Ugh, I can't pull the damn trigger!

[Irony's Acolyte]

I don't have all that much trouble when it comes to commiting an 'evil' act in a game everyone once in a while. I mean in my first Fallout 3 playtrough I was Very Evil for several levels, mainly because I wiped out Arefu and the Family (they got pissed off at me when I accidently stole a harmonica when I meant to turn off a radio) and then went with the violent option of getting the Ghouls into Tenpenny Towers (I didn't like most of those uptight pricks living there before anyway).

That being said I am usually not a totally heartless bastard in different games. My friend will generally just kill someone when he wants something they have. I really can't bring myself to just randomly slaughter innocents in games like Fallout 3. I usually try to choose options games like that I think I would actually choose if I were in that situation. This usually leads to me being rather neutral; although sometimes I lean more good, while other times I'm more evil. But for the most part I'm usually neutral.

 

[Karlaxx]

Same issue. I just can't bring myself to be a dick to the pixels! (On purpose, anyway.)

 

[Biosophilogical]

It bothers me as well. Its strange really. I know they're just pixels, but I just feel like an ass.

Also we can use this to our advantage in potentially hilarious ways.

Spoiler

Video game doomsayer #4013: "Video games are turning our kids into murderers!"

Rational guy: "What about the fact that most gamers have trouble being evil in games? That could mean gamers are normal people who are good people an want to do the right thing."

Video game doomsayer #4013: "... But the games are desensitizing kids to violence!"

Rational guy: "That could mean when something serious happens, they will be quick to react and do the right thing."

Video game doomsayer #4013: "You have no proof this could be the case!"

Rational guy: "And you have no proof that games are turning kids into murderers."

Well I find it funny...

So do I. I would have lol'd if I hadn't had chocolate in my mouth. As it is, I smiled goofily and decided to praise you in this post.

OT: I like being the evil bastard. But only once or twice, mainly so I can go 'so this is what it is like to be an arse' then I go play the good playthrough again. I especially enjoy the higher level of precision and skill that comes with being good (avoiding killing innocents or running over puppies).

 

[Samurai Goomba]

It depends on how well characterized the NPCs are and if I'm enjoying the game. If yes to both of those things, I will tend to feel bad about doing horrible things to innocent people. Thief 3 is a good example.

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

Well, to sum my thoughts up:
Evil all the time.

Goes COMPLETELY against what I'm like IRL.

I'll run you all through a few examples:
TES III: Start off as per usual, get to Gravius in building 2, and then start nicking all the stuff I can get my hands on, using the 'steal>drop>no removal of items>free stuff!' method. I end up with, about 6 hours later, a bounty of ~150000, all towns out to get me, a body count reaching into the thousands (Thanks Vivec and Solstheim!) and a damn good amount of cash thanks to the Creeper guy.

Fable: Always evil. Just for the EXP and dollars (again).

Red Faction: Indiscriminate murder. Yeah, so my morale went down, but to paraphrse Yahtzee:
'No, my morale has NOT fucking gone down Red Faction Guerilla! Now get out of my way so I can break all your stuff!'

Although, in BioShock, I played through as the 'holy, pious, make God look like a neutral' guy.

 

[HT_Black]

I'm evil when it's fun (See: Fable 2), good when it gets me the best stuff(see: everything else and then some), and neutral when I can (see: NEVER with a capital N).

 

[CloggedDonkey]

Most of the time I'm good, but in ME2 I found playing it as a gray character worked far better and was more fun. It's not that I feel sorry for the characters I'm wronging, but the other people it impacts.

 

[Mcupobob]

I like trying and steping into my charaters shoes and make choices I would really make, like in fallout 3 I choice the more self centered route only looking out for myself and only doing things that benifted me the game said I was evil but I never did stuff that was activly evil like blowing up towns and killing civilians I was just trying to be as human as possibly.
My character was a smart-ass charasmitic con man who tried lying and stealing his way to get reach his goals the fastest and safest I wasn't about to risk my neck for people who cared little about me or wast my energy on making them love me I wanted to look out for me and sure I would help people but only if it helped me in the end out in the waste I saw that there were no heros and why would there be?
Just wish games wouldn't draw such black and white lines when it came to good and evil, make a wider grey area.

 

[milskidasith]

I do what's the most fun.

In Fallout, being a bastard is fun. It gets you free stuff and you're pretty well capable of doing it, along with the fact the game doesn't shout out "You're a bastard!" or make you play good during quests.

