- cross-posted to:
- lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world
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I never had the desire to play that kind of character until recently and my god does Bethesda fail horribly at allowing that kind of character… Even in Skyrim where there’s guilds for theft and assassination, I never felt truly evil or bad, just kind of a jerk with the occasional dumb response.
The problem is that people don’t treat you differently for being evil. Yeah, you might have hitsquads coming after you, maybe a companion or two won’t follow you. But the same happens to good characters. There’s absolutely no weight to your actions. You can literally slaughter half the wasteland in broad daylight and people will still talk to you as if you’re just a typical person. I always end up having evil karma because I steal everything not nailed down and yet I’m still considered a hero by everybody. It’s only gotten worse in games like Fallout 4.
People don’t treat you differently for any reason. Oh you’re the Dragonborn, leader of three guilds, an obvious vampire, bedecked in legendary artifacts from a half-dozen Daedric lords, and savior of the Nords? I bet you don’t spend much time in the Cloud District though.
It is a lot easier to be ‘evil’ or at least amoral in a game that does not play as a giant power trip for the player by making them fairly easy to become absurdly OP.
For example, play Kenshi.
You don’t have to be ‘evil’, but chances are, going out of your way to be ‘good’ all of the time will get you scammed, enslaved, starved to death or killed.
In many video games, being good vs evil is a relatively costless, relatively cosmetic decision.
It usually takes either an extremely harsh world, or very good storytelling to make such decisions more meaningful, where pragmatism and the innate messiness of reality factor in more greatly, to make such decisions more meaningful.
I suppose it would be an extreme game design challenge, but I would play more evil characters if I didn’t have to play as “stupid evil”.
I want to be a manipulative monster who preys on trust. Of course I’m not going to punch the begger in broad daylight in front of everyone. I want chat him up, gain his trust, and give him a drink laced with medical alcohol so I can then steal his pocket change.
The world would never allow a truly fun and justifiable Evil character, They didn’t even let Thanos have his shine in the second movie.
Making it worse is that many games don’t punish you for things we’d consider pretty “evil”. Like, you can walk into people’s houses and search their cupboards and other containers for useful things, and it’s mostly not considered stealing. So, as long as you choose the nice dialogue option when talking to them you stay good.
A real good vs. evil choice would be one where resources are always tight, and you constantly meet people who need your help along the way. Helping them stretches your resources even more. Or, have people who are able to help you, but you have to stretch the truth about who you are or about your goals to get their support.
Minecraft survival server with friends :)))
