vertigofm Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I'm having a little trouble understanding why and Imperial Agent (or soldier) would serve the empire? What does the empire offer? Is it truly evil- or is it just controlled by evil people (Sith). I'm not a "Star Wars Expert", so any explanations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jollycynic Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 To most people, the empire is simply an authoritarian government that has a strong track record of gaining territory and winning battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pursang Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Why does anyone support a totalitarian government? They don't know better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitewolfe Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I'm having a little trouble understanding why and Imperial Agent (or soldier) would serve the empire? What does the empire offer? Is it truly evil- or is it just controlled by evil people (Sith). I'm not a "Star Wars Expert", so any explanations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks George Lucas the man who created the star wars IP said it best. Star Wars is a classic good verse evil story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owera Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Would have to ask why the soldiers of Nazi Germany served in the army to answer the question fo why the imperials do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
origional Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 This is way too much of a political discussion in the making. The Empire isnt evil, its simply a strict and harsh regime. It doesnt mistreat its people as long as they live by the rules, but its tough on those who dont. The sith - well I dont know what the sith are supposed to be. In this game they come across as whiny cowards whose highlight in life is to call pope names all day long. The scripting is horrific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red_Cruiser Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Experimenting on sentient beings and endorsing slavery is probably about as evil as it gets. Listening to people rationalize the Empire as not being evil are probably the same people who don't have a problem with the U.S. Government holding people without a warrant, putting cameras on every corner and harassing old people who want to fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marak Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 If we take the Force Users out of the equation.. Star Wars is a story of a corrupted bureaucracy with a more or less free people fighting a totalitarian single minded war machine that has very little time for civil liberties. You have to expand on your definitions of good and evil to classify either one. To some, the Empire is efficient and does its best to provide for its people regardless of cost. This isn't inherently evil from a naturalist perspective. These people need to eat and they eat by force. Carnivores. However, when you add the force users back into the equation.. yes it's good vs. evil. One of the worst parts of Bioware's story, in my opinion, was neglecting to add more Light Sided policy makers to the Empire and more Dark Sided to the Republic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMFK Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I've played on the Empire side both as a murderous psychopath and as a 'light' Sith and on Republic side as mostly light. I find this topic quite interesting. The more I play, the more I realize that it's really not as black and white as 'Republic good; Empire bad.' It's true that many people who are in power in the Empire are corrupted by the dark side, which makes them flat out insane in most cases. It's also true that there are a lot of good and honorable people in the Empire who are trying to 'cleanse' the corruption or fight the good fight. I personally think it's more gratifying to be the proverbal light in the darkness. Most people on the Republic side EXPECT you to be a good guy, so when you do good things it doesn't have much meaning...you're just doing your job. If you 'do what it takes', people treat you like you're the worst villain EVAR! When you do good deeds as part of the Empire, people are surprised...thankful...hopeful even. There is also no shortage of 'scum and villainy' on the Republic side as well. I was actually surprised how ruthless some of the Jedi commanders were...doing what it took to satisfy their needs. Some of the Rep commanders asked me to do very brutal things for no other reason than to 'teach those Empire scum a lesson.' Corruption...greed... vengeance...terrorism...redemption. These exist on both sides. Perhaps I'm over-thinking here, but I'm pretty sure BW developed the story like this on purpose to fuel arguments just like this one. Lesson learned: Power is dangerous in the wrong hands. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
origional Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Experimenting on sentient beings and endorsing slavery is probably about as evil as it gets. So your against animal testing and peopel having to work for a living then - I approve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pursang Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) So your against animal testing and peopel having to work for a living then - I approve. I was dumbfounded at first by this post, then I realized you were just joking. Edited January 28, 2012 by pursang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explosive_Lasers Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 If you're raised to believe something your entire life, and it's all you know, and the other government has always been said to be evil and oppressive throughout your life, you aren't going to question your country's morals. Slavery? Don't all governments allow it? No? Well, they must be evil. Racism? The Republic lacks it? Disorganized bastards! Oppressive nobility? Again, the Republic has none? Who's running that place, the peasants? So, look from the agent's viewpoint. He was raised in the Empire. His parents probably told him the Empire was great. He wasn't a slave, or received any prejudice, so he probably thinks that slaves and the victims of racism ARE lesser people, BECAUSE OF HOW HE WAS RAISED. So, in his eyes, everything the Empire does is morally correct, justified, and completely flawless. It's not because he's evil. It's because he never knew anything else. The trooper companion, Elara Dorne, helps hammer my point in: She had always been told that the Republic were oppressive war criminals and evil bastards. She never knew any better, and always believed it, until she finally got fed up with the Sith and defected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
