Poll: Good/Evil Games

[whiteshodan]

I like playing games on bad side... Well, doesn't matter to me much why, it's just the way I prefer... But in most games, it's helluva lot easier to be on a good side, the developers make it more easy and stuff, so I think evil is more superior than good 'cause it's more complicated and their units in RTSs and the characters in RPGs look more... violent, stronger, but then again they look grumpy and stupid too (mostly, but that depends on whatever game you may play).

What game is it easier to be on the good side? In almost every rpg I've ever played the good side is the hard one. In Fable you just had to go around and kill people and in Bioshock you get less Adam by being nice to little girls.

 

[jvm23fool]

In Mass Effect I played evil first cause Shepard is badass when you get to punch the news lady in the face. (lol) After that I went back and played the game over being good this time.

In Bioshock I just couldn't bring myself to kill little girls.

 

[Copter400]

I normally try to take the approach I would in real life. Because I'm a nice guy, this means leaning towards the good (if somewhat selfish) side.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

In Mass Effect I played evil first cause Shepard is badass when you get to punch the news lady in the face. (lol) After that I went back and played the game over being good this time.

In Bioshock I just couldn't bring myself to kill little girls.

In Bioshock killed a little sister once for kicks while my girlfriend was in the room... she almost made me sleep on the couch.

 

[social_outcast]

I have seen a lot of good and evil games along with plenty of people who played them but I haven't met one person who is the good guy. Everyone I know who played Bioshock will kill the little sisters, everyone I know playing Fable will always be the evilest bastard they can be, everyone I know playing Mass Effect will always turn Shepard into a dick and everyone I know who played Neverwinter Nights will inevitably choose some evil alliance. Even on the second play through people will just be evil again. This is of course just everyone I know, so I decided to reach out. Does anyone here play the good path?

I'm usually always good on my first play through but if a game is good enough for me to replay, I'll be the bad guy.

Ive played all those games and never intentionally gone the evil route - usuaully I end up with the good or more or less good ending - its important to ditinguish (as NWN and to a lesser degree mass effect did) between good/evil vs law/chaos - a lawful action (completing a task set to you by a superior) is not always a morally good one, and conrtarywise, a chaotic act may not fly the banner of evil (robin hood and and jedi after 19bby wherent what youd call sadistic in breaking the "law")

 

[LewsTherin]

I usually tend to be good, but in a Neutral Good ends-justifies-the-means badassery kind of way. Most of the time.

 

[Kayevcee]

I wanted to see what happened when you harvest a Little Sister, so I saved my game right before one and did the deed. I promptly loaded it up again and saved her instead, and never even considered harvesting ever again. Of course, the gifts Tanenbaum sends you more than makes up for the short-term loss in Adam, but even if they weren't there and players who wanted to spare the Little Sisters had to make it through the entire game with level 1 Electroshock and Covered In Bees I think I'd still struggle on because there's something about turning little girls inside out in exchange for power ups that just doesn't sit well with me.

In games like KOTOR where it's at least a little more ambiguous (by comparison to Bioshock, naturally) I always end up light siding it. Partly because of the way I was raised, I suppose (my parents have both done a lot of charity work in their time and it's rubbed off on me) but mostly it's because the Sith just look like schoolyard bullies with lightsabers, and while I hate their sort I don't quite hate them enough to end up becoming them when I get some power of my own. That said, unless it means dark side points I'm usually pretty keen to lead the charged conversations towards provocation followed by slicing them into thin strips rather than letting them slink off to commit more atrocities once I'm out of earshot. My Revan & Exile may be merciful, but they ain't stupid.

Mind you, I'm one of those halo-polishing boy scouts who's never played GTA because I'm uncomfortable playing a criminal, so maybe I'm too far biased to be worth listening to. I didn't have any qualms about powersliding into crowds of terrified shoppers in Carmageddon, though. Maybe it's because I was a teenager when I first played it.

-Nick

 

[Cheshire_Cat]

I answered both because I typically play through any game as the "good guy" or version first, typically I stay that way, though sometimes being the bad guy is just so much more fun..

though certainly there are games like WoW in which Horde seems the Dark Side, but either faction, Horde or Alliance, views the opposing faction as the bad guys.. so who is bad? Neither? Both?

 

[Break]

I know why playing the bastard is more fun, and I know that it should be more fun, but... I dunno, I don't see the attraction. It just leaves a sick feeling in my stomach. I was honestly surprised when I handed the controller to my friend during a game of Crackdown and watched him go on a rampage. I always play the good guy in games, because it's just not fun otherwise.

