The Psychology of Dark Side Vs Light Side Players in Games

[Uvirith]

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.

You physically sick when playing a videogame an making an evil choice? Dude, go see a shrink asap

 

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

I play both, DarkSide and Lighside, because of the stories. There is absolutely no mental component involved.

In RL I´m a really balanced persion. I never get in a fight and I barely loose temper.

 

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 feel in RL, I rarely feel in videogames, just like the most of us gamers.

Just think about it, if you start to judge videogames by their morality compared to RL, what game would you be able to play? Certainly no Shooters, no RPGs, no HackandSlay or BeatemUp. Some adventures eventually.

 

In conclusion, you think about gaming from the perspctive of one of this strange republicans trying to convince everyone that gaming is evil. You need to loose this attitude before graduating, thats important.

[Enclone]

Another thing to consider is that the game kind of forces you to take a side, to get the relics and such. I would prefer it to be like Kotor where you don't know if what you're saying is right or wrong. (and I know its in the preferences) there are a lot of times where I want to say A, but B is the alignment that I am, so I just say B for the points.

 

and that's both when I'm on my LS and DS characters. my Merc was grey until ~30 now I'm just choosing DS regardless so I can max it.

[Greylox]

Thats the problem with philosophy and religion; they're not real/sham/made up subjects, just an opinion which is easily over thought. Seems you've done that. I chose dark side because the red eyes and cooler look. Simple.

[curzen]

I have a LS and DS char. did I just blow your mind or what?

 

edit: given that you toss academic cred around, what is the sample size for your "thesis"?

Edited February 21, 2012 by curzen

[dahnu]

Not everyone playing dark side does so because "I'z eevulz ololololol!!!!!!111oneoneeleven"

 

I play my characters like I think they would behave if the situation was real. My BH takes every job that earns her money, but doesn't deviate from an objective no matter how much she is promised to get to do so. It just happens that most choices are "Do your job and earn DS points" or "Betray your client and earn LS points". This character was never ment to be of any particular alignment, she's just a "victim" of the game's design.

 

On the argument that we want to play our characters different than our RL: Is LS really to RLy?

Who does something beneficial to others (complete strangers even, not friends or family members) without beeing promised or expecting anything in return? Far less people than those who shout insults at just about anyone or practise some sort of -ism, I imagine.

[Toonces]

I generally play the good guy, but in swtor I've went both ways, let me elaborate.

 

I went full dark side with my first character, an Inquisitor, largely because I found the dark side choices so comically over the top in beta, I just had to play it out. For my first Republic, I did, or more accurately, am doing the same, again, mostly because doing all these evil things, stuff which would get you thrown out of the order is comic gold to me.

 

That being said, I'm having a tougher time doing this with more subsequent play throughs. My Bounty Hunter, who I had intended to go full dark with, is more grey, in large part because I kinda winced at making a few choices. I'm not entirely sure why this is to be honest, it is a video game after all, but I suppose it would only be human nature to empathize which a characted of your own creation.

 

Of note, I'm not really type a, though I am a pretty competitive person. I played sports my whole life, but I'm not a really agressive person. Otherwize, I'm a rather calm, somewhat reserved, intelectual than anything else.

 

My guild chose empire, one I've been with nearly a decade, so I went with. My dark/light morality choices would have been the same either way really, for the same reasons.

[Xtrema]

Since BW allows all characters, regardless of faction, to be played out as Light or Dark, I think it's a little hard for you to make a connection to real life. The faction choice seems to be more a result of their advertisements and trailers, they pumped up Empire so much and made Republic constantly as the helpless ones being attacked and defeated. I mean, how many Jedi Masters were killed in just the 3 trailers? How many Sith?

 

I would argue that it's not the faction they choose, but the type of character they play. Maybe it's just me but I've seen two cases so far where my roomate and a friend of a friend will always main a stealth character, be it WoW or ToR. And it totally matches their personalities, one never likes confrontations and the other is conservative and opportunistic as can be. The one that doesn't like confrontations will ALWAYS stealth, sneak behind someone, backstab (probably while they're alrdy in combat as well), kill them then talk a LOT of smack. I always think to myself...really? You stabbed them in the back what's there to brag about? But it matches their personalities so much, I have no doubt that if he were to ever get into an actual fight that's how he would do it.

 

So in short, I agree there are possible correlations with real life, but not so broad as the faction they choose. It's more of how they play their character or what kind of character they choose.

[VukMarkov]

I hope you're not trolling us.

 

I'm a true neutral in all games, if i try to roleplay myself. However, i already have enough

of me so i usually create a character and make a personallity for him. Light side, Dark side, all the same. I very rarely feel guilt for creating a darker choice, but it does happen sometimes.

