187 réponses à ce sujet

[Sshodan]

DalishRanger wrote...

^ It's for reasons similar to that, that most people I know who play evil/chaotic characters do. I certainly understand the need to vent or just do something different in a game as a venting/release. It's just... For me, it doesn't help. I just feel worse. I tend to get my anger and frustration and other things out through several inane rants about random stuff throughout the day.

Ranting is a way to let things out I suppose, but for me it's not an option, for several reasons:
- A person who has to hear my rant my have his or he own problems on his or her mind, adding my emotional backlash to them would be selfish and insensitive from my part.
- A person who has to hear my rant may have better things to do with his or her time, so by making them hear me out and hold my hand I take up the time that could be spend elsewhere and on more pleasant things.
- That person may be in a good mood to being with, showering them with my negative emotions and spoiling their mood if they are nice enough to hear me out, is something I'll feel guilty for as well. See what I men when I sad that "I'm so well trained at being supportive, patient, polite and attentive"?
As for virtual people, I don't feel guilty about them, if burning down a couple of villages helps me to relax than so be it - that's what games are for

[Hecate_13]

Well, it depends on the character. I plan to replay this game a lot. The fact that I'm agnostic should not influence me in the long run; I mean, my first character may agree with my views, but the second one may be a devoted believer, and the next could be a downright hater of the Chantry. Curiously enough, I find myself influencing my characters more with my opinions on politics than my religion. I guess it's not a big deal for me.

Brass_Buckles wrote...
Glad to know I'm not alone. Maybe it's a girl thing? Or maybe we need to start a support group: Evil Impaired Anonymous. Or something.

I doubt it's a girl thing alone, as they already said, but I don't doubt that group would have a lot of followers

I may be slowly adapting to this whole malevolent roleplaying behaviour (it took me years, but now I can play as lawful evil faithfully, yay!), but it has to be in a game that a) I have played hundreds of times or doesn't take it seriously. I'm more capable of doing evil when being evil is being... how to say... encouraged. If the feel around my evil acts are taken lightly or the game itself doesn't seem to care, then it's easier for me to get in that role and even enjoy it. Oblivion comes to mind, and although I had to make an effort even there, in the long run it was fun. I guess that's what people mean when they play for relax or release. But Bioware's worlds are always so alive and react so strongly to these things that I can't help but feel bad afterwards, because they... well... kind of slap me in the face and remind me that all that is wrong. But hey, I grew up in a strong catholic environment and I'm sensitive by nature, guilt is always present some way or another want it or not

Modifié par Hecate_13, 16 octobre 2009 - 02:59 .

[DalishRanger]

Sshodan wrote...

Ranting is a way to let things out I suppose, but for me it's not an option, for several reasons:
- A person who has to hear my rant my have his or he own problems on his or her mind, adding my emotional backlash to them would be selfish and insensitive from my part.
- A person who has to hear my rant may have better things to do with his or her time, so by making them hear me out and hold my hand I take up the time that could be spend elsewhere and on more pleasant things.
- That person may be in a good mood to being with, showering them with my negative emotions and spoiling their mood if they are nice enough to hear me out, is something I'll feel guilty for as well. See what I men when I sad that "I'm so well trained at being supportive, patient, polite and attentive"?
As for virtual people, I don't feel guilty about them, if burning down a couple of villages helps me to relax than so be it - that's what games are for

Completely valid reasons - but my rants are almost always minor things (stupid stuff in commercials, etc), and I always save it only for certain friends who know me well and join me in the rant and then rant about stuff that frustrates them. We vent with each other and always feel better afterwards, so I don't feel guilty about it. I would if I forced my rants on somebody who didn't need to hear it/didn't know me well/etc, but I've gotten good about not doing that. I'm actually pretty friendly and polite to people in general.  I feel bad if I'm nasty to people in real life as well, so I guess it just extends to the gaming world.

