The Problem With Mr. Evil
Maybe its just me, but I’m getting tired off all the comic book evil that we have in games these days. Whether youre playing KotOR or Fable youll notice that when you decide to veer to the dark side of the force its pretty obvious that what you are doing is evil . That is to say comic book evil–no grays here, pretty much anyone on the planet would judge the evil action as such. But evil in the real world is all about the shades of grey where otherwise good people keep pushing the boundaries of propriety one inch at a time all the while rationalize and justifying their actions. Its subtle and insidious. And its much more seductive and powerful than what I’m finding in games that offer the choice between good and evil.
Evil people dont think they are evil. An evil player should feel the same way. It creates some interesting dilemmas for game designers–when you are dealing with grays one mans grey is anothers white and another mans black. The grey zone is the area most open to debate and calling something evil or good in that area requires taking a sort of stand. But hell, were already doing it with black and white, why not grey? Would be a lot more fun.