What if the player character in a game was the villain?

[Andrux51]

I was just wondering, thinking about games like Uncharted and such, a lot of games have anti-heroes for the main character. But what if a game had the player cast as a straight up villain, who's motivated by greed or personal gain instead of trying to help some greater good?

 

[Vault101]

....

almost ANY RPG that gives you a moral choice

Falout games
Infamous
Dragon age/ mass effect (here its debatle able...you are a massive prick at least)
Overlord
Sants row

hell LOTS of games..if your not a villan then your often morally questionable or at least a prick

 

[Swifty714]

Agree with the above.

Most RPG's allow a certain degree of assholeitude, that would rank up their pretty high.

 

[boag]

I was just wondering, thinking about games like Uncharted and such, a lot of games have anti-heroes for the main character. But what if a game had the player cast as a straight up villain, who's motivated by greed or personal gain instead of trying to help some greater good?

Have you ever heard of a game called Evil Genius?

 

[pilouuuu]

Black & White
KOTOR
Vampire Dragon Age
Fable

 

[Aircross]

"What if the player character in the game WAS the villain?"

Why hello there Revan.

 

[Erttheking]

I think prototype fell into that category. Same with the overlord series.

 

[DazZ.]

Hitman games would apply I think.

Or as people have said, any RPG. There must be loads of games where you're a villain, I just can't think right now.

 

[Andrux51]

Wow, a lot of great responses. Evil Genius or Overlord are probably along the lines of what I'm thinking. I didn't mean games where you choose good/evil as you play through a series of morally dubious actions, but rather that you're typecast by the story into being a bad guy. I guess I'm trying to get to the root of what would make that appealing to someone, for curiosity's sake.

This is probably a lame example, but in National Treasure, the bad guy of the story (that one blonde dude) is simply motivated by greed instead of being motivated by wanting to save the world, but has to use all sorts of underhanded tricks to keep up with the "good" characters.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Grand theft auto?
most sandbox games with a "Story"?
KOTOR?

 

[burningdragoon]

God of War and [Prototype] would like to have a word with you.

 

[RickyRich]

what if a game had the player cast as a straight up villain, who's motivated by greed or personal gain instead of trying to help some greater good?

This game would appeal to a small audience. People who like to play a game as an evil character often go the RPG route due to the amount of evilness surrounding your character. In RPGs you can make your character a rainbow of villainy, starting at dickishness and ending at Super Hitler, where you just kill everyone, regardless of quests.

What would this game be called anyway? "Go Find Some Treasure and Kill Innocent People, You Greedy, Psychopathic ****"?

 

[RickyRich]

God of War and [Prototype] would like to have a word with you.

These are all anti-heroes, not villains. Villains are the guys that are evil and don't give two fucks either way. Anti-heroes are doing what they do for a good cause, but in the wrong way.

 

[ComradeJim270]

Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius.

You're the bad guy. There's no "moral choice" or ambiguity, you are plainly and unarguably the villain.

I do have to say... I disagree with people saying that many RPGs offer you the choice to be the villain. They will allow you to perform villainous actions, but not to be the villain. There's always something more evil that you're forced to fight against, or somewhat less commonly there's enough moral ambiguity that there isn't a clear "villain" at all.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are all I've got.

 

[krazykidd]

Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius.

You're the bad guy. There's no "moral choice" or ambiguity, you are plainly and unarguably the villain.

I do have to say... I disagree with people saying that many RPGs offer you the choice to be the villain. They will allow you to perform villainous actions, but not to be the villain. There's always something more evil that you're forced to fight against, or somewhat less commonly there's enough moral ambiguity that there isn't a clear "villain" at all.

This . Almost all these responses are not answers to the question OP stated . Either villain took on a new definition or people don't know what a villain is.

That being said i would love to play a JRPG where i am the villain. Hell i would even play a jrpg where i am not the villain but the villain wins at the end.

 

[SkySonata]

Ogre Battle series comes to mind. I really miss that series.

 

[burningdragoon]

God of War and [Prototype] would like to have a word with you.

These are all anti-heroes, not villains. Villains are the guys that are evil and don't give two fucks either way. Anti-heroes are doing what they do for a good cause, but in the wrong way.

God of War 1, sure.

God of War 2 is Zeus stripping Kratos of his powers for abusing them and Kratos reacting by setting out to kill Zeus and anything and everything standing in his way.

God of War 3 is Kratos destroying the very foundations of existance in a quest for revenge, with a slight silver lining at the end.

Prototype is (trying to be) an anti-hero story, sure, but Alex Mercer is anything but a hero, anti- or otherwise.

 

[Sixcess]

I think games developers are uncomfortable with the concept of putting the player in an unambiguously evil role. There are very few games, if any, that do this. Most do one or more of the following:

- Put you up against people even worse than you - i.e. GTA, Saints Row (arguably)
- Soften the content with humour - i.e. Dungeon Keeper, Overlord, evil Genius
- Or make evil only an option - i.e. every RPG with a choice system

It's understandable. Leaving aside the PR nightmare of a game where you were outright evil, would the majority of people really want to play it?

Case in point: City of Heroes/Villains. Yes, you can play as a villain, but generally CoV is very ambiguous about what happens to those you fight - you 'defeat' rather than 'kill' most of the time, so even if you beat the crap out of some cops or superheroes... no worries, they'll be back. Very true to classic comic book story telling in that respect.

(There are some exceptions, especially since the Going Rogue expansion which is notably more homicidal, but even then it's a choice to do evil.)

The most outright evil missions in CoV are probably those given out by a contact named Westin Phipps. Phipps is evil, no question, and his missions involve you doing genuinely evil things, usually victimising innocent people and making the lives of the already helpless and hopeless even worse. They're great missions - very well written and involving, and Phipps is one of the most memorable NPCs in the entire game - but they're highly divisive in that some players outright refuse to run the missions, or 'fail' them on purpose, because, as TvTropes would say, Even Evil Has Standards.

Or it just makes them feel bad. If a game is involving and immersive and wants you to be invested in what you're doing, then if it makes you do bad things for no good reason then you may well feel bad about it. I think that's one reason why there are few, if any, outright villain games.

What would this game be called anyway? "Go Find Some Treasure and Kill Innocent People, You Greedy, Psychopathic ****"?

I would definitely buy a game with that title.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius.

You're the bad guy. There's no "moral choice" or ambiguity, you are plainly and unarguably the villain.

I do have to say... I disagree with people saying that many RPGs offer you the choice to be the villain. They will allow you to perform villainous actions, but not to be the villain. There's always something more evil that you're forced to fight against, or somewhat less commonly there's enough moral ambiguity that there isn't a clear "villain" at all.

This . Almost all these responses are not answers to the question OP stated . Either villain took on a new definition or people don't know what a villain is.

That being said i would love to play a JRPG where i am the villain. Hell i would even play a jrpg where i am not the villain but the villain wins at the end.

While not inherently such at the beginning of the games, you have a choice at the end of the game in both Dark and Demon's Souls to be a villain. While the actuality of being a villain is debatable in Dark Souls, depending on how you view it, you can most certainly become the villain in Demon's Souls. :x I agree, though. I would enjoy a JRPG wherein you are the villain. Now THAT would be interesting.

I thought of one! inFamous! And now I wait for people to call me stupid because they haven't actually beaten inFamous yet.