But Bioware's worlds are always so alive and react so strongly to these things that I can't help but feel bad afterwards, because they... well... kind of slap me in the face and remind me that all that is wrong. But hey, I grew up in a strong catholic environment and I'm sensitive by nature, guilt is always present some way or another want it or not

Same for me; I've never been able to be evil in a Bioware game. Closest thing was being Renegade at times in ME, and that's still not evil. I was also raised Catholic/have an excessively guilty conscience, so maybe that's a factor for some of us.

Modifié par DalishRanger, 16 octobre 2009 - 03:46 .

[Evalee]

Does religion play apart in my characters development? No, but my reasons are different than most I think.

I'm not a religious person, Christian? Yes, but without getting into my beliefs too much I'll try and explain. Religion can be bent into something dark and ugly or just the opposite, something beautiful and pure. One persons idea of religion (almost always) is not the same for the next person. That being said I look at the characters I create in that respect and instead of picking a religious background for them to stand on I create a moral code for them (that is nothing like my own). Where one has morals and standards of the highest grade and another has no morals whatsoever.

And I agree with Hecate, I tend to use my political beliefs more than my "religious" beliefs when deciding the paths for my characters.

Modifié par Evalee, 16 octobre 2009 - 09:37 .

[AzmodantheRed]

Im gonna roleplay my character adding a starting religious fanatism. Depending on the story, he'll hold on to it and be further convinced of the ""truth""", Or if crushed in his convictions by the happenings around him, will drop it.





As for playing evil in bioware games. Thats kinda hard for me. Always feel guilty.

Though being ruthless in face of a (perceived or real) greater good is no problem for me.

[Napoleon1853]

Latly I seem to try try to make the good choices in games I think, however I don't think that is because of religion. In this game though with the choices being more grey it may be hard for me to decide what is a good choice and what isn't.

Modifié par Napoleon1853, 16 octobre 2009 - 09:57 .

[ScreamingPalm]

It sort of does, IRL I find organized religion to be 'evil', after all Christianity and other forms of religion have unleashed so much of it throughout history. Ironically in many RPG's I seem to get labeled as 'bad' or 'evil' when I rail against any form of organized religion. I think the real question is: how will my religion (or lack of) play a factor in how the game sees my character? Hopefully this stereotype will end with DA as I think 'good' and 'evil' are too subjective. I'm bummed that there is no "druid" class though, since I'm a tree-hugging nature loving type!



On the other hand, I sometimes play fanatics/believers as a character for kicks so it's not always the case. I do usually play more like myself on the first time through though.

[olwyn13]

KethWolfheart wrote...

It does a little.  I am not religious in an organized way, more spiritual.  If I had to pin it down I would say I am Pagan.  One god or many, they are all the same in the end.

Anyhow it affects my play, espeically in a fantasy setting which is closer to early paganism, because I tend to create characters somewhat around some of the common pagan archetypes.  For example my favorite is the Ranger who is in tune with nature and animals and the world around him.  I also like the mystical nature of mages.

Not sure if this is mentioned (I read most of the threads) but my religious beliefs also affect in another way.  I am not a big fan of fanatical organized religions where the religion is used as an excuse for certian negative behavoirs.

So how does this affect my game play?  Well when I play a game that has a strong religious theme where they seem to be a bit fanatical (like the Chantry - although this is a GUESS based on a littlre reading - I could very well be wrong in which case I will adjust my game play accordingly), then I tend to be more hostile in nature.

I may make choices or decision that may not seem to follow the normal path of "good" if I think those in religious power are abusing it *cough* templars.  So I may attack templars or make a quest decision just to irritate them :-)

Well said - I couldn't agree with you more. 

[Blessed Silence]

NewYears1978 wrote...

Okay, not sure if this will be a touchy subject, or a stupid question.   Religion is often bashed online..and I know a huge majority are not Christians, and there is quite a bit of Christianity bashing on the internet, especially forums.

I am proud of my Christianity and not afraid to put it right out there.   However, my question is this, does your religion and beliefs play a role in the character you play and how you play it (In this case directly related to how you will play your DA character, so as not to be off-topic)?

