Sucker for Evil

It's hard to say what the appeal is to playing as an evil character in a video game. Wait, I take that back - it's incredibly easy to say what the appeal is, it's just really awful to admit.

I was a big fan of Fallout 3 - I didn't play it too many times, but when I did I could get lost in it for hours. I finally understood why all those gamers could spend 8+ hours a day playing video games. It's additive. Right now I'm playing inFamous, another fun game that I've spent a lot of time playing. It's the only game where I've almost caught up to Julien in game progress (I have my own game file, of course). Considering his deep love of video games, that's saying a lot.

What's unique about both these games, versus other games of Julien's that I don't enjoy playing, is that in both of them you have a choice: you can play as a good guy, or a total shithead.

Well, I guess I'm a shithead.

In both of these games my character has ended up as the most evil incarnate asshole imaginable. I've enjoyed enslaving people, killing civilians and destroying lots and lots of random shit. When I run around the inFamous universe, people scream and run away at the sight of me, yelling that they don't want to die. But they die. Oh boy, do they die.

It's very very very odd, considering my personality. I like to think of myself as a kind individual who values the lives and well beings of others greatly. And yet, in this game universe, nothing matters but my own survival and petty amusement.

People often say that when you live your life through the digital world, i.e. chat rooms, Facebook or video games, you often project an image of yourself that you would either like to be, or you create someone that you could or would never ever be. It's the whole idea that we can create another soul, another version of ourselves that can do whatever they want with virtually (pun intended) no consequences.

(Especially interesting, because some friends of mine, like Armie, say that they could never play an evil character, because they identify too much with their character and feel guilty about hurting or killing others inhumanely.)

Perhaps why I like my characters to be evil, to have that charming side of barbaric self-preservation is because, deep down, that's someone I could never ever be ... but perhaps someone I might want to.

What type of character are you?