A while back a few of us were talking about Grand Theft Auto Online, and I shared how I’ve never much wanted to play any of those games after the popular GTA3. While the open world aspect was mind-blowing at the time, I genuinely felt bad at being asked to be cruel and heartless toward characters meant to mimic contemporary society.
In short, I don’t like to be the baddie. It’s hard to get into the mindset to, say, pick all of the dark side options in Star Wars: The Old Republic and be OK with the psychic fallout. Even though it’s a game, even though it doesn’t hurt anyone real, it really doesn’t gel with me. I can’t stretch my roleplay mindset that far.
Do you have a similar issue when presented with the option to be mean or evil as a character in an MMO? Does it bother you if you’re asked to do despicable things without good reason? Or are you cool with it because people like me are overthinking it?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
