Poll: Would you play as a truly appalling person in a game?

[Animyr]

As others have said; so long as they're not cartoonishly evil. Which means they can't be entirely bad, as the OP demands. Everyone's a hero in their own story.

Not sure about demonic or monstrous characters though. I guess they don't necessarily have to have believable personalities. But the game would still have to be more then an acts-of-depravity simulator.

 

[ViridianV6]

I saw this and instantly thought of Far Cry 3.

Do I want to play Vaas? FUCK YES
So, yes.

 

[Naeras]

I probably wouldn't play a character that fits out that checklist, no. Not necessarily because of what the options listed would entail, but because that sounds like a cartoon villain, not a character. I can't see how they could make that into an actually interesting character.

But playing as someone truly appalling? Well, I did finish Spec Ops: The Line and God of War 2.

 

[SweetShark]

I have a question first:

Does is count if the character is part of a Satirical Anti-Hero game Like Evil Genius or Dungeon Keeper?

If yes, then sure, I love to see classic white knights and innocent pesants suffer my brutal and evil actions against humanity >

 

[loa]

That's what I was playing all the time when bioware games still offered actual choice.
God of war was also pretty good and you play as a big angry man who is a complete irredeemable asshole.

 

[putowtin]

I kinda roleplay evil characters in fallout new vegas.

If I create a characer with the inclination to join Caesar's Legion I try and play full evil, kill good folks and rob them.

No comment on the rape, as a woman it's not a topic I take lightly (nor does anyone else around here)

 

[hermes]

Yes... Actually, I have played a character that is so cartonnishly an asshole, sociopatic murderer and self-centered person that he has no redeemable qualities.

Spoiler

 

[SillySam]

Why not?
As long as it's entertaining in one way or another

 

[Naqel]

See, there's this little gem called Long Live The Queen, where you can effectively do pretty much all of that, as a 14 year old girl.
Sure, "rape" might not be the exact word for ordering a woman to marry someone, and sending assassins after people of various ages and origins isn't quite the same as killing them yourself, but if you want to, that game lets you be a pretty vile creature, draped in pink and frills.

That little personal favorite aside, yeah, I would play as such a person, provided the game is something I'd play in the first place.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

I'm not sure if it's quite the same thing, but I don't play Pokemon games mainly for not being comfortable forcing fucked up little monsters to beat the piss out of eachother for dubious reasons.
I'm aware that's usually said in jest, but if I want violence, I'll do it myself, not enslave wildlife.

That's not to say I have a problem with 'evil' behavior, little Brian Wilkes is usually fire-ant feed when I get within a mile of Greyditch, it's just the context. In the Capitol Wasteland, I might be a psychopath with a flamethrower, my bare hands, and more grenades/mines than I know what to do with, but in Pokemon, I'm supposed to be some twerp trying to prove himself to society or something by treating living things like rock'em-sock'em robots. Not sold.

 

[Clowndoe]

Sure, I'd do that, as long as the listed actions are all means to an end, an end we can understand, if not relate to, and not just murder for the sake of murder. Except rape. I don't think rape can be a means for much, although there are ways I can think of that would "justify" it (not that it's really justified, just explainable).

Anyway, I've had PnP characters that were pretty garbage people. For example, in a Pendragon campaign my character was a Norseman who single-handedly rowed across the North Sea "looking for something". He wasn't so much evil as he was not privy to our understanding of right and wrong. So it was only natural that he might slit the throat of a wandering girl as a sacrifice to The Great Huntress or help himself to one of the local women or men if it's been a while and could get away with it. Of course that was made more palatable by the intention (which the GM caught on to) that he could be made to gain altruism in time, or vindicated through heroic action, or horribly killed in some weird act of unverse-justice.

Anyway, that's just a summary of how I could be made to play a "bad guy". Either make it comedic (Overlord) or make it both believable and unglorified.

 

[Nazulu]

I can't imagine I would. Seeing horrible shit for no reason is not my thing. Fuckin' pointless really.

However, if it was done in a clever character building way, or an artistic 'Psycho movie' way, maybe. It also depends how extreme it would look and how entertaining the character is as well.

Sorry I couldn't give you a direct answer. But if it's just done in a normal way with no artistic value then I would say "definitely no".