 

In general, i will say that most Sith/OMG IM SO DARK PEOPLE are brats and kids who just want be evuuuuul. Which is fine, Star Wars is for the lolz anyway.

 

I don't get how you can take a game/saga so serious. And i'm a roleplayer, so that's saying something.

[noire]

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.

 

No offence, but your experience is probably very limited (because honestly, I don't think you have gone to any great lengths trying to gather empirical data on this particular topic.) when it comes to the psychology of people who make, what the norm has decided to be, morally wrong chocies. Personally I feel absolutely nothing when pressing either one, two or three when making choices.

 

You majoring in philosophy and religion has very little impact on a topic that belongs in psychology studies. You could just as well said you were a coal miner.

Edited February 21, 2012 by noire

[JustCruising]

I play a sith and I always choose the evil actions because they are far more amusing than the light side options, pure and simple. I'm a fairly laid back type B personality Edited February 21, 2012 by JustCruising

[AnarchIV]

 

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.

 

.

 

I would like to make sure that all what you said above, is only your personal explication of DS players personalities, it is only an observation of less than 10 samples, it is only your explication like you said,

 

So I have no idea about DS players, we need a study with more than 250 DS players to be sure to have results with 5% error margin

[fadingdimension]

It's a video game. It's pre programmed responses with pre programmed answers. The characters have no feelings, emotions, morals, or sense of self. If you really have a serious emotional and physical reaction from the choices your character makes, you should pinch yourself, it's not real.

 

You're killing people in the game all the time. It's the whole game. Would you do that in real life? Even if they were all "evil" or "dangerous" I'm sure it wouldn't be so easy for you to slaughter 100's of humans and creatures. But you know it's just a game. I'm sure you'd feel fairly insulted by someone trying to tell you you're a serial killer waiting to happen, just because you've murdered 100's of "living" creatures in a video game.

Edited February 21, 2012 by fadingdimension

[Lammio]

My Commando is evil, cause he is mentaly ill caused by all the wars he has been in.

He kills innocent people, because he sees them as a threat. and all threats has to be killed.

Yes, even all the semi-aggro driods and beasts.

 

My sentinel is 100% LS, just because he is a Jedi.

 

My Sorc is neutral. yes, he kills people ( a lot), but he doesnt kill innocent people that dont have any affect on the transformation on the Sith Empire.

He takes choices that will improve life for the Siths, but also for all the people that are loyal to the Sith.

 

Since I play multiple characters with different styles, I dont fit in any category of personality.

 

Nevertheless I like to read this discussions, its very interesting to see how people react on it.

 

Nice thread, should be more input from more players (no flaming please)

[spoonguy]

I almost always go good guy ... my main does in this game, but have an Alt where I always choose the dark side option just to see what happens.

 

One thing I've noticed is a few of the decisions that I'd say are for the greater good tend to be dark side ... Light side tends to be help the person right in front of you regardless of the repercussions so not always the 'good' or 'evil' choice.

 

There is also the aspect of pleasing your companions, some prefer law over right/wrong etc ... I remember making on dark side choice that netted me an amazing amount of points with Bowdaar.

[Jandi]

Putting any psychological traits to people who play DS or LS is completely pointless. Many people don't really care about the choices at all, they just want to max out LS or DS points, making any analysis irrelevant. Then there are people who simply go for the most amusing choice instead of the choice they would choose if they were in that situation. Then there are people who RP, making it, again, completely disconnected from any real psychological analysis because they are choosing how an imagined character with imagined psychological traits would choose.

 

As far as faction goes, most people either choose based on videos about character looks or what their guild went with, making any analysis based on faction choice moot as well.

 

This whole discussion and topic is pointless because, until you make a large portion undergo a psych evaluation, everything is purely assumptions and conjecture without anything to back it up.

[MuNieK]

philosophy of sith is not really "evil"... "evil is relative term. The silly sadistic options in dialogues are just missplaced. Sith =/= sadists.

 

The essence of the sith philosophy for me is: People are not equal, and by the very nature of things, weak shall serve the strong - not drag them down to mediocrity.

 

I wholeheartly agree with that philosophy. Socialism makes me work for weak. It is my ball with chain that holds me down. However i dislike needless cruelity which woudlnt profit me anyhow. Its sad that empire dialogues are kind of "take away the candy from children: +50 dark side points".

 

I hope we will get some rewards with requirement: "not more than light level II and not more than dark level II" etc... for all the non-saint and non-sadists.

Edited February 21, 2012 by MuNieK

[Deyjarl]

Making judgments of people based on whether a person plays light side or dark side.

 

This won't end well.

[MuNieK]

I hope you're not trolling us.

 

I'm a true neutral in all games, if i try to roleplay myself. However, i already have enough

of me so i usually create a character and make a personallity for him. Light side, Dark side, all the same. I very rarely feel guilt for creating a darker choice, but it does happen sometimes.

