Why do so many play Empire?

[LionRampant]

The evil side always has more players. Why? Beats me.

 

No need to beat yourself - Mythic's glamourising of the Sith (and Chaos in WHO) was the reason why the evil side has more players. It's really not rocket science.

[Marinus_]

My guild said they were rolling Empire.

 

So I said ok.

 

And then I rolled Empire.

[Hoodlumpriest]

Same reason more and more people tend to make evil characters in games and goes anti-democratic when they feel they can safely and anonimously express it.

 

Western civilization is decadent, it's dying. People subconsiuosly feel it, demand change, are revolting against current order.

 

As art shows society's condition so does "avatars" people create.

 

Interesting thoughts.. and true to boot

[Karkais]

I wanted to make a movie villain long before I even got the game.

[Asuka]

Because I'm simply evil and Empire has cookies?

[LionRampant]

I played Midgard.

 

I played Horde.

 

I played Destruction.

 

I played Criminal.

 

All my D&D characters are Lawful Evil

 

I think you may see a pattern here.

 

You probably need "councilling".

[Putok]

I think most play empire because it looks cooler, the stories are cooler, and the classes are cooler. Would you rather shoot lightning, or throw pebbles? Would you rather be Boba Fett, or the SW universe equivalent of a Red Shirt? Stereotypical Mary Sue/Gary Stu hero story, or a more versatile villain/hero/anti-hero story?

 

Biggest issue: Unique, cool, attractive gear, or plain, ugly gear?

[Vikassi]

My thought was younger kids would play republic and i wanted to stay away from that.

[Magnouss]

It came down to pixels and voices. I can't stand the look of JK/Sage... I know its Lore friendly, but I don't have to like it. The male voice-overs for Republic mostly sound like a bunch of sissies, except for Trooper.

 

So I like the look of my Empire (Light-side) humans and prefer their voices, even the SI voice (over Sage)... ehhh.

 

EDIT: On top of that, the Republic side has a bunch of Lore trolls that tell you how to play. Why can't I play dark-side Jedi without someone trying to give me a freaking Lore lesson every hour? I'd rather deal with the Chick Norris fans and just put them on ignore.

 

Agreed on the male VOs for Republic. Was playing as Jedi Knight with a friend of mine and he asked me if I would switch to a female character because he hated my voice so much.

 

There is so much more going on here than just good vs bad. At least on how it appeals to me. The storylines, VO, animations, gear, ships. Nearly everything is done better on the Empire side. Couple that with a lot of people wanting to play evil and you get a big imbalance. I'm playing both Republic and Empire characters, but I want to play Republic exclusively. It just isn't as fun. Give me the option to switch sides and I will switch my Empire characters to Republic.

 

I've read some people say that Bioware devs play Empire. It makes me wonder if that is why Empire is so much cooler. Not because they wanted to make it that way intentionally, but because you tend to do your best work on stuff you are more passionate about.

[Westinftw]

Empire looks cooler? My space cowboy says otherwise.

 

Also, when Star Wars Galaxies came out a lot of the 'kiddies' rolled a Jedi. Therefor, a lot of current Empire players wanted to get away from that in hopes to balance the population. And well, I don't blame them.

Edited January 18, 2012 by Westinftw

[techslave]

For reason #1 I tried to play republic several times. For reason #3, I chose Empire. Too many Jedi Lore know-it-alls telling you how to play. And the Hobo look is terrible IMO.

 

I agree with the hobo thing, but you prefer the emo "black soul, my life is pain" leatherboy look?

[Wharmaster]

You probably need "councilling".

 

isn't that the thing that brings free-thinking people into line with the popular culture herd mentality???

[TheHeadCapper]

My thought was younger kids would play republic and i wanted to stay away from that.

 

I think you were exactly on the opposite side of what actually happened.

[MorbidcLown]

Because The Sith Empire is open about their evil ways. I see the Jedi as honestly more backhanded then the Sith.

 

A Sith will stab you in the back and take your piece of cake.

 

A Jedi will stab you in the back but spend a few days influencing the other party members to side with them so that when they do stab you in the back for that piece of cake, they can explain to you that they took your piece of cake for your best interest so you don't get cavities because if the Jedi wasn't there you would make nothing but mistakes and you need him there or else.

 

At least this is how I've viewd the Jedi Order.

Edited January 18, 2012 by MorbidcLown

[Gorgewall]

There are a lot of responses here to the effect of "they are/look cooler". "Cool" is not something you can define objectively, it's relative to the viewer. Consider what things we know are on the Empire that people are defining as "cool," and then extrapolate what kind of people they must be to fancy this:

 

Names like: Darth Murderskull Bloodkiller; Bobbafatt Pizzathehut

Purple lightning. More purple lightning. Even more purple lightning. All of your abilities are purple lightning.

