In this episode:
Luke is still doing battle with Computer gremlins
Mike and Brett talk about Assassin’s Creed, Dishonored, and Torchlight 2 before discussing their past experiences with exploring what it means to be evil with anti-heroes and villains.
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I have a very difficult time playing “evil” characters: I just can’t empathize with them.
Some games I think of are Fable III, the KOTOR games, Skyrim… but also strategy games like Total War. In all of those, I have tried to play the evil course, but didn’t like the characters I was portraying. Yes, villains are needed for a good story, but they are usually part of the game-master/story-teller portion.
I much prefer being called to do something great or unselfish by the evil that I need to face. I think it is a form of training when I have to decide to NOT get that magical weapon, or power up that skill by killing someone just so I can get that upgrade. …practicing that sacrifice, though extremely minor, is a way of ingraining that mindset.
When playing Civ I always play random leader and tailor my play to the leader. As an ardent pacifist I find myself chastened often. Playing my way through a a cultural or scientific win there always comes a time when an aggressive nation attacks and I almost always respond by crushing them. Video games teaching life lessons, what do you know?