The Psychology of Dark Side Vs Light Side Players in Games

[Jandi]

Surely the point is he'd adjust / disprove his thesis based on responses ... granted a forum is likely one of the worst places to solicit responses.

 

The real point is, that there is no basis for it in the first place. in the 15 or so years that I've played games online, there has never, ever, been a trend of personalities based on faction, class or gender of your character. You are just as likely to meet a cool, laid back and friendly guy playing a paladin as you would a selfish, aggressive and arrogant jerk. Just like you are just as likely to meet the same people playing some evil necromancer or whatever.

 

Associating *any* personality traits with a character in an MMO is foolish and is based on nothing but *your* personality and preconceptions.

[Gabrielnz]

It would actually be an interesting study to put people through personality scales and then measure them against the choices they make in a game like this or the new spec ops game coming.

 

Chances are extremely high you won't learn anything particularly useful though, in this game I make some pretty dark choices but it's not me

[Rhata]

In my humble opinion I think most people disassociate themselves with the actions that their characters make in games, but I can see where you're coming from. As someone who has played multiple RPG's that have alignment systems, I have played a split of good characters and bad characters, but some of the "bad guy" decisions I couldn't bring myself to do. For example I always kinda see myself as a Hannibal Lecter sort of evil or insane in the regard that my person is evil but not a jerk. If the voices in my head told me to burn down an orphanage because it got in my way I would have no qualms with that evil decision, but in conversation choices when your companion makes a good suggestion and the "evil" choice is something along the lines of "Shut up and speak when spoken to!" I could never bring myself to do because I have no qualms in the world about being completely insane and/or evil but had some character. On a side note though my friend who stops by and plays a sith inquisitor but is going light side responses and it cracks me up every time the NPC that he interacts with seems to be fed up him being obedient and polite. Edited February 21, 2012 by Rhata

[Slaunyeh]

In my experience, they -usually- are aggressive, type A personalities. They are often more competitive, and can also - especially at younger ages - be more abrasive. My best friend for many years fit this, and I can recall he would always play evil characters. There's other friends I know who are like this as well - and they all seem to share similar personality qualities.

 

 

My Sith are all deeply dark side. Light Side Sith just feels wrong to me.

 

My Agent is very much pro Empire and will do anything to promote his superiors' agenda. He does really despise the Sith though (damn psychos muck up everything they touch, leaving it to Imperial Intelligence to clean up the mess). This leads to predominantly dark choices, with the occasional light side choice for the "good of the Empire" or to subtly spite a Sith lord.

 

My Bounty Hunter is a reliable businessman. Once he's accepted a contract, he carries out said contract. He doesn't screw his client over for more profit, but he also doesn't care about pleas of innocence. Business is business, and getting a rep for going back on your client is not how you stay in the Hunter business. This had lead to a fairly even mix of light and dark side choice, keeping him very close to 0 alignment.

 

I don't have any republic characters, but if I did, I suspect my first character would be a dark jedi. Having grown up with the original trilogy and the WEG SW RPG, before all this Sith business, I like fallen jedi better than Sith. So yeah, that would definitely be my first, a prideful youth who is a little too eager to become the best swordsman in the galaxy, or some such.

 

My second character would probably be a light side jedi, because hey, that's jedi for ya. This would probably be my only light side character, as any scoundrel or troopers are bound to turn out neutral-ish (again, being old school, I don't really like the whole light/dark-side thing for non-force users anyway).

 

So that's me, being predominantly dark side.

 

However, I'm just about the exact opposite of what you describe above, and honestly, don't appreciate the veiled suggestion that people who play evil characters are raging sociopaths. This is, essentially, the "people who play opposite gender characters are weeeeeird" discussion. The short version is this: There isn't necessarily any deep profound psychological reason why people play certain characters. A guy who prefers Dark Side characters isn't more (or less) weird than the guy who prefers Light Side characters.

 

 

I'd also like to know from DS players - when you make 'evil' decisions, how do you feel about that internally? Again, the idea of enjoying doing the 'evil' thing feels so alien and..unnerving to me that I never find enjoyment out of it, so I suppose I'm genuinely curious what the thought process is, so I can understand.