In Red Dead Redemption, being evil gets you no reward, you're going to get killed by the law and even if you don't, the storyline still has you play a mostly good hearted, if intimidating, guy and he says how much of a bastard is every time he shoots somebody, so... yeah, not so fun. Plus being good has actual rewards in this game.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

Let me say. I was playing Half-Life 2 the other day (mind that there is no moral choice system in the Half-Life games) and was on the Highway 17 chapter. Having just killed the first gun ship, I hopped in the buggy and took off. With my typical retardation I accidentally hit a friendly NPC and killed him. Didn't even know that was possible. I walked over to make sure he was dead and found that staring at him racked me with grief. So much so that I reloaded a previous save (re-fought the gunship) and carefully avoided him the second time through.

Maybe it's just a testimate to how immersive HL2 is, but either way, I can't bring myself to be evil in any game, even when I'm not judged for it.

 

[Brad Shepard]

More offen then not, i do a evil playthrough, then a good one.

 

[skitzo van]

In things like InFamous, no. In things like fallout, yes. There are some EVIL decisions in that game.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

My friend and I were talking about inFamous the other day. He thought the Evil playthrough was ten times more fun than the "good" one. See, the problem with me is that I felt like such a flippin' douchebag that I couldn't play the evil half for more than 10 minutes. And that's for all "choose your destiny" video games. Yeah, I realize it all just boils down to pixels, but I still can't do it. I just feel so bad, as sad as that sounds.

I forgot where I read it, but turns out American gamers (not sure about European) have a harder time doing "evil" quests in comparison to the Japanese.

Who else has this problem?

Though I guess I'm asking the wrong crowd since a bunch of you guys are apathetic and antisocial (or at least what I've seen from posting here).

Wanna hear something really weird about the Japanese? They loved Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. Seriously! The best selling Medal of Honor game in Japan has them playing as American G.I.'s fighting the Japanese! How's that for a slice of What the Fuck?!
-More on point: I'm playing a Renegade Shepard in Mass Effect 2 right now, and I'm finding it really hard to be evil. Maybe it's because I actually have to look someone in the face. I was really hard to be evil in GTA4 because those fucking cops kept trying to kill me! My only option to be good so that I could survive! But yeah, I hear you I also have a really hard time being evil in games, it's just not in me.
-Oh, and about Mass Effect, How could anyone be mean to Tali? I could be fucking Satan to anyone else, but I have to be nice to her. I just can't summon enough hate to do it. Maybe if I watch a Michael Moore film.

 

[Downfall89]

I always want to be evil, but when the game is a decent game and portrays morality half realistically, I end up being very neutral. I end up only doing evil things for money and items etc instead of for fun. But being 100% good.. It makes the game boring.

 

[Skinny_Ninja]

I can play the bad guy in a game but after a while it gets boring. Hell I never finished my Fallout 3 Bad Karma file.

Then again, I'm not entirely good when I play. I help people, do the right thing, but if one NPC calls me a dumbass (TES & Fallout Mainly) I blow their shit away.

Aside from killing NPCs who piss me off or irritate me, I'm the good guy.

 

[Boris Yakinstov]

I usually play evil if only so that I can murder all the characters I hate. Unfortunately, evil characters often receive better rewards. For example, extortion: will you punch the guy in the head and take his money? Or will you not, and he will like you more. Too bad he's an extra character you'll never see again, probably should've punched him. This happens in game like NWN, Fable II, and Overlord.

 

[Miumaru]

Being a big fan of roleplaying, I am fine with being evil. If -I- feel bad doesnt matter when Im playing as a bad guy. Was fun once when I murdered and beheaded a foolish guagrd who always said mean thing about me and walked off into the night carrying it away as a trophy. (NWN Rp server)

 

[Fidelias]

I usually play through the good side. Mostly, that's just because it's better. Most evil paths just boil down to do random acts of evil to everything you find, no matter how stupid it is.

Seriously, when are they going to make a choose-your-destiny game where you can play as the mastermind who sometimes uses kind words to manipulate others?

 

[ChaoticLegion]

I forgot where I read it, but turns out American gamers (not sure about European) have a harder time doing "evil" quests in comparison to the Japanese.

You sure it wasn't a study carried out and then reported by fox news? When it comes to committing acts of killing people I didn't think most of you Americans had a problem, after all you all carry guns "just in case".