 

In general, i will say that most Sith/OMG IM SO DARK PEOPLE are brats and kids who just want be evuuuuul. Which is fine, Star Wars is for the lolz anyway.

 

I don't get how you can take a game/saga so serious. And i'm a roleplayer, so that's saying something.

 

funny, you sound like a kid yourself

[MuNieK]

Making judgments of people based on whether a person plays light side or dark side.

 

This won't end well.

 

He is not making judgments, he is trying to see how many percent of players' personalities matches how they play their character in virtual reality.

[GavinPatterson]

I like this post, its bringing out good conversation.

I have taken a ton of university courses - pysch, phil etc etc- but something I haveto point out is that a good majority of the people do not understand what there own morals are. Some people do not think ahead, or think out of the box. So act as it comes to them, and other reflect.

So thats one point, another point "The needs of the many, out way the needs of the few - or the one" I believe in this...as I am sure others do to - but in the game as JC more than once i choose the "darkside" option because it meant killing one person, but maybe saving countless others. As a SI my I play quick to the point and carry that ideal with me. I found a shocking number of "moral choices" in the game that I disagree with. I think using a man's family as a bargaining tool to end a civil war thats killing countless others a lightside choice other than just winging it. Hey you cheated on your husband, and slept with an enemy spy who stole top secret plans? yeah, your kinda going to die....

[Kubernetic]

It's an interesting dilemma that you've brought up here. My first two characters in the game, in beta and in launch were Republic characters, and both were played to the Light Side.

 

When I rolled my Imperial characters, I intended to play them to the Dark Side. But as I come across the options for choosing, even though I know it's a game, I still feel a compulsion to choose the Light Side option, or the ones that I'm perceiving as just or good.

 

In some sense I almost feel disappointed... my Imperials (especially my Bounty Hunter) should be ruthless, cutthroat entities... but I just don't get any enjoyment out of playing them that way.

 

That being said, put me behind the controls of Grand Theft Auto 4 and I go on massively wonderful killing sprees with god-mode weapons standing atop the city hall building torching cars, helicopters, and passers by alike.

 

Maybe I'm just conflicted?

[spoonguy]

Putting any psychological traits to people who play DS or LS is completely pointless. Many people don't really care about the choices at all, they just want to max out LS or DS points, making any analysis irrelevant. Then there are people who simply go for the most amusing choice instead of the choice they would choose if they were in that situation. Then there are people who RP, making it, again, completely disconnected from any real psychological analysis because they are choosing how an imagined character with imagined psychological traits would choose.

 

As far as faction goes, most people either choose based on videos about character looks or what their guild went with, making any analysis based on faction choice moot as well.

 

This whole discussion and topic is pointless because, until you make a large portion undergo a psych evaluation, everything is purely assumptions and conjecture without anything to back it up.

 

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.

[thelastradio]

Cool post... This would certainly be an interesting project for a Psychology study if you could obtain the necessary data

 

My experience is kind of strange, I started a Republic character with the aim of turning her evil but the sith corruption made her so incredibly horrible looking that I went back to the lightside

[Numerio]

I read some time ago an article about how players in role playing games tend to live out ideals of what they imagine would be good personality traits to have.

things people want to be (or think would be the right thing to be), but cant live out (sufficient) in real life

 

does it mean a lot of people want to be more evil in real life? not at all, most evil characters revolve around some sort of rebellion, independence, control, misunderstanding, and of course, strength

 

it was a pro-gaming (pro - not "professional" but defending gaming as beeing more usefull than thought) article which came to the conclusion that playing (roleplaying) games actually can help us alot to evolve emotionally (unconsciously and consciously)

 

I think if people reflect on that kind of stuff they really can learn one thing or two about themselfs,

 

I hope I can dig out the article, it was really well written and inspiring

 

but dont get me wrong, thats of course not the only reason why people choose things. like you wrote, alot of people dont care at all what their character is about as long as he looks cool and well suited to beat the ingame content (but again you could read some personality traits out of there too)

 

 

for myself: I mostly play good, helpfull, protecting and reasonable characters (for main), and I think I enjoy it so much is becouse it gives me some extra sort of satisfaction to live out my ideals which I cant in real life.

Most importantly I love the Jedi values, its the combination of strength and selflessness, the desire for harmony and balance, the calm and reasonable way to think what totally gets me

 

I could write alot more about that stuff, but I think I should stop now.. ^^'

[Dark_Exile]

Simply put, if the power of my assassin or marauder were in my hands, i would quite happily crush someones windpipe, who's going to stop me?

So in the parts were i make a choice its not what i would do in a certain situation, its what i would do given the power my character has.

IRL obviously i cant dual force choke someones parents and stab a random person with a large glowing stick, but if i had that power would I? uhhhh yes more than likely.