Very curious about this and it's not something that typically comes up.

As a Pagan my problems come with how it is portrayed in games.

It really only affects me in MMo games.  For these single player ones?  Not so much.

[vyvexthorne]

My personal beliefs play a big role in my role playing.. On the first play throughs of any RPG's.. I usually try my best to do exactly what I would do if I was in that situation. On games that have alignment shifts I usually end up chaotic neutral or chaotic good. I like to do good things.. but I'm always going to take the easy, lazy, or not so straight and narrow path to do what I think is right or good. (that sounds weird when read.) But it's always been extremely hard for me to play as an all evil or all good character in games.. I only was able to get through kotor once as an evil character and I played that many time... that was only because I really, really wanted to see her face change.

[Planar4564]

[quote]DalishRanger wrote...
Same for me; I've never been able to be evil in a Bioware game. Closest thing was being Renegade at times in ME, and that's still not evil. I was also raised Catholic/have an excessively guilty conscience, so maybe that's a factor for some of us.
[/quote]
[/quote]I am interested in how some people interpret "escapism". I mean, I agree, video games are escapist. It's fun to take a break from life every once in awhile and read a good book, and what not. But so many people here don't seem to be escaping from "life", so to speak. They seem to be escaping from themselves... At least for me, this is rather novel. When I play a computer game, I completely agree with DalishRanger: I cannot do these sorts truly evil things, because I feel like computer games are a place where the computer developers and you are writing a story together. And personally, I take no pleasure in seeing a story that ends up with pain and suffering.
I know people explain this as roleplaying, and how it's not really them, they're just playing a character, it doesn't mean anything. Still, I think it's a bit weird. I larped D&D, and I can see roleplaying meannies in a campaign setting, because, ultimately, you're part of a good team, and me, as a person, am happy to see them succeed, while my character may not be.

[Athiator]

I find my 'new atheist' dismissive/cynical reaction to religion does tend to show up the first time I'm playing a game where the existence of gods is disputable. It really annoyed me I couldn't be snarky in response to the bible verse stuff in Fallout 3, for example. I also usually play a character making choices in line with my own moral compass the first time I play a story focused RPG, which is similar to religion having an influence without the religious basis.

OTOH, I tend to go back and play games I enjoy a lot, and in any game that makes it interesting I'll play at least one evil character. In DAO there's a decent chance I'll play at least one deeply religious character, given it looks like that accords with several NPCs and will be a meaningful choice at various points.

[timothyconard]

I, like many others, have a lot of trouble playing an evil character. I don't know if it's because of my religious beliefs (american baptist, but closer to the friends in many ways) or the fact that I really love heroes that are 'big d@mn heroes'. I do try to play this way to get all of the game's options and results, but I'm never comfortable with a character who is a jerk, much less one who is actively evil.

Don't generally play religiously based characters except for rangers (my favorite character archetype thanks, no doubt to a childhood fascination with both tolkien and fess parker).

edited for poor typing skills. 

Modifié par timothyconard, 17 octobre 2009 - 06:38 .

[LaztRezort]

In most (all?) standard D&D settings, the gods were tangible and real entities, granting wishes (spells) to their followers.  Even sometimes running amok, and having half-mortal children.  These types of religions do not require "faith" in the pure sense of the word.

From what little I've read on the matter, it seems the religions (or at least , the main one) in DA:O will be more anologous to real life religions in the sense of requiring faith.  The maker does not (AFAIK) grant spells or show himself, so his existance can be debated.  This is where faith would come in.

I'm interested in seeing how this pans out in the game's story.  I would think this is a difficult subject for any game writer to take on (not to mention, a touchy one!), and many writers of fantasy gloss it over, or ignore the issue completely.  Kudos to Bioware for having the cahones to do this.

So, my point is that the OP question is a good one, and more pertinant to this game than many others.

Oh yeah, and to answer the OP:  Nope 

[Aurvan]

First off, thanks to the OP for an interesting topic. I really like these kinds of discussions.

