To Be Evil, Or Not To Be Evil

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Some games like Fallout 3 and Skryim implement a karma system which ultimately affects your gameplay and how NPCs react to you. You can either take the high road and play the game as a hero, or you can travel the road as a villain and pillage and kill the masses to your heart's desire. What is your style of gaming when it comes to NPCs? Do you act as a hero to everyone, or do you like to just go on mass murder streaks and not care about the implications it could have on the game? Or do you land somewhere in the middle? Have you ever actually felt bad about committing an evil action in a video game before? What's the most evil thing you've ever done in a video game?

Discuss!

 

[Nathan]

I like to be evil sometimes in video games. Being in the bad side of karma gives some great power so I try to be evil whenever I can <3

 

[Yukari]

Honestly I like to be good in video games. I like to be the hero that everybody loves. (Or not...) I really feel bad when I do evil acts in video games, ;-; even though it's just a video game, still, guilt, video games, whatever. I mean even if it doesn't land the better video games, I still like to be good.

 

[curiousnathan]

I'll usually play the good side if we're given a clear cut option of either being good or bad. (Games like Infamous). But when it comes to games like Skyrim, I'm usually not on either side. I just do things (whether it be commit crimes or help people) that benefit myself really haha.

 

[Avadon14]

Honestly I like to be good in video games. I like to be the hero that everybody loves. (Or not...) I really feel bad when I do evil acts in video games, ;-; even though it's just a video game, still, guilt, video games, whatever. I mean even if it doesn't land the better video games, I still like to be good.

Same, but I sometimes make new files going in to it like-
'I'm going to do every bad deed possible"
Then 5 minutes in-
"I DIDNT MEAN TO KILL YOU BUNNY IT WAS AN ACCIDENT I'LL NEVER KILL AGAIN!"

Skyrim is just horrible for me because I love the Dark Brotherhood so much Orz

 

[Tlachtli]

What's the most evil thing you've ever done in a video game?

Probably nuking Megaton in Fallout 3. I mean when you think about it, condemning a city of 40+ (which by FO3 standards might as well have been NYC) to death by nuclear fire is pretty high up there.

Have you ever actually felt bad about committing an evil action in a video game before?

Does it count if I felt bad that Moira survived? She's one of 3 people in that city I wouldn't have minded killing, along with Jericho and Lucien Lachance Mister Burke.

 

[Dustmop]

I usually take the path that grants me the best stuff. Normally this means playing Evil, no biggie. Occasionally this means playing Good.. and that can be hard for me.
I mean, seriously man, the NPCs don't need special weapons. They're not putting them to good use. I'm saving the weapons by killing their owners, okay.
And that church doesn't really need that much food. NPCs don't even eat real food. I'm keeping the food from expiring and going to waste. (Seriously. My ex used to tell me I had a refrigerator on my back because 70% of my inventory in Fallout 3 was food. I didn't want to use my weightless stimpaks if I didn't need to!)

What is your style of gaming when it comes to NPCs? Do you act as a hero to everyone, or do you like to just go on mass murder streaks and not care about the implications it could have on the game?

Honestly, it's really a bit of both. I'll go on mass murder streaks and take all the important stuff off the shelves, but I keep a select few alive depending on what they give me. It's broken down into two simple questions:

Will this NPC give me anything worthwhile if I keep it alive?
Yes -> Spare now, acquire stuff, kill later.
No -> Move on to point 2.

Will killing this NPC have any effect on an important quest or someone else's desire to share their things with me?
Yes -> Spare their life. For now.
No -> Why is it still talking?

 

[Briar]

Some games like Fallout 3 and Skryim implement a karma system which ultimately affects your gameplay and how NPCs react to you. You can either take the high road and play the game as a hero, or you can travel the road as a villain and pillage and kill the masses to your heart's desire. What is your style of gaming when it comes to NPCs? Do you act as a hero to everyone, or do you like to just go on mass murder streaks and not care about the implications it could have on the game? Or do you land somewhere in the middle? Have you ever actually felt bad about committing an evil action in a video game before? What's the most evil thing you've ever done in a video game?

Discuss!

in the early days of baldur's gate 2, this was also a thing, where your "reputation" affected how both your companions and NPCs would talk to you (if you have a companion, for example, with the alignment lawful good and your reputation bordered on, say, chaotic evil, that companion would leave you). often, because most of my companions' alignments ranged from neutral to good, i had to stick to "good" choices. in general, i also take the "good" route over the evil route, regardless if the game has a "karma" system or not. i don't know if this has something to do with my personality or anything like that, but i never find the "evil" options appealing.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

I haven't played many games that had karma system.
I remember only Catherine where I actually stayed absolutely neutral =D

Maybe Walking Dead could be considered that as well... I stayed good there for most cases.

