RPGFan May Editorial - Where did the RPG villains go?

[Zlejedi]

griffinA said:
This is a popular argument in all forms of entertainment. Whether the villians should be realistic (a la Macbeth) or clear cut and clearly evil (a la the emperor in Star Wars). On the one hand, we have Realism in it's effort to make a realisitic story that is believable to the participants. On the other, we have Romanticism which strives to represent a primal aspect of life in it's fairy-tale like stories.

I personally perfer the Romantic side. As games are similar to fairy-tales, I don't want to hear if the villian is somewhat justified or there is moral ambiguity around the whole situation. Fighting against a "bad person" is something that is immortal and should always be told. They even transcend specific time periods or cultural differences.

I prefer realistic enemies than evil murder machine monsters. Kinda like you had in VC when they were just fightning for diffrent cause and their own goals.

IMHO creation of ultra evil "I'll kill them all" type of villian is a shortcut taken by developer to avoid creating realistic character with his goals, wishes, emotions etc.