 

No offence, but if I was having that kind of reaction to even mildly DS choices, I'd be a little worried.

[sly_swg]

I should start by saying at the beginning that I'm a philosophy and religion major, which is what spawned this thought in my head. I wanted to have a discussion with some people on analyzing/understanding people who choose dark side vs people who choose light, as I feel it's not a random choice. It seems to actually have to do with personalities, insofar as I can see.

 

Let me start by saying that in games, I'm generally always the 'good guy'. In fact, taking 'evil' options tends to make me feel a little sick inside, and I get this awkward 'wrong' feeling that makes me not want to play. I've tried to do evil characters, but I just never enjoy it.

 

This isn't a judgment on DS players, but in looking at those who do I've noticed a few traits to form this thesis : People who play 'evil' characters on video games tend to do it on most/all the evil/good games they play, and tend to fit certain personality patterns.

 

In my experience, they -usually- are aggressive, type A personalities. They are often more competitive, and can also - especially at younger ages - be more abrasive. My best friend for many years fit this, and I can recall he would always play evil characters. There's other friends I know who are like this as well - and they all seem to share similar personality qualities.

 

Has anyone noticed this? What do any DS players think of this perception?

 

Addendum:

 

I'd also like to know from DS players - when you make 'evil' decisions, how do you feel about that internally? Again, the idea of enjoying doing the 'evil' thing feels so alien and..unnerving to me that I never find enjoyment out of it, so I suppose I'm genuinely curious what the thought process is, so I can understand.

 

I noticed both in swg and wow that "light" side players tended do be a lot more grieving *****, and "dark" side were much more sociable players with better developped sense of humour...

 

also playing dark lowers the risk of running into RL religious freaks another plus...

 

I for one am mr. goodie 2 shoes in RL, but usuall a dark side char ingame

[dazednconfuzed]

as far as personalitys go, I'm more of a type B personality.

(I have to admit, I'm kind of oblivious at times too, so I don't always pick up on other people's feelings.)

 

From your quote about type B personalities, I think that sums me up pretty well too, but I also play the Dark Side. Mine is an Agent though, and playing him evilly really does suit the character.

 

My decisions on whether to go light or dark is determined during character creation. I'll decide then if I want a character to be a goody two shoes, or an evil git, or even if I'm going to let the character develop on it's own and choose conversation options as and when required. I can't say going Dark makes me feel sick or anything. If anything, the more unusual DS options, I am actually quite impressed with. Well done Bioware for actually putting that kind of stuff in the game instead of wussing out and making the DS options be just killing people.

[Pelyrica]

Most of you peeps know the REAL reason why you play DS. I play it so that I can test everyone's reactions based on what seems funniest to do. Going against the "expected" outcome with a wildcard answer is almost always funny in MMOs. Sure - you don't receive plus points at times, but let's face it - that's what gifts and farming lowbie flashpoints are for. I mean, regaining those pts are - well.. Do I really have to say?

 

I mean, being a ******** to Darth Baras... Let's just say my brother can't stop laughing. Everyone wants to break out of their shell and be something they know they can't normally be - and get away with it once in a while.

 

There are those who just want to be so "goody-goody" also just see how ridiculously close to "holiness" the game will allow you to get. Not that anyone really cares about it anyway, but you do get a sense of how to judge the game based on it. Is being so "good" always realistic or feasible? C'mon... If that were the case - some of us wouldn't be maniacs in GTA IV.

 

Either way, everyone in some regard either wants to be a stand-above-the-rest good guy or a rebellious independent cool kid. Face it - that's REALLY why we pick. lol:D

[Youra]

don't be scared of ''dark side'' guys, in my opinion, none of them would even hurt a fly. It's just the opposite, I'm scared of those, who act brave and blablabla cause that's not the way people are ''programmed''

[lorddarklon]

I have noticed that in this game it is not as hard to make darkside choices. In KOTOR I would still make the DS choice but would know that the LS was the right choice.

