Playing the good guy

Yes. Yes there is. The second option is much funnier.

GIFT also applies to single-player gaming, it seems.

edited 31st Mar '11 6:28:37 PM by tnewhandl

I play games to have fun... Better the latter of those above choices to entertain me than "Oh here, beggar. Take all my money. And while we're at it, I'll be your personal slave for the next few hours."

So... being generous, and basically a nice person makes you an idiot?

Damn. *goes to quit volunteering for community service so he can regain some IQ points*

edited 31st Mar '11 6:44:21 PM by Mukora

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

in b4 "they're just pixels" argument

Renegade Shepard is still a moron who shoots first and durr hurrs later. Like shooting Veetor. At least the Renegade Option of dragging him to Cerberus makes somewhat more sense... even after all data relevant to the attack is handed over.

Listening to people brag about how they maimed so-and-so put there by the devs for amusement gets old the 40353493803894583095th time, and then hearing the players try to justify killing the pixels gets even older.

edited 31st Mar '11 6:44:38 PM by Jackerel

Was Jack Mackerel. | i rite gud

Someone hasn't played the game. Or at least hasn't payed attention while playing...

Veetor isn't shot by Shepard. The screen Veetor is looking at is shot, so that Shepard gets Veetor's attention.

And I don't recall anywhere saying anything about "being nice = idiocy." I said playing games is about having fun(that's sort of why they're called "games").

If choosing to help people in a game is fun for you, then go right ahead. Just don't bitch because I choose not to. My character is a good person who smites evil either way.

edited 31st Mar '11 6:57:05 PM by Swish

Meh.

I still don't see how raping puppies and killing entire families is funny in any way.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

Oh, I think you misunderstand... it's not the raping of dogs and the killing of the families that is funny. Fun? Perhaps. Funny? Not necessarily.

But that statement... "Muahahahah! You want money, beggar? How about I kill your family and rape your dog instead." That's not funny to you? Because just thinking about a protagonist using it to threaten a beggar is hilarious to me.

Well, this is beginning to zig zag across Trolling lines now.

I can understand that point a bit. Based on the unchanging premise that you're going to be the good guy anyway, having them spout sarcastic or cynical lines can be pretty amusing. Actually, that makes me think of Touhou, where most of the dialog is like that.

However, in a game where you actually can control the outcomes it changes the feel entirely. You're not just making a random threat, by choosing that dialog option you're actually making your character consider doing that. Which isn't really amusing at all. Just because you're killing the bad guys doesn't make you a good guy. Evil Versus Evil, and by extension Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.

edited 31st Mar '11 7:21:06 PM by Clarste

Maybe, maybe. But that seems like an overuse of Schrödinger's Cat then - since you can compare the two results, neither is IMO really satisfying: You don't have to risk anything to do good, and you don't actually have any necessity to do things ruthlessly.

Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken. Unrelated ME1 Fanfic

So then you take the neutral route and get crap for equipment.

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

As I have said before, regardless of the choices they make, the characters I play are always good.

The cat thinks himself good, regardless of what the rats think of him, and the rats think themselves good just the same.

Tropes are not bad, and thus Evil Versus Evil isn't such a bad thing... the problem is, like the cat(and the rats), my characters don't think of themselves as evil...

I really don't care in the slightest whether a psychopath thinks of themselves as evil.

But do you care what Spartacus thinks?

The thing about making witty signature lines is that it first needs to actually be witty.

Y'know something? Due to video game characters having no need for sleep, rest, fun or anything not decided by the player or limited by the game mechanics, it's hard to portray the downsides of being a hero. With evil, you have clear positives (catharsis factor, cutting through various NPC's bullshit) and negatives (few rewards, fewer allies, guilt). Good characters, however, don't have to make nearly as many sacrifices as a Triple Shifter with Samaritan Syndrome would do in real life. That could be a reason for the overwhelming support for good in this thread.

Aww, did I hurt your widdle fee-fees?

@Omega: Soooo, all of us who don't want to kill people unnecessarily are hippies?

Gameplay is fun. If doing the sidequests isn't fun, then it's by definition a bad game. That's the main problem with good.

I usual play good. While playing evil is interesting in theory, it tends to get boring and unsatisfying very quickly. The only time, I completed with an evil character, was my second playthrough in Knights Of The Old Republic. And it wasn't even that fun. Except forcing Zaalbar to kill Mission. That was awesome.

Concerning Mass Effect (at least the second game), I think it's better to play a mix of Paragon and Renegade (leaning to a specific, of course). Pure Paragon seems to equate naive, idealistic moron, while pure Renegade equates violent idiot, who is too dumb to think things through. Both are rather... underwhelming.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

I'm backing the hell out of this thread now. This is looking like it may turn ugly and once I get into a flame war I dont stop. Think what you want, play whatever alignment you want, and remember that some of us play games for fun and find evil characters fun without feeling bad about it. Omega Kross signing off.

Can't think of anything witty, so have this instead...

I'm pretty sure that goes for all of us. The ones, who think that video games are Serious Business don't actually play them, because they are too busy bitching about them in forums the whole day.

I don't think that anybody here thinks that you should feel bad about liking to play evil characters.

People aren't as awful as the internet makes them out to be.

Of course not, but flaming the people that like to play good...?

I don't personally see what appeals to Evil so much unless you need to take some frustration out on some NP Cs, or just R Ping, but if that's how you play your games, more power to you.

edited 1st Apr '11 5:39:40 AM by tnewhandl

There's a difference between cynical and "Muahahahah! You want money, beggar? HOW ABOUT I KILL YOUR FAMILY AND RAPE YOUR DOG INSTEAD."

Not in Warhammer 40 K ...Now if only we had an RPG set there...It would be...Interesting...

This is a signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

That.. went on longer than I thought it would, the thread I mean.

Sometimes it's fun to play a bad guy for a slight break, then reload a previous save.(like wiping out megaton in Fallout 3) Or when it is 'required' I grinned ear to ear during one quest in the dark brotherhood. (Oblivion)

Some times I think game designers may be two hung up of what is good or evil, feeling that if you have two choices one must be good and the other evil. For example in Mass Effect 2, mass brainwashing (of geth) is somehow a 'good' choice.

edited 5th Apr '11 4:58:46 PM by MCE

My latest Trope page: Shapeshifting Failure

The former would be the good choice, and the latter would be the practical choice?

edited 5th Apr '11 4:41:04 PM by Mokari

Zoofights VI, Loser's League Fight Four: NEW CROAK vs. CRYSTAL PEP-SIMIAN