Some thoughts about the Dark Side

[Captain_Marley]

Just so you know, I am darkside in real life, I just don't make it obvious.

 

Well, atleast it's good that you're being honest about it

 

Seriously though, I must say that many of the posts here has been very interesting reads

[Zitori]

Is it really true that these game decisions do not affect our RL decisions? Something to think about.

 

I feel Bioware has lifted real world problems all around and put them in the game. I do not want to get political - but torturing prisoners of war, civilian casualties, land disputes, condoning slavery etc. are very much real world problems. I find it tough to believe that the people who make the DS decisions without flinching and giggle about it later, understand the implications of their choice, and will choose the opposite choices in RL.

 

There must be some reason why there are twice the number of Imperials than the number of Republics on every server. The movies were all pro LS so perhaps the pull of the DS is really stronger than we think.

[Volkeren]

This is why they have ESRB ratings on games. If you are old enough to play the game then most people will have no problem discerning between fantasy and reality.

 

When I design a character I like to choose how he is going to act (good/neutral/evil bastard) and then act out situations on how HE would react in situations like that. It's fun to get inside a character's head to play out different roles.

 

If however you are playing a character based on your own personality, then how you act in RL will reflect in your character and not the other way around.

[underdogwin]

Don't bend the spoon. Bend the world around the spoon.

[Niddhog]

I tend to agree with the OP. I've always had a high level of empathy, and I find it very hard/distressing to play as evil/sadastic in a game. I just can't. I always imagine the consequences/pain it would have caused irl. Its like with the GTA games, where I had friends giggle with glee as they banged a ****** then killed her for the money back. WIN WIN! They say. I thought it was atrocious. I also found myself watching them more closely.

 

Maybe other people can fully disconnect and just get into the role? I tend to think its more to do with sublimation. Like someone else said in a different post... hes a nice guy all day every day, so in video games he plays a raging ******e. People don't let themselves act bad irl because of societal pressures/conforming to the norm/fear of consequences. So in the virtual world they go all out evil to (safely) exorcise those darker, baser, instincts of theirs they can't use otherwise.

 

As an aside, Freud suggested this as the reason why sports are so popular. They are the sublimation (peaceful and socially acceptable way) of (channeling) peoples' aggressive urges. Instead of invading the neighbouring city, you beat the **** out of their football team! Just think about how rapid some fans get about their favorite team, especially if you have friends/family members that support your favorite teams rivals. Down south in Mississippi, there is a huge rivalry between UAB/LSU. Every time the two play facebook explodes with GEAUX TIGERS/ROLL TIDE back and forth, taunts, jeers, accusations of foul play/hasty defense of team, more taunts, etc. Soccer hooligans, anyone?

 

Oh yes, I'm not a complete goody-goody in games. I've found myself to be a complete virtual kleptomaniac. I'll *********** steal everything that's not nailed down. Then I'll come back with a crowbar and pry up what IS nailed down >D Sometimes I feel guilty about this but I just can't stop :S

[Stormcloudx]

I play on the empire and all my characters, including my sith, make their choices based upon their personality and how well it will help the empire. Of course my Bh is more on the side of credits, but still has a heart and honor code.

 

Both my two sith, my agent, and my bh all make a mix of LS and DS choices. My marauder finally hit DS 1 after ending balmorra, and my BH hit LS 1 on Nar shadda. It took so long because they choose based upon themselves.

 

Dark side doesn't= auto worse possible choice.... that's a simplified thing for the black and white element.

The truth of the dark side is allowing the use of your emotions as power... plain and simple.

[Eliezer]

From my view, and pretty much all the people I've chatted to about it- given that there's a gear advantage to play one or the other fully, they might as well make it a toggle on the character creation screen

 

The Gear Advantage is a lie.

 

Aside from the fact that a Neutral character doesn't have easy access to Relics while leveling, there is virtually nothing different except you get access to a vendor with a couple of orange items. Wow! Thank God that I went Light Side 5 or else I couldn't get SHOES!

 

The difference is purely cosmetic. Find any list anywhere that states that a Best in Slot item is only available from the Light or Dark vendor.

[Dominoris]

Given what they had to work with, i thing Bioware did an ok job of it. Sure, its pablum. Its watered down, trivialized, mad black and white, but from an entertainment and moralistic standpoint, they did the best they could.

 

And this is exactly the way Lucas wrote it.

[Jorander]

It's interesting how most Empire players I've interacted with seem to take the DS choices as the only valid option. All the time. I myself play as a mostly LS Sith Assassin, and it is not uncommon that people ask me why. Now, it's not exactly a surprise that the Sith are regarded as evil, and therefore the DS choices often seem appropriate. All the Sith npc's in the game pretty much confirm this.

 

This is hardly any news, and not something that bothers me that much. It is however interesting how people argue that the DS way is the prefered one. Or rather, why they think that it's more fun to play as an evil character than someone more balanced or even good.

 

The argument tends to be something along the lines of: "In real life I'm a good guy, so in a videogame I'd rather be the opposite". Although understandable it doesn't explain why that would make you automatically choose sadistic or otherwise pure evil actions.

 

A friend told me that he picks all the evil choices because he is "playing a role", and that it's "only a game" which makes it okay. This is of course partly true, but at the same time it's a role that you yourself choose or even create. So it kind of has to be based on what you enjoy and want to play as. There is nothing strange with wanting to be the bad guy for a change, but there are some really disturbing choices that you have to make in order to be fully DS, and that people are willing to make. Does this not at all reflect a part of their personality?

 

As a LS Sith Assassin I play a role aswell, and I do things that I obviously wouldn't in real life. But I never pick options that are sadistic or overly cruel. This is because that despite the game being just that - a game - and not real life, I still feel that it reflects a certain kind of reality. Therefore it seems kind of disturbing that people enjoy the sometimes extremely evil DS choices, without any connection to what it represents or would mean in a realistic setting.

 

Maybe I'm overanalyzing this though. It could indeed be a desire to max out either the LS or DS for gear, and a Sith is obviously closer to the DS. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see what the rest of you have to say about this, and the reasons why you play either LS or DS.

 

You should look up method acting, and consider the concept in context of really scary and nasty antagonists. Might put some of this into perspective.

[Jorander]

There is no such thing as Light or Dark side in SWTOR. No matter what you are you are forced to fix everybody's problems. There is no choice, and therefore no real consequences. If I kill this NPC just for the fun of it or I let them live and probably do more of their work for them the end result is the same: the quest is done and I receive the same rewards one way or the other.

 

If I had true choice I would tell 90% of the mission givers to go F--- themselves, question their intelligence, question their sexuality, gawk over their mother's obvious incestual background, and proclaim their laziness for all around to hear. Much like I do in the real world.

 

Plus, it's as simple as Sith are designed to be one extreme and Jedi the other. That's the basic Star Wars structure and currently there are no real options for being anything other than those two ends. You will gimp yourself on gear choices and the stories have no room for Sith who want to convert or Jedi who fall. Simple as that.

 

No offense, but I hate people like you. See that kind of thing on the internet all the time and I can never help but think. "how intellectually dead must one be to reach that point?"

 

Also, you don't gimp yourself on gear choice by running contrary to what might otherwise be considered a standard alignment. There are options for everyone....save for those dirty neutrals.