GameBlurg

The column “Curious Kids” will exhibit the inquisitive nature of the GameBlurg staff. To put it clearly: we use this area to present items in our hypothetical “wish list” for videogames as they continue to grow. Things and places, people and situations that we have aimlessly thought upon, wondering if those questionable items had a place in our little world. Here, our heads will lie in the clouds, and our eyes in our dreams.

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Originally uploaded by girlshapedloved

It’s daunting to dismiss the fact that our world is absorbed with the “bad guy”. Documentaries of Adolf Hilter air on the History channel quite regularly, 60+ years after his dictating reign ended. Sephiroth is highly regarded throughout the Final Fantasy universe as one of, if not the, best character among the franchises’ collective roster. All the cool kids agree that local badass Darth Vader is all the rage. Most recently, movie goers were infatuated by the neurotic and deadly antics of The Joker in the Batman: The Dark Knight. For some characters, there is no love between the audience and the characters, but with all, there is an undeniable feeling of…attraction.

These men listed above are the opposition: the easy foe to hate, but they are also, in a word, sophisticated. They are not bumbling fools; they have agendas, goals and dreams. These men also share one similar, important element, vital to their empires: power. Behind them lies a trail of destruction, lit ablaze by short tempers and a lack of tolerance for failure. This all sounds a little fun, now doesn’t it? A creation of havoc and disorder among adversaries without regard for rules or morals. If there were only some form of an interactive entertainment where you could take advantage of adapting the role of an ideal antagonist…

It would be interesting to explore the complexities that reside inside the minds of murdering psychopaths through our medium just as Edgar Allen Poe captivated audiences with tales of his own. Obviously, I am not a rabid lunatic (most of the time), but indeed, I curiously wonder what turn of events can derail rational thought. What makes these types of individuals tick to begin with? How does this deranged stature of mentality become routine and manifest into ones’ thought patterns and become his normality? The videogame medium holds the ability to engage players to participate in a characters’ livelihood, access their minds and experience their perspective, but should this mean that it always has to be the predictable perspective from the eyes of the hero?

Objectively wondering about inheriting the title of “bad guy”, few thoughts came to mind. There is of course, the universal hatred that comes with the title of “enemy”. The rage, or fear that spreads through the air as your name whispered could be undesired. It could be the conditioning that fantasy stories have embedded into our head: good guys always win. Or it could be the unwilling approach to the apparent negativity that lies within the adoption of such a role. To adapt the role of an uninvited being could produce skepticism among passive gamers who prefer the status of hero and doing the right thing. Killing the bad guy, and getting the girl is fun the first hundred times, but it’ll only take so long until you get exhausted from saving worlds and princesses.

Obviously, there are options that presently allow the player to see the world through the eyes of the antagonist, but as this role begins to birth, titles barely explore the intricacies of their reasoning. Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a good example of the deviation from the normal role that the player adapts. Excluding its trite expressions and cliché-heavy dialog, its premise is an appropriate example to this article’s argument: play bad guys. You kill what they want to kill. Past occurrences are also presented to the player to represent background that explains the character’s current emotions, agendas and actions. The possibilities for this exploration throughout other potential franchises are prodigious. Story + killing stuff=super-fun-time. We’ve had the “killing stuff” part right for years, now how about that story?

In short, I want to tyrannically destroy anything that opposes me (”killing stuff”), and then discover why my character wants to do the same in his world, and the incentive (”story”) to destroy that lies in him; all in one, playable experience. Bad guys have a indistinguishable feeling of freedom, disregard for humanity that we all might crave from time to time (in videogames, of course). The angry emotion that generates a lack of control that breeds unwarranted chaos, and simultaneously gets the job realized. I want to experience the power and ruthlessness that comes with the territory. Just one, small taste.

Note: I haven’t mentioned titles that have the option in choosing sides (i.e. role-playing games) : due to the context, I’ve considered those as potential “cop outs”. The role-playing genre poses a fantastic opportunity for players to traverse through various fantasy worlds with a mindset other than saving something or someone, but I don’t even want the “choice” to see the world as a hero, in this instance. I want to (this probably sounds a bit negative) be forced to play the villain, without any opportunity of crawling out, earning some good karma, and turning away from my character’s “darker” path. I r complicated.