 

[Bored Tomatoe]

Being evil usualy benifits the player more.

You say that, but in the original KOTOR there was an entire scenario based on proving that wrong. Essentially, at one point you find out you will be paid if you do the evil thing. However, what you don't realise is that if you take the good option then you end up getting paid roughly twice as much. It was a nice touch of irony.

And don't forget you have to kill about half your team (albeit the annoying half).

Yes I realize that, but I said usually, not always... and I hated that part of my team... a bunch of whiney bitches..

 

[jthm]

I always play evil first, but generally go back and play good the second time around. Then I play evil like 20 more times.

 

[malestrithe]

niether. I prefer games where the choices are more than just baby eater or flower child.

 

[Hawgh]

I usually run through a game twice; first time I play nice, second time I play evil.

Strangely enough, I have yet to see a game where choosing the "evil" options on a solid basis yielded any sort of significant difference in personal gain.

For example, something along of these lines happens sometimes in the campaigns of NWN2;

PC: now that I've saved your sorry arse, what do you have to tell me about the baddie?
NPC: blablaevilblablaplotblabla
---------
now, it can go these two ways

Good-
---------
PC(G): thank you, by the way, here is a little something to buy you safe passage far away from the baddies' vengeance.
NPC: thank you so very much, here, you can have this. I don't need it anymore! "leaves" *player character loses an insignificant amount of gold, player character gains an obscene amount of xp, player receives a powerful and maybe useful item worth the value of their negligible donation an infinite time over.
---------
Evil-
---------
PC(E) Thank you, now, gimme your stuff or I'll turn you over to the baddie.
NPC: Bastard! "leaves" *player receives a negligible amount of gold, player receives a quite ordinary amount of xp*

the same thing happens in bioshock, while one could argue that your actions are even more evil when there is nothing to gain by performing them, it bugs me to no end that an unending chain of selfish decisions end you up with less personal gain than selflessly sacrificing yourself to others.

 

[The Thief]

I usually can't stand doing evil things in a game. It took a lot of willpower for me to kill the first little sister in bioshock in order to see the alternate ending. Not worth it. Even the game Overlord, where you're supposed to be evil, I ended up being the nicest evil ruler there ever was. I just don't find pleasure in doing evil things, even in a virtual scenario.

 

[Gotham Soul]

I like to experiment with both, but if I have a choice I usually choose to be evil, because it makes me feel like a badass, especially in the good WRPGs like KotOR and Neverwinter Nights.

 

[Albino Ninja]

I play once through on evil, then on good, then on evil again, then try the middle ground, then good, then evil. usually in that order.

 

[Monarch of Greenwich]

i do both on the first play through i play good and then i realise "wait a minute all of these guys are dicks ah well i made a commitment to be good and i will" next time round i kill 'em all

Yeah, thats most good charachters you encounter in games like Mass Effect are marketable steroetypes who seem like thier archetype has been beaten to a blimey pulp,and then unbeated Sands of Time Trilogy, dooming it to an eternity of pain and suffering. I usually like being tht baddest mother in a game and relish the chance for me to beat them, set their children on fire, and kick them in the nuts once evry 2 mins for 24 days in a row, or until they keel over a beg for mercy, whichever comes first.

 

[Spleeni]

I flip 2 coins at the start of every 'moral choice' game (which there's like, 4 that I've played)
2 Heads =good
1 Head =neutral
2 Tails =evil

 

[Katana314]

I sort of hate the Good/Evil mechanic. I think game developers need to get their head in a book once in a while and realize that very few "villains" are just in it for the cash or "taking over the world" or "bringing misery to others". Often they're motivated by the desire to change the world in a way they believe benefits it. In the end, they're TRYING to be a hero; they just have different beliefs.

That's why I liked Deus Ex. The game leaves you with three different ending choices, but none of them are plainly put as the "good" ending. One leaves the entire world in a technological dark age, and the other two involve you using a machine that tracks all communications in the world to govern it as you see fit. I'd like more games like that where whether your actions are "good" or "bad" are defined by you and what you believe.

Actually, Phoenix Wright: Justice For All ALMOST has a very, very split ending. I don't want to spoil anything, but basically before the trial ends, you're left with a decision that decides people's fate, and whatever you choose, someone is going to die.