 

[Cherrim]

Whenever I'm faced with choices in a game, I tend to pick what I myself would do. (Or, a little more rarely, what my interpretation of the character would do--so sometimes if the character is presented as more of a jerk than myself, I'll actually pick slightly mean answers.) For the most part, this means that all the characters I play are do-gooders who try to make people feel good and follow the rules.

Thankfully it hasn't ruined any games for me or anything, but occasionally I do have to veer from my top-choice response/action in order to get the best item or something. I feel terrible when I do anything mean to other characters, though, no matter how irrational that is. :(

 

[Darkwing Ducklett]

If the choice to be evil is there, the chances are that I'll take it - in fact, there are only two times when I've played games with choices where I haven't taken the choice that makes me as evil as possible. The first was in Dragon Age II, and that was only because the neutral/humour options were more entertaining, and the second was in BioShock, where I just couldn't bring myself to harvest the Little Sisters for more ADAM.

Being evil is just so much more fun than being good is, though! Perhaps it's just my twisted sense of humour at work, but I find being evil leads to some much more entertaining dialogue options and/or cutscenes. And in games that let you murder NPCs...well, said NPCs are often extremely annoying and/or sensitive. In Skyrim I had a ton of guards chasing me just because I wanted to experiment with my new shouts. It's not like I was KILLING anyone...at least, not until they told me to stop.

 

[Nah]

When its a really clear cut distinction between good/evil with no neutral ground (like in Infamous) I usually play the good guy first, then go the other way (idk why I always do it in that order, but whatever). In stuff with a somewhat less confined good/evil system (Skyrim, Fallout) I sorta do what I might do irl, which tends to be a more neutral approach. Sure, I'll help you out lady, but its only because I like killing bandits and want their ♥♥♥♥, not because I feel bad for you because they killed your son. I don't care about that.

I've found that being evil is a bit more fun. Probably because in the majority of games you're forced to play the hero...as well as a few other things. And the Demon Path in Soul Nomad was great.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Evil Cole in inFamous was pretty dope.


I guess. Never liked this whole good/bad system in games anyway.

 

[Arma]

I almost always try to stay on the good path. When I take the evil/criminal path, I make sure I won't get caught, so my Karma won't be affected. Thieves FTW

 

[Sonata]

I do whatever seems like it would be the most fun. Or if I'm not in the mood to fight a bunch of bandits in Skyrim when the lady comes crying to me I'll just pull out my weapon and bash her in the head, loot her, and walk away to continue with whatever else I'm doing. And then I will also go for the options that will give better loot, because who doesn't want that? Good guys hardly ever get anything good in games without having to jump through all kinds of hoops, it's much easier to just threaten or kill the person and then take your enchanted sword of the gods that can instakill anything or whatever.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to games that have a karma system, I sometimes go for one side of the scale. Take the KotOR games, when I play them, I choose to play the Dark Side that way I can use powers like Force Choke and Force Lightning. Where as in the Mass Effect series, I play as a Paragon. By taking the Paragon route in Mass Effect 1 and 2, I gain more allies in Mass Effect 3 than I would if I go Renegade.

 

[Zorogami]

First of all, i love games where you can chose between a good or evil path.
They make for good replayability imo, since you can play the same game in a whole different way.

Usually i end up being the good guy, since i prefer to take on the role of the hero.
When i played Infamous though i preferred the "bad guy" role, since your moves cause waaaay more destruction when picking the bad side

 

[Oryx]

I haven't played many games that had karma system.
I remember only Catherine where I actually stayed absolutely neutral =D

Maybe Walking Dead could be considered that as well... I stayed good there for most cases.

Catherine ending is best ending. How can you just get the neutral ending and stop?

I would like to try to just be myself and do what I want but usually doing good is significantly harder than doing bad and the most interesting results come from the far ends of the spectrum, so I usually end up doing bad. Except in Catherine where it's just as easy to get both, so I played it multiple times in different ways.

 

[Harmonious Fusion]

I haven't played many games with an actual implemented karma or alignment system. I remember choosing to take the good ending path in a game called LostMagic, because that was the only way to get the best spells. I imagine most times, though, it would depend on how it affected the narrative, and I'd take whichever path seemed to produce the most interesting story developments.

In games that don't track your actions, I flip between being nice and being a jerk, depending on what sounds most amusing at the time.

 

[twocows]

I like it when it's not just black and white. I think a lot of Obsidian games do it right. I generally try to play more than just Jesus or Hitler in a game (best UFC fight ever, by the way), even if the constraints of the morality system don't make it easy to do.