Beardon65 said:
ThrobbingEgo said:
Beardon65 said:
ThrobbingEgo said:
Beardon65 said:
Templars. EET MAH RIGHTEOUSNESS BEEYATCH! Haha. But really, game looks sweet. I might get it. I've learned not to trust advertising 'n such. Made me dissapointed in MAG. Damn the over-hypers. DAMN THEM!!!
EDIT: What's with all the evil people. Appearantly, Templars seem like the only good faction.
Templar: Righteousness is power! Fight for good 'n such.
Illuminati: Knowledge is power! Do anything to obtain it 'n such.
Dragons: Fear is power! Kill 'n such!
Well atleast from my point of view.
Because religious zealots are never the bad guys.
I wasn't looking at it from a religious point of view, Mr. Fancypants. Rather from a moral standing, destroying bad is good. That's in just about every videogame. You don't need to be a religious nutjob to know that.
Destroying bad is good? Yeah, that's the rhetoric of every crusade. Who defines what's good and bad? The Templar's religious leaders and texts? How many real-world religious leaders and texts intolerantly consider homosexuality to be evil? There's also a question of collateral damage: In fiction, you get cases of "righteous warriors" fighting any evil at all costs. You might be familiar Miko from Order of the Stick as an example. A real world example could be anti-communism (or Anti-Terrorism) in America.
I think games get more interesting when they problematize the characters' actions. Lack of moral ambiguity is good if you want to play a silver-age superhero, but the gray areas are good for depth. Have Breen question Gordon Freeman's actions, have the "would you kindly?" It's interesting.
I'm not saying the Templars in that particular game can be interpreted as evil (I don't know that, and I haven't really been interested in the game), but I'm suggesting that they easily could be constructed as such. If that's what the developers intend to do.
Why believe someone's a good guy just because he's on a holy mission to "cleanse" what he sees as evil?
Okay. Instead of typing more paragraphs I'm going to simplify this. Does evil sound good to you? And by evil I mean killing, stealing, fighting, you know, bad stuff. If "No" then my point stands, evil is bad (hence the name evil). If "Yes" you might need counseling...
You have a pretty simplistic view of evil. Let's problematize it, shall we? Is an action good if it's done in the name of a holy cause? Is it possible to overreact to little evils? Just because someone says they oppose "evil," that doesn't make them unambiguously good. Locking away a litterer forever isn't justice.
Look at (because you mentioned Half-Life I want to do it aswell
) the Combine. They seem pretty evil to me, randomly beating citizens, opressing everyone who's not on their side. Gordon came up 'n was all like "This sucks" and rebeled. You tell me, are the Combine's actions evil? Or are they good? Remember, it's all about the moral standing.
Two words: G-Man.
From Wikipedia's artile on the G-Man: In the final chapter of Half-Life 2, Doctor Breen speaks to Gordon Freeman, implying he has "proven [himself] a fine pawn for those who control [him]," and informing Freeman that his "contract was open to the highest bidder."
During the course of Half-Life 2, Gordon does what he's told. I wouldn't consider him an outright bad guy - but he's made a (almost literal) deal with the devil. There's a tension to Gordon's story.
Well, seems I did type a couple paragraphs. Oh well, doo dee doo dee dooo
An added note: What's up with everyone and all this zealot/religious stuff? Just because someone believes in (a) god(s) doesn't make them a "praise everyone!" kind of person, unless of course they're Jehovah Witnesses, those guys are nuts (No offence meant toward any JW's out there. It's just well, if someone's at my door with text I want it on a large colourful check).
I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that fighting for a religious cause doesn't make you a good guy. It's a pretty common trope. I'm not sure why you're debating this with me.
