Sympathetic antihero/villain?
03-18-2010, 05:56 PM
So this is a concern I've had in a few stories that I've been working on in my spare time.
A few of my protagonists are technically the villains of the story. (This includes my RPG maker projects, but since this is a more general question and a few of the stories were from plain text or Game Maker, I think this'd count as being non-RPG-maker-related enough. I hope. Sorry if it's not.) For instance, I've been messing around with creating a game where the protagonist is a wannabe/up-and-coming evil overlord in a mildly-cliche-parody fantasy world. (Not as parody-tastic as a game like Jay's Journey, but somewhat. I.e., orcs, elves, dwarves, etc.)
So, I must ask. When you're playing a character in a more story-based game (or reading from the perspective of a villain in a book), how far can the villain or antihero go before you really hate them? For instance, in above example, I plan of having the main character be dark and eeeevil, but with a few vaguely cartoonish/comedic overtones. For instance, he might think it better to beat the tar out of (or maybe kill) an exorbitant toll-taker, but at the same time will go into an indignant rant if somebody calls his robe a "poncho," loves small fuzzy animals such as squirrels, and is constantly put off by the rather unnerving/Genre Savvy musings of his lieutenant/henchwoman (who might suggest things such as "You know, you should see somebody about your monologuing problem. That sort of thing's not healthy. I had an uncle like that. Always talked to himself. He threw himself off a cliff. When we found him, he was a red smear on the ground. We didn't even have enough of him for a proper burial.").
So this, for me, raises two possible sources of problems for a reader.
1: The whole "Wanton destruction" thing, if taken too far, could possibly make the player/reader not care about the character. And I don't think I could give him a Doctor Horrible-esque problem against killing. The main idea I've had for negating this problem is giving the player a choice in the villain's actions (such as "Pay the Toll," "Try to Bargain," "Kill/Rough him up," or "Offer some 'Alternative' methods of payment (:P)"). But this is rather impossible in a book.
2: The comedy might seem a bit out-of-place, which is something that rather worries me. (For instance, I played a game where the protagonist, who wasn't even the villain, killed several innocent people over a prized racing bunny. While they were treating this seriously, I found it humorous, which ruined the effect of the world, which was intended to be really grim and dark and stuff.)
Thoughts?
A few of my protagonists are technically the villains of the story. (This includes my RPG maker projects, but since this is a more general question and a few of the stories were from plain text or Game Maker, I think this'd count as being non-RPG-maker-related enough. I hope. Sorry if it's not.) For instance, I've been messing around with creating a game where the protagonist is a wannabe/up-and-coming evil overlord in a mildly-cliche-parody fantasy world. (Not as parody-tastic as a game like Jay's Journey, but somewhat. I.e., orcs, elves, dwarves, etc.)
So, I must ask. When you're playing a character in a more story-based game (or reading from the perspective of a villain in a book), how far can the villain or antihero go before you really hate them? For instance, in above example, I plan of having the main character be dark and eeeevil, but with a few vaguely cartoonish/comedic overtones. For instance, he might think it better to beat the tar out of (or maybe kill) an exorbitant toll-taker, but at the same time will go into an indignant rant if somebody calls his robe a "poncho," loves small fuzzy animals such as squirrels, and is constantly put off by the rather unnerving/Genre Savvy musings of his lieutenant/henchwoman (who might suggest things such as "You know, you should see somebody about your monologuing problem. That sort of thing's not healthy. I had an uncle like that. Always talked to himself. He threw himself off a cliff. When we found him, he was a red smear on the ground. We didn't even have enough of him for a proper burial.").
So this, for me, raises two possible sources of problems for a reader.
1: The whole "Wanton destruction" thing, if taken too far, could possibly make the player/reader not care about the character. And I don't think I could give him a Doctor Horrible-esque problem against killing. The main idea I've had for negating this problem is giving the player a choice in the villain's actions (such as "Pay the Toll," "Try to Bargain," "Kill/Rough him up," or "Offer some 'Alternative' methods of payment (:P)"). But this is rather impossible in a book.
2: The comedy might seem a bit out-of-place, which is something that rather worries me. (For instance, I played a game where the protagonist, who wasn't even the villain, killed several innocent people over a prized racing bunny. While they were treating this seriously, I found it humorous, which ruined the effect of the world, which was intended to be really grim and dark and stuff.)
Thoughts?