Clothing that is almost entirely red and/or black

Helmets made of meat

Quests about dipping skulls in blood

All EVIL, all the time

Bloodkillmurderskulldeathfrenzyslaughterevil

 

I submit to you that the people most likely to identify with this stuff or think it's "cool" instead of just trying too hard to be evil are either mentally unbalanced in some way, or 13.

 

I'm OK with the Empire having more players when I know the surplus has to stop to do algebra homework. It's like Alliance in the first two or three years of WoW: lots of players, but also lots of bad players.

[Avatorius]

I come from a pvp MMO where the vast majority of people rolled "light side" (nothing starwars related). And I kind of thought it'd be the same in this game... so I rolled "the bad guys". Alas, things didn't go the way I expected

[Deluged]

Today I was on the Jawa Ballon going for a ride to collect a DC. On board were a couple of Imperials. A Sith Inq. and a BH.

 

Me, a shadow consular and another Reb. We looked comical next to the imps. Have you seen the Consular head gear and the wedding dress we have to wear? We look ridiculous next to them.

I believe even the developers put more into the bad-guy side. They just look more fleshed out and cooler. Add the better story lines...better questing zones...better voice overs..I think you can see why us poor Rebs are the red headed step children of ToR...

Edited January 18, 2012 by Deluged

[MoistMuffin]

I never once considered playing Republic. As a kid my Star Wars favorite character, albeit small bit, was Jabba the Hutt cause I was like 5 when Return of the Ewok Merchandising came out. That said as I watched the movie in my teen years I really like Han Solo. Fast forward a few decades to the latest movies and clone wars TV series and I came to this realization that the Empire and Sith lore appealed to me a lot more and seemed to make a lot more sense (minus the rule of two).

 

Also, I like the sound of proper english over american.

[Derilictus]

I play both. Empire sees more action from me, because I can not get into the acting of the Republic / Jedi. Their responses are;

 

1) Preppy Brown Noser and Naive

2) Douchebag Adolescent

3) Concieted Whiney *****

 

The Empire have these kinds of responses

 

1) Get It Done

2) Careless - non invested

3) Peace is a lie, and I don't lie (killer)

[Aisar]

Empire is evil

Republic is good

 

That's all I need to know. I play Empire.

[Wharmaster]

There are a lot of responses here to the effect of "they are/look cooler". "Cool" is not something you can define objectively, it's relative to the viewer. Consider what things we know are on the Empire that people are defining as "cool," and then extrapolate what kind of people they must be to fancy this:

 

Names like: Darth Murderskull Bloodkiller; Bobbafatt Pizzathehut

Purple lightning. More purple lightning. Even more purple lightning. All of your abilities are purple lightning.

Clothing that is almost entirely red and/or black

Helmets made of meat

Quests about dipping skulls in blood

All EVIL, all the time

Bloodkillmurderskulldeathfrenzyslaughterevil

 

I submit to you that the people most likely to identify with this stuff or think it's "cool" instead of just trying too hard to be evil are either mentally unbalanced in some way, or 13.

 

I'm OK with the Empire having more players when I know the surplus has to stop to do algebra homework. It's like Alliance in the first two or three years of WoW: lots of players, but also lots of bad players.

 

 

This is inane. You're labeling people who think differently than you as either "unbalanced" or adolescent.

 

Some people simply enjoy the darker side of life. It's a matter of taste, or preference, and who the hell are you to sling derogatory comments at them for it??

 

I'm sure your TV-watching friends feel the same way when calling you a "nerd" for sitting at a computer playing games.

 

Different strokes for different folks, man.

[ZephyJackal]

I just wanted a double ended Light saber... that was red....

 

You do realize, don't you, that all you have to do is play a Jedi Shadow darkside?

[Kelticfury]

I've heard from alot of people that Empire is the majority of the players ingame, don't know if that applies to all servers or whatever but if that's so then why?

 

Evil will always win because good is stupid -Dark Helmet

[LionRampant]

isn't that the thing that brings free-thinking people into line with the popular culture herd mentality???

 

Yes but in this case the herd-mentality is Sith, and the free-thinkers are Republic.

[crimsonwrath]

Well There are many reasons why I chose Empire mainly.

 

A. Liked the concept art for the Empire side armor better.

B. Empire has bounty hunters.

C. I'm an official member of the Mandalorian Mercs irl, so rolling one in game was natural.

D. Shooting lightning > throwing rocks.

E. Empire in general seemed to get cooler companions by far (Vette, Jaesa, Doc Lokin, Blizz, Xalek, SCORPIO)