[Erevan_Kindelar]

I neither agree nor disagree. I know many people playing dark-sided characters in both Republic and Empire settings, who are competitive and abrasive. I also know many light-sided characters whose players are equally competitive and abrasive.

Similarly, I know many light-sided and dark sided character players on both factions who are incredibly helpful and downright "nice". Their character will happily kick a puppy and torture a handicapped person if that is in character, and then spend 2 hours helping a new player learn some of the finer points of the game.

Both groups can also be self-righteous little pr*cks as well.

 

Personally, as an altoholic with 8 Republic characters on one server and 8 Empire characters on another server, I lean more toward the light side than the dark - my Sith are irredemably Dark Side, while my BH and IA characters are variously neutral or Light Side. My Republic Jedi are all Light Side, and my Smugglers/Troopers are a mix of Light and Neutral.

 

My forum posts run the gamut from helpful, informative/educative and patient to short and abrasive (typically when I encounter what I feel to be self-entitled idiocy at the expense of others).

 

My psychology is to try and explore all options and view all sides of an issue. As a person with mild Aspergers Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, I produce stupidly long answers to questions and typically process emotional cues on an intellectual level rather than an instinctive one, which gives me a level of detachment from situations that is not always appropriate for using me as a datum point for a generalised situation.

[Iron-Phoenix]

I've noticed a similar trend in myself, as I am very much in line with the type B personality. In Mass Effect for instance, I tried rolling a renegade Sheperd, though I was never really able to make major decisions without feeling rather queasy. Even in TOR, there have been a few LS choices that have made my skin itch For instance, late in the Trooper story:

 

 

You have the choice between saving around 500 people from a prison, or one minor character, Sergent Jaxo, who has helped you at several points within the story. She also had a minor romance for troopers. Anyhoo, The light side choice was to save the prisoners, and DS was save Jaxo, who was begging for you to save her.

 

One choice that really (and still) gave me chills.

[deathsg]

while this is your opinion OP. I'm going to have to disagree.

 

I think the reason this is, is because like my self, playing on the empire side as an example just feels awkward when you choose light side points as a sith. because of the movies and such, we have the feeling that we go dark because they are considered the "bad guys".

 

also being a Light Side Sith, just sounds so wrong.

 

but needless to say, my personal experience, i go dark on empire side because it just feels 'right' while when i play my republic players, i always end up going light side, because its the way it makes me feel like thats how i want to play this character.

[TKMaster]

I minor'd in psych actually and there are 3 types i find that play the "baddies" in video games (played MMO's for 11 years now, been around a lot of ppl).

 

1) The powerless in real life. They are the bullied, the taunted, and sadly depresed. In video games thay tend to play the "bad guys" as a way to vent thier anger and become the bully, it becomes a way to reverse the role they have in real life.

 

2) The bully themselves. Bullies like...well bulling, No bully will ever go home and cry him/herself to sleep because thier sad about the ppl they've belittled and degraded over the coruse of the day. They also, if they play video games, will tend to play the "bad guys".

 

3) The nice guy. Many times nice, well adjusted ppl will play a baddie just to escape thier normal reality, and sometimes like the bullied to vent a little anger (but no where near the lvl of the bullied).

 

On a side note the "good" side is usually less populated because its more of a less diverse feild of players that make them up.

 

At least thats what i've found in my time in the genre but is in no way absolute...because only sith deal in those!

Edited February 21, 2012 by TKMaster

[Lightmaguz]

My Jedi Knight is Light Side 3 My Sith Warrior is Dark Side 2, both are 50, explain. =p

[DraydeRhionnan]

So I made some alterations to my original post, and I even tried to add in a comment.. but I'm going to try again.

 

I am -NOT- claiming that 'evil people in real life play evil characters'.

 

There's been some defensive (and even rude) language directed at me based on this perception. If I wasn't clear, I apologize.