 

[Vicarious Reality]

I almost always play good the first time and evil later just for lols
Even Hitman

I remember games like VTM:B where you treat normal people like pigs

 

[softclocks]

Rance from the Rance H-game series checks off every point at the list.

1. Inflicted most kinds of torture, etc
2. Stolen from the poor
3. So many rapings
4. He killed a group of children for destroying his sand-castle
5. Does this to many enemies
6. Exploits a ton of people

And he's easily one my favourite characters from video games.

 

[KazeAizen]

I'm not talking like GTA's Trevor Phillips level of evil, where they have no problem with torture and casually murder people. I'm talking about someone who is a literal piece of filth. Someone who:-

1.Is a sadist in every sense of the word
2.Will steal from the very poor
3.Rapes people
4.Kills children
5.Would prefer to leave an enemy to die broken and mutilated rather than finish them off.
6.Is manipulative and willing to exploit the earnest and unaware.

Basically would you be interested in playing as a person who is almost everything that is wrong with humanity? I'm sure some would like the "it depends" option, so lets say that the character does all six of those things. Would you still be able to play the game? I'm not saying you'd have to be comfortable whilst doing so.

Personally I'd be very interested to. Gaming is a good medium to explore such a dark theme. For example you wouldn't have to put any child actors through anything questionable to get footage. And actors wouldn't be reluctant to sign up to have their image used in an unpleasant way. But I can easily see why people would be offended by the idea.

What do you guys think?

Oh you better hope someone from CNN or Fox doesn't see this. Otherwise you will be all over the news as "Why video games are making our kids violent murderers and sociopaths."

OT: I'm not sure. I'm convinced anything can be done in a game if carefully thought out but that is the kind of stuff that is reserved for the villains you fight. I've seen games that have "game over" style endings such as Halo: Reach or Final Fantasy XIII-2. However I've yet to see a series where the bad guy actually wins or when you play as the bad guy. I wouldn't mind playing a character like that. Being put on the villain side instead of the noble hero. However they'd have to be careful about it. Careful in the sense of how well its executed.

 

[The Night Shade]

Sure but it needs to be fun or atleast interesting, and the mood also helps if it's presented in a funny way it could be satirical.

 

[Phasmal]

No, probably not.
I would definitely not play as a rapist.
That is just something I have absolutely no interest in.

Being horrible for the sake of being horrible would be pretty boring.
I mean, I've been bad in video games before. I filled a bath up with heads in Fallout 3.

But any kind of realistic be-a-terrible-person simulator just doesn't sound like a fun game to me.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Sure. Though, it wouldn't be the type of character I would invest in much.

In Warcraft 2, playing as the Orcs was fun if you took it with a grain of salt, because you truly felt like an unstoppable horde of malice and evil that would slaughter any human man, woman or child in its way and take down any force the "pathetic" Alliance could muster. Why? Because you can. They were fun to play (Ogre bloodlust) but pretty one-dimensional and bland the more you try to dissect them. Hence, I could never take Warcraft 1/2's story seriously, since it was about a bunch of evil, green-skinned aliens killing humans because that's what they do.

In Warcraft 3, on the other hand, the Orcs were more humanized. While it could have been done without retcons, the redemption arc was genuinely interesting in that you have a bunch of homeless Orcs struggling with their violent past and nature as they look for a new home, with Grom and Thrall representing two different facets of the Orcish race. From there, you could genuinely connect with them as protagonists.

In all cases, a developer should be encouraged to try out any new ideas.

 

[Generalsexbad]

Well, no one just decides to go around murdering everyone they see for no reason, it would depend on how they executed the character. The I reason why I never really start randomly killing, pillaging, and setting things on fire in rpgs is because typically there never is a reason too for my character. A character that does all those things you just mentioned would be a very difficult character for a game director to create a game for, and I'm not one of those kids who were bullied in school so I kill NPCs in games to feel powerful(which I'd bet would be the big chunk of the demographic for a game like that).

So I do think it would be really friggin' dumb if they just made a game where you start it and immediately they're telling you the objective is to set the mail man on fire.

 

[DarklordKyo]

Care to bother explaining who on earth that is? Sounds like some weird hentai villain.

You'r actually right on the money. He's the Villain Protagonist of this eroge called Virgin Roster. He's an unrepentant rapist working as a High School teacher, hoping to gain some sex slaves in the form of some students & a few faculty members. He's essentially a complete scumbag of a character.