standing is, no one is safe from death.
I think I really got into RPing because it was a chance for me to leave my shoes and experience someone else's life through their eyes. Though I know my own personality mixes with the characters I play, sometimes on accident, sometimes on purpose. Maybe it is why I enjoy playing villains so much. I think I am an extremely nice person in real life to the point that I put myself into horrible positions just to save someone the trouble and stress (which I think some people can also relate to), but I think that chance to actually try to view the world through another is an amazing experience that no one should pass up...
I am going off track now...What were we originally talking about now? Whatever, RP for life!!Â
"So sharp end faces the enemy. Okay, got it."
- Domino Quixote
- Domino Quixote
