Prosper Why am I so autistic?

[nikolokolus]

If evil in games was presented as less moutache twirling, "I like to kill baby kittens for fun" and made doing good more costly I'd have a helluva lot less incentive to play it good. Unfortunately evil usually equals drooling stupidity or maniacal psychopathy so its almost never interesting.

 

[AetherVagrant]

I think Witcher would give OP a heart attack.

so many good intentions twisted or punished.

 

[Jaesun]

I think Witcher would give OP a heart attack.

so many good intentions twisted or punished.

Care to enlighten us on which ones those were?

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Postal 2 is actually a pretty great game for people with the can't-do-evil strain of autism. The game's at it's most fun when you're just trying to buy milk or go to the mall but end up having to run away from a city-wide firefight.

The point is that as the days pass, it becomes impossible to be the good guy and you're forced to mass slaughter everyone around.

god damn shitposters

Starting with you asshole

 

[Cassidy]

My favorite evil game isn't a RPG, but Tropico, because it's the realistic, lining your pockets with taxpayer's money and crushing the people under jackboots as a tinpot dictator kind of evil.

Cliché evil overlords and edgy Elliot Rodger clones are overdone.

 

[AetherVagrant]

I think Witcher would give OP a heart attack.

so many good intentions twisted or punished.

Care to enlighten us on which ones those were?

Spoiler

Witcher 1, Witcher 2 and Witcher 3

Spoiler

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah, thought so.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

I think Witcher would give OP a heart attack.

so many good intentions twisted or punished.

Care to enlighten us on which ones those were?

I can at least think of one. If you don't kill the arrogant entitled Lavallette heir in combat at the start, he will try finding and helping his young step sister later in the game. A captain goes down with his ship and sparing this prick goes against this righteous principle.

 

[AetherVagrant]

Helping the Scoiatel only to find them acting more like Texas hells angels in some parts of the country, when they presented themselves as humanitarian freedomfighters, the kid that gets hanged in the arson quest if you try to appease both sides, in the first game Shani wont talk to me anymore because of some things i did, i assumed our relationship would let her gloss over a couple philosophical differences, it seems like every other quest in which i try to be a white knight it ends up causing at least as much harm as if id took no action, and sometimes when im trying to be an asshole it might be just what the doctor ordered.
the entire town that can be destroyed in the witcher 2.
the choices and consequences-of tend to be smaller dramas and not on the order of causing world-shaking events or upheavals, because Geralt just isnt important or Godlike enough to be a total Chosen One.
I often dont realize the results of actions in Witcher games because theyre often so well written and scripted in (as well as delayed from the actions that triggered them) unless I read about someone else's playthrough or reload from a MUUUCCCHH earlier game and try different choices. but most of the time its so smooth it can seem like no branches were written in at all.

but n/m. tl;dr im sure you know plenty about them so im probably not saying anything you dont know.

 

[treborSux]

The only time I ever remember being emotionally involved in a video game was a platformer, Disney's Magical Quest on SNES. You had to rescue Pluto from a wizard and when you get game over, you have to look at an imprisoned dog. What kind of monster would stop playing?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The game overs in the Final Fight series also made you feel like a total jackass for not continuing, too.

Spoiler

I wonder if the criminal organization is being secretly led by Dick Dastardly. Where's the train tracks?

 

[Haba]

Any aspiring cRPG designers reading this, you should totally make it so that when a player casually loots a peasant's house, the next time they return they'll find the happy family hanging from a tree. Or the father selling his daughter to random passer-bys.

 

[Papa Môlé]

In most generic rpgs, most random npcs are purposely written to be innocent victims who the hero is clearly intended to help. If you get off on ignoring that and deciding to murder poor, struggling farmers for no reason besides the giggles, well, I won't say I'm certain about it but if I had to wager on it I'd bet you are an asshole in real life as well. Moreso, since you are posting on RPGCodex.

Now if the game is either entirely for fucking around in like saints row or is shoving in your face what a nihilistic grimdark world it is where absolutely everyone is a degenerate shitbag then killing everyone for lulz or otherwise is just part of playing the game. If anything, it's combatfags who ignore everything else in the world other than what is maximally efficient as defined by the arbitrary game rules (instead of just, you know, cheating) that are behaving in an autistic manner.

 

[Lemming42]

The point is that as the days pass, it becomes impossible to be the good guy and you're forced to mass slaughter everyone around.

It's possible, although increasingly challenging but you can do it:

 

[Konjad]

In most generic rpgs, most random npcs are purposely written to be innocent victims who the hero is clearly intended to help. If you get off on ignoring that and deciding to murder poor, struggling farmers for no reason besides the giggles, well, I won't say I'm certain about it but if I had to wager on it I'd bet you are an asshole in real life as well. Moreso, since you are posting on RPGCodex.

Now if the game is either entirely for fucking around in like saints row or is shoving in your face what a nihilistic grimdark world it is where absolutely everyone is a degenerate shitbag then killing everyone for lulz or otherwise is just part of playing the game. If anything, it's combatfags who ignore everything else in the world other than what is maximally efficient as defined by the arbitrary game rules (instead of just, you know, cheating) that are behaving in an autistic manner.

