Believing
As I strive to cut my latest response to Psychochild’s design challenge into something more readable, here’s something a little different, courtesy of Secondhand Lions.
Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe in it. Sometimes the things that may… or may not… be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most:
- That people are basically good
- that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything;
- that power and money– money and power mean nothing;
- that good always triumphs over evil;
- …and…. I want you to remember this… that love… true love never dies.
You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.You see, a man should believe in those things… because those are the things worth believing in.
-Hub McCann, Secondhand Lions.
I have trouble playing bad guys. I couldn’t be an Imperial in Star Wars Galaxies. I couldn’t take the path of the dark side in Knights of the Old Republic (1 or 2). I can’t even force myself to turn on the GTA series.
In City of Villains, all my “bad guys” are built with a good streak, or they suffer from one tragic character flaw that keep them from wearing the white hats. Even then, I’ve had to ignore storylines that were just too evil to complete.
Now, I understand the rationale others give- that they like to escape; it’s cathartic; its “just a game.” That’s fine for them- and I won’t try to take it away from them. They have that right.
I just- for some reason- can’t.
When I go online, I don’t want to stop believing in the those things that matter- I want to believe. I want to get it right for once.
September 21st, 2006 at 2:08 pm
That’s a good thing, that you don’t enjoy pretending evil so much. I’ve always believed a person can act a part only as well as they know it (find it within themselves). I also believe that the fantasies we indulge have some effect in shaping our character (they strengthen our desires). I’d say you’re better off, and it’s those of us who enjoy playing evil characters who should feel awkward.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:51 pm
When I started playing MUDs back in the day I couldn’t even fathom there being someone online that wanted to harm my characters. To me a MUD (or online game) was just a group of players meeting for some good ole’ fun.
Of course that was beaten out of me during the first time I was killed by another player. Not that I even knew I flagged myself as a player target. I just failed to read the warning that I was creating a PK enabled character. All it said was do you choose “Shadow or Light”. I chose Shadow and of course that flags you as PK enabled. Oh well… lesson learned
Fortunately I have no problem playing a villian or whatever. Of course I like to write a lot and never can find myself writing in a villian as a main character. But playing a round of Counterstrike I have no problem playing on the terrist side.
September 22nd, 2006 at 1:19 pm
What are your thoughts about those people who use playing an “evil” character in a game as an outlet for antisocial tendencies rather than act on them in RL, for example someone overly fascinated with fire becoming a firefighter rather than a pyro?
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:49 pm
It depends largely on the context. If your character is using fire spells on enemies or torching trees in some cartoony game like WoW, that’s significantly different than setting a living creature on fire or torching a person’s house in a game like Crysis (not suggesting this is in Crysis). There’s a considerably different degree of disconnect between the player’s fantasy and reality. The more similar to reality a game’s scenarios are, the greater possible effect they may have on real-world impulses and desires.
Also, in psychology, it has never been recommended that people with negative inclinations release that energy in destructive ways, even if in fantasy. Healthy catharsis redirects negative energy into constructive outlets.
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I never felt the visual interface changed the context that much, but I agree with Aaron. In some games, the settings, context, and story makes something more acceptable and less “evil” to do.
For people acting evil as a release: Well, this IS a little less externally harmful than kicking puppies, but as Aaron suggests, healthy catharsis redirects the negative energy. It probably isn’t any more healthy internally than kicking the pups would have been.
Using standard (and oversimplified) behaviorism of reinforcement, if you gained pleasure out of VIRTUAL acts of malice, you may be reinforcing the inclination to act maliciously to seek more pleasure. If that strengthens beyond your inclination to adhere to social norms, you could, theoretically, start expressing that malice in real life.
Partially going against it is the tendency for players to “see through” to the game itself. As Raph Koster suggests in “A Theory of Fun” most players don’t think “if I pick up this prostitute, rock the car a bit, then kill her, I’ll feel better” in GTA. They think “it’s a power-up.”
We laugh at the audacity of a comedian flagrantly breaking social norms, but few of us suggest that his expressions should be universally acceptable. Sometimes, by testing the limits of a rule, we learn of its value- reinforcing it. Some, though, get a sadistic glee in externalizing the rage they feel inside, and for them, it doesn’t cause them to understand the value in the rule any more, but a reinforcement until they’re ready to do this IRL.
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:37 pm
I should add that much of the psychology IS speculation, and unfortunately, it’s very easy to unconsciously taint a study to your own inclinations, so we’ll probably not see a satisfactory answer.
I’ve molded my own views based on Pascal’s Wager (a nod, again, to Raph K). Games CAN influence behavior positively and negatively, sometimes quite powerfully. I’ll design responsibly for a positive effect play in a constructive manner.
If I’m right, my conscience will be clear. If I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing.
September 23rd, 2006 at 3:43 pm
I consider it well-proven. It’s ancient theory, long pre-dating the emergence of psychology as a separate and scientific field, and even non-behaviorists usually accept the general principle that to indulge in an impulse often, if not always, makes that impulse/desire stronger and more frequent.
Anyway, I agree that playing an evil character is often about the game’s design rewarding evil more than good. In Neverwinter Nights, I slaughtered every civilian in the starting town before ever beginning the intended adventure, because that provided me with a lot of extra loot and xp (I levelled up).
The assumption of many game designers is that the reward of roleplaying good is simply the roleplay value of being a good character. That certainly seems a just reward for many gamers, but not for all. For myself, I guess there’s too much of a disconnect between the game fantasy and reality. Being good in reality is about love…a desire to be with/together, as closely as possible, other human beings or God. If the game’s NPCs are too flat or distant for me to care for (to “love”, so to speak), then the reward of their praises and congeniality toward me is hollow and ultimately worthless. If togetherness is the extent of my reward, then I will roleplay an evil character, because that is rewarded more substantially.
So I guess you could say a goal of designers should be to make their NPCs loveable, as much as possible. Or, if that’s not possible, reward good roleplaying with more than just verbal appreciation.
I think I’m going to repost this on my site in hopes of expanding the discussion. =)
September 24th, 2006 at 4:09 am
See, I can’t bring myself to play good characters. In Oblivion, I became a vampire as soon as I could and delighted in the mayhem I caused in the town (both from AI ’sploits and bloodsucking). In EQ2, even my characters that start out in Qeynos have an insidious edge to heir personality. My current character (Wizzel) is a megalomaniac bent on the destruction of both cities, etc.
September 24th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Speaking of megalomaniacs… How many like to play larger-than-life characters? I wonder if there’s more designers could do to help players create and roleplay eccentric characters.
My first MMO character was Hallower, a dwarf cleric from the Butcherblock Mountains in EQ, who swore til the end that he was the rightful heir to the dwarven throne and he’d have his revenge on the usurper.