 

My claim is that there may be personality traits (not 'evil' ones) that players who play dark side characters share. Again, to state it clearly, my hypothesis is not that these personality traits are traits that are socially considered 'bad' (that these people have a pent up urge to hurt others or something), but rather simple, normal traits (competitive, leadership, or maybe something entirely different than what I imagine).

 

This wasn't meant to be an offensive post, and it wasn't meant to be a 'dark side people are jerks' statement. It's just a thoughtful curiosity about the psychology of choosing light side or dark side.

[maxetius]

The only issue I have is the folks who wonder what you can do with a psychology degree. Ignorance or just trollolol?

[Sathid]

The premise that people are one way or another based on the choice of role DS/LS is not so from what i have seen in this game,granted maybe at first some people thought "Ohh i get to be evilll and mean and kick booty on everyone" i have met very helpful people on both sides.

 

Thing is you have a name attached to that toon and it is very hard to do much in an mmo if you are a jerk,well unless you are some bighead guild leader that holds all the cards to some guild THAT is common.

 

Myself i chose LS for all my toons aside from the latest i roled due to i knew in the begining the Repub would have far fewer players in WZ's,im your kinda lift all boats type of player for instance i go for and help in objectives,not medals in WZ's.

 

From a psychology perspective the sociopaths in online games are the players who use cheats,hacks and degrade others within their mmo community and i have met two in RL that i first met online from EQ2 and lets just say that every perception of them prior to meeting them was true that i had.

 

Thats my two cents.

[MilesTeg_cy]

Isn't it true that the people want to the things in this game which they can not in real life?

 

I believe every person has a tendency towards being good natured(aware that he/she is living in a society) or evil(or careless to other people). That is why a "good" person can feel a uncomfortable if he/she choses a DS character in a virtual realty. And the reverse may be true.

 

There is another truth about human nature. Every good person has a dark side, every "evil" person has a little light in them. Bec. there are no perfect human beings on this world. It is all about the tendencies and the perception of truth around us.

 

 

Doing the wrong thing has a fear in it for some people. Just feels like to be a sinner. It is hard coded to the real character of the person and this real character projects to the characters that they have created in the virtual world. If there is an inconsistency between them the bells start to ring. The ones that are comfortable with the inconsistency is sure about who they are or happy to be a "bad guy" at least here in the virtual world.

[Zag_Stratos]

So no, I have no major in philo and all... I Studied Cinema and worked in gaming industry for 8 years. I even worked on a Star Wars game... So here's my two cent.

 

Back in SWG, my guild was part of the Rebel Alliance and we clearly fought for the good of the galaxy. Saving lives instead of taking them.

 

on SWTOR, we once again reunited to form a new guild and decided to play Empire for a change. At first it was fun, cheesy and a guilty pleasure. Two weeks in, we noticed that most of our members were pure light side even on Empire. After a full night of discussion, it was clear that Empire was not who we were and how as people, felt. We decided to re-roll and re-create our guild under the Republic Flag. Everyone has been extremely happy ever since.

 

By nature, my guys are good people, with families and all... It didn't feel quite us to be suddenly playing a bad guy. It's hard to explain and we didn't bother trying to find millions of reasons, we simply changed because it made our entire guild happier.

 

However, I find that constantly doing what's right is really not easy. It's actually much more challenging and you often have to let it go to make the a just decision. Even in-game, there's a few moments where you just want to click on the dark side option and on a few occasion, the dark side decision felt better.

 

Is it maturity? I can hardly call myself the most mature person

Moral standards? It's a game, who cares about that... or do we actually care?

 

I don't think Empire is filled with one type of people and Republic with another. I know a lot of good people with similar personality as mine that enjoy playing Empire. The only difference is that they laugh at the evil decisions. For them, they see something completely exaggerated and cheesy... a guilty pleasure.

 

Most of my guys said that playing Republic felt more like the movies.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Zag_Stratos

[Entilzha]

Even in Mass Effect, I found it hard to take Shepherd to full renegade but very easy to take him to full paragon. I fall into the type B personality.

 

In TOR, my two Jedi (Sentinel and Shadow) tend to go LS, along with my Trooper (although I took a big DS hit and faction loss with Jorgan when I killed someone who was unarmed but I felt deserved to die). My Smuggler is just a flirtatious, wisecracking gunslinger.