What about the games without player being portrayed as THE CHOSEN OF THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD, but some random dude in the midst of events who can't make ultimately good choices, let's say already mentioned Witchers where you get those "morally grey" C&C, or Gothic, where you often act against others, whom also have good intentions, or Pathologic, where it's extremely difficult to save a lot of people and putting them above yourself might yield worse (or better!) results, but you never know that beforehand and the consequences of your actions are delayed in time? Am I asshole for not sharing antibiotics in Pathologic to another person knowing I might need them myself later? Am I a dick for not siding with Scoiatel, believing more harm will come from an uprising than good? Or when choosing the New Camp that constantly robs the Old Camp, because it's not under a tyranny?

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

currently in a new vegas playthrough going the mr house route for the first time

reason im doing that is im a professional courier dammit and i see a job through to the end

if deeds are done that is considered 'evil' then so be it ive got a reputation to uphold that no bullet to the brain can stop

 

[Clockwork Knight]

reason im doing that is im a professional courier dammit and i see a job through to the end

According to Lonesome Road, the main character has this philosophy himself and it didn't end well last time

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

went in to grab edes enhancements at about level 4 then skedaddled

ill be back there........... soon

 

[Makabb]

I can not commit an evil action within an RPG without feeling like a horrible person. It all started when I sold Sulik from Fallout 2 into slavery for about 1200$ during the late 90's. I realized what I had done; I started crying uncontrollably. Mom took my Fallout 2 disc after this. I still played the fuck out of Fallout 2, but I never did anything evil.

I am still like this today; I won't cry if I do anything bad but if I do something that is "evil" 9/10 times I will restart the game, no matter where I am, even if I have put 100+ hours into the game. Is anyone else like this?

 

[OndrejSc]

I am the supreme gentleman.

Fixed.

 

[Luzur]

 

[Rivmusique]

Disturbing amount of people subscribe to the Bethfan "RPGs are about putting YOURSELF in the world of [game]" shit.

 

[Kalasanty11]

Unfortunatelly, often it just doesn't pay off more to be evil rather then goody-two-shoes. Or just selfish. "So, you are saying that you don't need the money we offered you? What a great person you are, have this powerful artifact instead".

 

[Papa Môlé]

Disturbing amount of people subscribe to the Bethfan "RPGs are about putting YOURSELF in the world of [game]" shit.

People have been making self-inserts in tabletop games before there were even CRPGs at all. It's just one style of playing. I personally think that gets boring but whatever.

This is the whole problem with the "what is RPG" thing, is that not only do you have storyfags, combatfags, explorefags and every other kind of lovely faggot imaginable you don't even have a basic agreement on how to even "roleplay" let alone what to do while you are "roleplaying". The label RPG mostly is an accidental thing that was generated in a certain nerd subculture but that subculture consisted of everyone who was interested in something "not mainstream" whether that was making spreadsheets of optimal stats for characters or pretending to be a good dark-skinned elf. Now that RPGs are more mainstream it's obvious there isn't any real coherent understanding of what they are. Something about leveling up and pretending basically.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

So i decided to do dirty work for Decker, i needed the cash. I didn't care as long the pay was decent.
I already robbed the merchant and his wife for the Thieves Cirlce and then decided to keep both, the loot and the cash. The boyscout wannabe thieves had to die. So i didn't even blink an eye, when my first assignment was to eliminate the merchant couple. I showed up at night and let them see it coming. She begged me for her life while her husband was bleeding out. I made it quick for her. I am not a savage. It's nothing personal, just business.

As i was counting the cash for an hour of honest work, Decker briefed me on my next target. Some cultist woman, interfering in local affairs. I skulked around the "church", asked questions, tried to blend in. The countless eyes of all the pilgrims made me do it the hard way. No witnesses, that's how you stay on top of the game in this world.

I started to really like it. I thought I was good at it. So when Decker did not have any more work for me, i switched sides. The sheriff questioned me warily, but i am smooth talker. He needed someone to get the things done and i was available. First, Decker lost his henchman in a bloody bar fight. Then i came for him. He was waiting, smiling in the shadows. It wasn't much of a fight, but i got a few scratches and the glory of a local hero. Good people of the Hub were buying me drinks. "Hero of the wastes", "last, best hope of humanity" they called me. I moved on, as always. There are more jobs out there. And i always make my cut...

 

[Ismaul]

People have been making self-inserts in tabletop games before there were even CRPGs at all. It's just one style of playing. I personally think that gets boring but whatever.

Self-inserts aren't always a bad thing in tabletop, if you're willing to roleplay not only who you are now / who you hope to be, but what you might do faced with hard choices that threaten that. And then when your choices and their consequences change your character, maybe it has an impact on you / your thinking afterwards.

I played an idealist / pro-democratic leader in a friend's campaign focusing on survival, ended up getting fucked by others (players and NPCs) not respecting group decisions. My character realized that democratic decisions need to be enforced so they're respected, and finally became a benevolent dictator doing bad things for the good of his people. Had to murder player characters for the good of the group. Nice turn.

But usually that's not possible in cRPGs.