origional Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I was dumbfounded at first at this post, then I realized you were just joking. I'm not joking - im simply not socialy conditioned and have the capacity to think for myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaoDarach Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 There is no evil, nor good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almenac Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I'm not joking - im simply not socialy conditioned and have the capacity to think for myself. Does any current civilization do similar testing to other humans as they do to lab rats? Does the regime take you out back to be shot if you refuse to clock in at 9 AM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawkis Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Check out the timeline. http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/timeline To the general populace the Republic are bloody minded butchers, the Empire populace has some fairly good reasons for this line of thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holographallstar Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I think the answer to this question lies in how you choose to play your character(s). I've played a Dark Jedi and a light Sith, both of which were equally enjoyable, if only to see options that are contrary to the expected. The most interesting thing that I encountered while playing is just how ruthless some ranking members within the Republic truly are. Ultimately the Empire allows people to play overtly authoritarian characters, while the Republic has more shades of grey. I wish the game rewarded neutrality in the same way that it rewards dark/light. It would be nice to be able to play a grey character that has made both light and dark choices, and not be penalized by lack of gear choices. I think it would be interesting to play a character that chooses dark/light based on each situation, rather than attempting to reach dark/light V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novafrost_-_ Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Every leader of a country or certain organisation does whatever it takes to stay on top, to keep their gained might and power, because they do not want to lose it. They will tell you something to anything and they try to do everything so that you believe it was the right possible thing. Corruption in an organistion is a very common thing these days. You know, standing up against something you believed which was good/bad does/n't always take guts. There are always others which will believe that you're wrong and they're right, no matter what the proof is (reffering to the corruption part above in post) Best is to see if there is proof and not to do things just by hearing what they say But in a game it's just about having fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessia Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 So your against animal testing and people having to work for a living then - I approve. This man is correct. All the arguments against socialism are that no-one will do any work without a gun to their head. This argument suggests that all work is forced labour, i.e slavery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechavomit Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 The Dark Council seem very separated from the Empire as a whole. So are many Sith. Some quests clearly indicate that Sith won't hesitate to put military missions in danger, sometimes even destroying entire ships just so they can backstab someone. Imperial guys, on the other hand, seem like nice guys. They are loyal, patriotic and the worst part - most of them are ok with being toys for their "mortal gods". Sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBentOne Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Experimenting on sentient beings and endorsing slavery is probably about as evil as it gets. Listening to people rationalize the Empire as not being evil are probably the same people who don't have a problem with the U.S. Government holding people without a warrant, putting cameras on every corner and harassing old people who want to fly. The Republic and the Jedi have both committed atrocitys, they just dont admit to them, or they ratonalize as nessicary. At least the sith own up to the fact that they are horrible people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temeluchus Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Experimenting on sentient beings and endorsing slavery is probably about as evil as it gets. Listening to people rationalize the Empire as not being evil are probably the same people who don't have a problem with the U.S. Government holding people without a warrant, putting cameras on every corner and harassing old people who want to fly. The Republic wouldn't do anything along those lines,would it? Oh wait, yup,it's guilty of atrocities as well. The Voss ringing any bells for you? Or maybe the golden boy Revan, who has gone so far off the reservation he's created an army of droids meant to wipe out everyone with a drop of Sith blood including those who fight for the Republic and unknowingly have Sith ancestry or those that switched sides. Neither the Empire or Republic are purely good or evil, both are just different shades of gray. You can't really paint a whole population of one faction with a broad brush and define them as good or evil. Would you say every German,Italian and Japanese during WWII era was evil or would you say that there was a significant number of bloodthirsty crazies but also a large number of good,well meaning Germans,Itlaians and Japanese that wanted no part in what their governments were doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDTC Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) the republic and the empire arent good or evil. that would be a boring MMO. i mean its hard to say that a government run by creepy pale monsters that shoot lightening and like killing people is not evil, but im pretty sure the sith strata of society is detached from the rest of the empire. the sith empire has billions of citizens. and while it certainly isnt the western democracy most people are familiar with, its not a murderous society founded on deceit and backstabbing. if the empire is going to survive with billions of citizens and hundreds of planets with a giant war machine, it will have to be legitimate in some regards. Edited January 28, 2012 by JDTC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undeadsithdread Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 the republic and the empire arent good or evil. that would be a boring MMO. i mean its hard to say that a government run by creepy pale monsters that shoot lightening and like killing people is not evil, but im pretty sure the sith strata of society is detached from the rest of the empire. the sith empire has billions of citizens. and while it certainly isnt the western democracy most people are familiar with, its not a murderous society founded on deceit and backstabbing. if the empire is going to survive with billions of citizens and hundreds of planets with a giant war machine, it will have to be legitimate in some regards. ironic how wrong you are about this: even the non force users in empire are just as treachous and back stabbing as their sith masters and also racists on non aliens. you be surprised that one commander that vader choked in empire strikes back also planned to betray vader and wanted to take over the empire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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