 

My IA Sniper is a "for the good of the Empire" type, so he is grey. My SI Assassin falls into the "bullied" category, so he very much DS. My SW Jug is the honorable warrior type (much like Worf from Star Trek), so he tends to stay in the grey also. My BH (when I finally role him) will be strictly all business.

 

My point to all of this is that any correlation of "personality type == good/evil game characters" is thrown off by people, like me, who want to RP their virtual selves in a game.

 

My characters are choosing their responses based on how I want to play that particular character in general (or at that moment).

[-Fritz-]

Honestly i think you are putting way too much stock into a video game and the choices therein.

 

Honestly to me what makes a lot of the questing in this game boring is the choices we are presented with. I am quite often presented with my 3 choices and none of them are what i would choose, or what i would say.

 

by the time i was level 20 i was mashing space at every turn and answering based on what looked like the pre-determined best choice for my characters progress path. such as always choosing light side when it comes up, regardless of the conversation, because i decided to go light side. i dont even need to hear the conversations, just show me the light side choice so i can click it and im done.

 

 

 

 

Also i dont think you can say a person is sadistic or whatnot else based on what they do in a video game.

 

I remember in grand theft auto 4 when i got niko a girl friend, then proceeded to launch her off the back of a motorcycle multiple times in a row with repeated car accidents.

 

i thought it was so funny that she would always come running back and be like it didnt matter, lets go to her place~ lol..

 

i dont think that makes me a sadistic person. my life is practically dedicated to caring for a disabled family member... its a video game and it was funny...

[Pepperawr]

I chose dark side at least initially, because I find it is more direct about it's intentions. I, and most players come to these games, or at least one of the main reasons for coming, is to master the combat capability and to function well in combat with others.

 

It feels more honest in a sense to play characters who are the initiators or aggressors in said combat. To play full light side, constantly saying "No no I want peace" and then play for hours trying to improve combat capability feels hypocritical to me. We know a resolution will never come because the conflict is what makes these games thrive. I find people who say they want peace and then perpetuate violence in all the same capacity as their warmongering counterparts to be far, far more disturbing.

 

As for light side and dark side options, as a result of the above, I tend to play grey characters. Light or dark options seem to have little effect on in game events. I tend to pick practical solutions and sometimes that means dark side. That said, I don't particularly get off on seeing digital personas suffer.

[info_man]

As a psychologist, I can tell you with great confidence you'll never find the answer to this. I'm not saying this because of your major or your intellect, its just an impossible experiment to conduct on an online forum lol.

 

A few problems right off the bat

1. Self reports are horrid data.

2. Your hypothesis is way to broad.

3. Doesn't seem like you attempted to research any pre existing research.

4. Again a forum, fairly poor rep of a sample size

5. The questions you are asking can easily be dismissed because theres alot of smaller questions within them, all being able to train wreak your larger question if not proven one way or another.

 

I can go on, but thats just a few good examples.

 

If I could give any advice to help you discover your interpretation its that theres a distribution curve (bell curve) to nearly everything.

Some people have deep seeded reasons I'm sure, but many probably went dark side just for the red lightsaber (like me).

 

If your purpose is just to get some opinions and assume people are being honest to form your own opinion thats completely fine...but it wont get much farther then that.

 

edit- To someone who made this comment, studies have shown (moore 2006 I believe) that there is only a tid bit of added aggression for those who play video games and it goes away within 10 min. This compared to say watching sports is ...insanely less aggression formed. In short, video games cause alot less aggression then really any other activity aside maybe drawing.

Edited February 21, 2012 by info_man

[Psloan]

i chose DS cause i heard teh ladies put out more

[TalonSaber]

I'd be interested in why someone believes that ones morals can be deduced

 

by what choices they make in a video game, i' d be even more interested in knowing

 

why someone could not play an evil character because they themselves feel they are good

 

and that by playing it they would be somehow risking or devaluing that goodness.