My very strong anti-religious conviction does certainly play a role. Most of my characters share this view, and always look for a logical explanation, evidence for something, and keep a watchful eye out for any sort of organisations that are involved in any kind of indoctrination/intimidation by using a supernatural force/being - and then quickly label them as their enemies (like myself).

Had I been born in medieval europe, I would certainly have been killed off by the church quickly. Luckily my fantasy world characters are powerful enough to make their views public without getting killed by the established religious fanatics (if you have the chance to in a game), kind of like how you today are protected by laws that prevent the religious fanatics from doing what they want - kill you for being an infidel.

Modifié par Aurvan, 17 octobre 2009 - 09:09 .

[Aurvan]

Sshodan wrote...

Ranting is a way to let things out I suppose, but for me it's not an option, for several reasons:
- A person who has to hear my rant my have his or he own problems on his or her mind, adding my emotional backlash to them would be selfish and insensitive from my part.
- A person who has to hear my rant may have better things to do with his or her time, so by making them hear me out and hold my hand I take up the time that could be spend elsewhere and on more pleasant things.
- That person may be in a good mood to being with, showering them with my negative emotions and spoiling their mood if they are nice enough to hear me out, is something I'll feel guilty for as well. See what I men when I sad that "I'm so well trained at being supportive, patient, polite and attentive"?
As for virtual people, I don't feel guilty about them, if burning down a couple of villages helps me to relax than so be it - that's what games are for

I think one needs to be a bit more selfish if it may help you have a better day. Sure, we have to live with each other, and should do our best to please the people around us. But if you spend so much time absorbing other people's rants, shouldn't you get the chance to empty yourself back?

But I am much the same as you. I listen to people complain about things I have ignored and not let affect me. I am a "pick your battles" kind of guy. And if I don't consider a certain topic worthy of my time or energy, I smile and nod and let it bounce off me. But I do tend to get rather enthusiastic about things that I DO feel I need to address.

I also work in a sort of service-like job, though a somewhat different sort I suspect since I have formal authority over the people I service. But generally it's the same smile and nod type thing there as well. But after an incident, or when people act out - and I have to be professional - it helps to get rid off the frustration by killing a bunch of people in the game. But to me it is better therapy to kill bad people than to be bad

[NewYears1978]

Still a lot of good answers in here...really good read. Appreciate all the input everyone!

[Twitchmonkey]

I'm an atheist, and as you all know, atheists have glowing red eyes and eat babies, so that's what I tend to have my character do.

[Mitch-]

Im a pearlist Same as an atheist except were more awesome.

[Acesahn]

I actually think its rather fun to rp as the unflinching, uncomprimising crusader or warrior priest when playing swords and sorcery era games. Hmm... I wonder if thats a character flaw that my alter ego is always a religious zealot voicing his oppinion by the edge of his sword or on the end of a mace...

[Sojournr11]

Of coarse it does, people act on what they believe..... or dont believe, even in a fantasy setting. Often in the uninhibited enviroment of a fantasy game you get a better veiw of what a person would like to be, or do, if they could get away with it.... for good or for ill.

[Kevin Lynch]

Sojournr11 wrote...

Of coarse it does, people act on what they believe..... or dont believe, even in a fantasy setting. Often in the uninhibited enviroment of a fantasy game you get a better veiw of what a person would like to be, or do, if they could get away with it.... for good or for ill.

I think it can show true colours, but I doubt that's the case in any significant number. I roleplay characters from the most saintly to the most vile. While it's easiest to play a character whose actions and beliefs mirror my own, I actively play any given character in whatever way I feel most appropriate.

[Aurvan]

Littledoom wrote...

My total lack of religion will effect my character yes, but it also depend on how religion is presented in game. Time will tell.

I hope there is some religious fanatic you can overthrow in some way at least, like that crazy Helmite in NWN OC.

[snfonseka]

no. religion is nothing 2 do with this.