Sympathetic antihero/villain?
03-18-2010, 07:49 PM
Look up Dungeon Keeper and Overlord. Both are games that take the comedic approach and both deal with building your own army of evil to take on those pesky heroes that just have to try and ruin your evil reign. So, that approach certainly has appeal and draws an audience. There are two things that appeal to people: the novelty of playing for the "other" side and the comedy.
Little to no humor while playing the "evil" side might make your world more realistic/grim, but it might also be difficult for the audience to digest. To some degree, the audience identifies with the hero. They are disturbed by the evil and feel a sense of justice going into that final battle where the hero kicks butt. It might be interesting to see it from the other perspective, but it would also alienate the player a bit. We tend to find common elements with the heroes we play and (save for some) we'd find it hard to find the same common elements in someone who's sick/perverted/evil.
Adding at least some humor would be a good alternative, in my opinion. You'd lighten the mood and draw the audience in. They might be thinking "I wonder what joke he'll be making next" instead of "ooh, such evil person!", but they'll keep playing - and isn't that the whole point?
Little to no humor while playing the "evil" side might make your world more realistic/grim, but it might also be difficult for the audience to digest. To some degree, the audience identifies with the hero. They are disturbed by the evil and feel a sense of justice going into that final battle where the hero kicks butt. It might be interesting to see it from the other perspective, but it would also alienate the player a bit. We tend to find common elements with the heroes we play and (save for some) we'd find it hard to find the same common elements in someone who's sick/perverted/evil.
Adding at least some humor would be a good alternative, in my opinion. You'd lighten the mood and draw the audience in. They might be thinking "I wonder what joke he'll be making next" instead of "ooh, such evil person!", but they'll keep playing - and isn't that the whole point?