Roleplaying "Evil".

[rihdan]

I've seen Evil played in a plethora of ways.

From dark, gothic, and moody...
... to sinister, conniving, and threatening.
... to completely and totally emotional.
... to being nothing short of a cold hearted pregnant dog (Pardon my language.)

My question is: How do you think evil is best played?

In some cases, i've seen all of the above played both tastefully and not so much, where dark elves scheme in darkened rooms and plot the death of their enemies, to where sinister demonic presences treat you and your character nothing more than a steaming pile of refuse with no OOC solace to be had whatsoever.

Should we expect the people who play these sinister creatures to at least provide some OOC consolation with their character's horrid actions toward your own? Or... is the player just being overly sensitive in the case that they find offense in this situation. (I've seen this happen before in a variety of situations ).

Discuss.

How do you play evil?
How do you ensure that it's viewed correctly IC and OOC, or why do you feel that it doesn't have to be?
Where should the line be drawn, if at all?

[Arataki]

In my opinion, evil is best played as being 3-Dimensional. Once you start going too deeply into cliches or a narrow field of "evilness" then the likelyhood of inadvertently offending someone rises.

Why are you evil? Is it out of selfishness? Greed? Or perhaps it is with the best intentions?

Why go so far into darkness for whatever motive you have?

One of my characters is a religious fanatic who is not above torture, blackmail, manipulations or brute force in order to get a conversion, and will simply kill those who are stubborn. She believes wholeheartedly that she is just and doesn't take kindly to anyone claiming otherwise. And boy, is she hard to play.

Thankfully, the people I group with are well versed in her psychology but at times I would do things like not heal a person (as main healer) until they promise to convert or refuse to group with a "heretic." I find that if you take care in what your character says, people can extrapulate the reason behind the mean behavior as being roleplay and not me, the player, being a jerk.

As for drawing lines, I think the roleplay should come short of breaking game rules and official codes of conduct (like Kill-stealing or griefing).

[rihdan]

I totally agree. Oftentimes Evil seems to be lacking that depth, that reason.

[Arataki]

The only time I can see a that kind of "flat" evil working, is if the character is an affable evil. That character who is horrid, cruel, twisted and just plain sick but somehow appeals to us. A person like the Dark Knight's Joker or TvTropes tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagnificentBastard but it'll take some skill and patience to pull it off.

How do you play evil Rihdan?

[rihdan]

I rarely play evil

But when I do...

I like the debonair evil. Like the Elliot Carver kind of evil. Corrupt people, intelligent people, who have deep story and reason behind their actions.

My evil characters are mostly frighteningly intelligent, cunning, and always possessing a plan of some kind. They're very rarely spontanious. If my character were to find you, for example, you knew that you were in trouble: Because he doesn't just strike out against you randomly.

I lace all of this with LOTS of OOC communication. Frequent OOC questions asking for permission to do certain things, find certain people, and ensure that EVERYONE Is on top of the game with what's going on. This helps keep drama at a low, and keeps people feeling somewhat in control. OOC Communication, to me, is just as important as RP.

[arataki]

Oh, I agree! If I was IC all the time, or didn't even bothering to explain the difference between IC and OOC, I'd hate to think of how people would view me. It's a bit hard switching between the two though, sometimes I find myself typing in Olde English just like my character in OOC, which confuses people

(And confuses me, now that I think about it...)

I'd love to get together with some RPers but the forums for RP is kind of...dead. Is the information there about Taverns and such still valid?

[rihdan]

Sadly not I do post on the official forums as often as I can with some new stuff. My signature has a link here also. But...

Traffic is low

We are planning as a GUILD however to put together a new tavern night when we're able.