Faye raises a ton of good points. Bad guys -are- usually short lived-- but the thing about bad guys, or good guys for that matter, is that they usually aren't one-dimensional characters. What we consider to be good or bad varies greatly. If you have a criminal type character who works for malicious reasons and hurts a lot of people to get his way, chances are he's got to be charismatic enough to have people working with him. Leovold, I think the guy's name was, from the Gladiator storyline is a perfect example.
Most of them aren't truly bad people underneath it all, they just know what they want or what they need to do and people have to be sacrificed or harmed to accomplish that goal. If you're just a bad guy for the sake of being bad and you have one love interest or a little sister or something that's supposed to be the counterbalance, that's -something- but it's not everything. Part of being evil is having a force of convinced, loyal people behind you to help you achieve those goals.
Another issue is-- antagonists really would have a hard time successfully playing bad guys if there aren't any real good guys cast to create a stark difference between them. USUALLY, these days, good guys are construed as being naive, close-minded, short-sighted, and just plain annoying. Bad guys are usually the ones with depth and in a small way we sort of wish they'd win sometimes. Dr Horrible anyone? Yeah.
This is roleplay so you might want an 'evil' character but consider the potential that you don't have to go around swiping kids' lunch money and beating up innocent women in order to accomplish that image. Be subtle? Doesn't hurt at all. If enough people like your character ICly despite how evil they may be, it'll only increase the longevity.
Problem also with bad guys is that force behind them. One bad guy shows up to a party of good guys and tries to crash it? You'll get twenty white knights in your face ready to put you down for anything. I find it hard to see characters as being intimidating most of the time. Thus far, I honestly don't know OOCly (and don't want to know because it's amazing...) whether Horace Rook is a bad guy or not. All I know is when he is somewhere he scares the poop out of me and Siobhain ends up unsettled and it's magnificent.
Likewise Lost River is a great antagonist character. I OOCly know her background and the depth within the character but ICly the fact that she can show up and just be... creepy... is wonderful! Siobhain usually beats a swift retreat from either of these characters because while she's good and while they might be a bit scary, they haven't -really- given her any reason to think they're evil. Without that proof she's still open to being convinced to ally with them and essentially being twisted to their purpose -if- they have otherwise nefarious intentions under everything.
There's a different between a legitimately -evil- person and a thug. Thug-type characters are generally (no offense) kind of mindless brutes who just come in swinging and making people angry for no reason other than trying to get a rise out of them. It's -very- easy to mistake this as trolling, and honestly, sometimes it is.
I'm ready for some purely evil characters and I will help however I can. If I can. Even if it means all I can do is lend a little credit to your character and passing the word around that they're villains.
Most of them aren't truly bad people underneath it all, they just know what they want or what they need to do and people have to be sacrificed or harmed to accomplish that goal. If you're just a bad guy for the sake of being bad and you have one love interest or a little sister or something that's supposed to be the counterbalance, that's -something- but it's not everything. Part of being evil is having a force of convinced, loyal people behind you to help you achieve those goals.
Another issue is-- antagonists really would have a hard time successfully playing bad guys if there aren't any real good guys cast to create a stark difference between them. USUALLY, these days, good guys are construed as being naive, close-minded, short-sighted, and just plain annoying. Bad guys are usually the ones with depth and in a small way we sort of wish they'd win sometimes. Dr Horrible anyone? Yeah.
This is roleplay so you might want an 'evil' character but consider the potential that you don't have to go around swiping kids' lunch money and beating up innocent women in order to accomplish that image. Be subtle? Doesn't hurt at all. If enough people like your character ICly despite how evil they may be, it'll only increase the longevity.
Problem also with bad guys is that force behind them. One bad guy shows up to a party of good guys and tries to crash it? You'll get twenty white knights in your face ready to put you down for anything. I find it hard to see characters as being intimidating most of the time. Thus far, I honestly don't know OOCly (and don't want to know because it's amazing...) whether Horace Rook is a bad guy or not. All I know is when he is somewhere he scares the poop out of me and Siobhain ends up unsettled and it's magnificent.
Likewise Lost River is a great antagonist character. I OOCly know her background and the depth within the character but ICly the fact that she can show up and just be... creepy... is wonderful! Siobhain usually beats a swift retreat from either of these characters because while she's good and while they might be a bit scary, they haven't -really- given her any reason to think they're evil. Without that proof she's still open to being convinced to ally with them and essentially being twisted to their purpose -if- they have otherwise nefarious intentions under everything.
There's a different between a legitimately -evil- person and a thug. Thug-type characters are generally (no offense) kind of mindless brutes who just come in swinging and making people angry for no reason other than trying to get a rise out of them. It's -very- easy to mistake this as trolling, and honestly, sometimes it is.
I'm ready for some purely evil characters and I will help however I can. If I can. Even if it means all I can do is lend a little credit to your character and passing the word around that they're villains.
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