This thread is pretty much just sharing ideas on what makes a character good and memorable. Ill start I guess. Over the years I have played a good few characters, but none have really been the same as Zaheer I'l Lasha. This is kinda weird because I originally made him as just some cheap throw-away character that would die soon. But surprisingly people really enjoyed the character, which was rather odd because id made him purposefully rude and violent so that someone would axe him. Instead everyone was telling me how much they liked having encounters with Zaheer mostly because of one thing: humor. This was back when hoodie vampires and sneering mages made up the majority of the baddies. I think what people liked about Zaheer is that I treated the character like a person. He had personality traits that werent just being evil. On so many character applications they pretty much just describe their character as an unfeeling rock of a person that only takes pleasure in murder. That might be cool in movies or video games where the villian is a tool to move the plot along, but in roleplay thats not the case. (Exceptions being made for things like the Lo Arch in which there really is a sort of plot.) Having an understandable, conflicted, funny, or easily intimidated bad guy is much more fun then the copy paste villian that gets hard from the sight of blood. And if you want to have a purely evil villian just do it right. Have proper motivation for them, I find simpler things like money and power make more sense then the whole 'wronged by the world' thing people love to do. Last I checked being an orphan doesnt make you a horrible person. But thats just my thoughts, curious as to what you guys feel.
One thing that makes some villains is not knowing they're a villain until you cross them. Ask @RedSentinel, my character Noelle was a villain of villains- a seductress, a serial killer, and an all out manipulative b-tch. BUT not many knew. This is what made her great, she worked for Jared Kade and helped the people all the while cheating and scaring money out of people to continue her lavish life style (until she ultimately failed and got murdered).
Fleshed out backstory, realism, the emotions, and the drive that makes them into a villain. I feel like a villain that's being a villain just for the sake of being villain isn't interesting.
I would argue its a requirement that they dont know they are evil. Only force of nature villains really think "hey, im the bad guy!" and there should be no pure force of nature villains being played outside of special events, IE if someone was granted the ability to play a Valraven. As an example: Even the Shendar dont think they are evil. They think they are doing what is right. Power for stability. Stability for survival. Weather out the next Cataclysm with a strong, relentless, united force. At least, thats my interpretation. A villain should be, in their mind, fully justified. Villains are usually pragmatic, and realists. They dont believe in all the fluff of hope and friendship saving the day. They know results come from firm and decisive action, and usually that the ends justify the means. Ill toss a light @Timisc here because I remember him saying something of the sort when he talked about Anhera. You make a character with goals, and ambition, and deep flaws, and you let those flaws and ambitions play out. Eventually most characters like this, with a little push, will naturally descend into 'villainy'. Im hoping that after I have gotten back into the swing of Roleplay, and played some normal casual characters, a few throwaways, with varied personalities for me to come to grips with Roleplay better, and cleaned up my act OOC better, ill be able to take a stab at a proper antagonistic character. But, thats a long way in the future.
Evil villains are boring. Make characters, not heroes or villains. And people will love them. People love Hengest because he's a grey-morality, crude bastard.
There are no such things as heroes and villains in role play. You should never design a character to be either and instead should focus on their human emotions and how they interact with others around them. If you aid more people you become labelled a hero. If you harm more people you become labelled a villain. How you aid and harm determines what people view you as. Some may call you a villain and others a hero. Do not let those labels define the character. They are a person with thoughts, feelings, emotions, and desires. You just concern yourself with portraying them in the form you wrote them as. Then if they end up changing over the course of your playing them, then that is their character development which can in turn make them viewed as a villain. However, there are ways to influence the view. Namely the opportune betrayal or a questionable decision. Actions and consequences, make it count.
It's not so much about what makes a good villain or a good hero, but rather what makes a good character, since the rules are always the same: Respect the integrity and design intent of other characters and don't just mess with them because you can, and it should be fine.
