Now compare this with the armies I collect for the games I play.
Bushido
Cult of Yurei - Devious and dealings with the Undead
The Savage Wave - Oni and demonic creatures.
Germans - SS and Fallschirmjager (They just have cool stuff)
Japanese - Such a wonderful army to use.
Bloodbowl
Dark Elves - Malicious, great at the running game as well as passing.
Chaos Dwarves - Stunties in big hats and Bull Centaurs!!
Undead - Zombilicious
Warmachine
Cryx - Seeing the pattern with Undead forces?
Star Wars
The Empire - Stormtroopers are just the coolest
Cybermen and Daleks - Exterminaaaaaate!!
7TV
Evil Genius and hordes of minions - No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!
So as I said, in real life I am quite a decent chap, so why do I play the "Bad Guys"Well I cant really say with certainty but maybe if we look at the face of it, if I am decent in real life why would I want to be good in a game? isnt it a stretch of our imagination to try and divert from the norm? maybe find fun and divert from reality with being bad/naughty/perverse.
Now we can also look at the two styles of games: European style which is primarily focused on co-operation and problem solving and American style which is more me Versus you, I kill you you kill me!
Although I like the European style for some games (still using forementioned bad guys) I do prefer the American. You see, I dont want to settle Catan or build a working Pipe line or gather resources for a fledgling population - I want to drive the tracks of my armoured spearhead over the skulls of my enemy, I want to steamroll the opposing forces with a flurry of steel and explosions or rip them apart with undead hordes!
Now dont get me wrong, although I like to play fast and destroy my opposition, I am not that guy! I am not beardy or cheesy and I dont play or act like an arse. I want my opponent to have as much fun during the game as I do, but just with his forces being decimated!So why do I prefer the supposed "Bad Guys" ? Its mainly down to taste, I will play British or High Elves or the Rebel Alliance but I always drift back to the Dark Side, I just find it so damn fun and it suits my playstyle.
So what do you play? Do you swop and change or go for the Goodies or Baddies?
What would you play if money and time were no object and would you stick to your normal playstyle?
The attraction of the dark side also I think has a lot to do with the underdog syndrome. Perhaps you want to prove how good you are by taking armies that historically lost, Japanese or German or Empire (That's history it happened in a galaxy far far away). and see if you can win with them. Even in Fantasy games or the like every film and book has the evil side loose. So perhaps you just like playing the underdog. I could be totally wrong, but it might be worth a thought!
ReplyDeleteInteresting thinking Carl. I suppose it depends on how you look at the games we play. See I have both sides for most of the games I play EotD for Example and AVP (though I do love the Predators most. Cool tech, fight with honour for trophies).
ReplyDelete7TV hmm I do have sides for both I must add that I have a lot more minions than needs though so :P
Zombies is a strange one though because you want your survivors to win (well survive) but inevitably they don't but perhaps thats the mechanics of the game.
I like Clint's underdog theory it makes sense.
The underdog theory is an interesting point, although you could consider early WW2 Brits and French as underdogs to begin with. I have never felt the need to prove how good I am in gaming, I play for fun. Even in tournaments that I have participated it, its mainly for the experience and fun of it regardless if I win. I usually try and take things out of the norm to reflect this like Chaos Dwarf teams for BloodBowl without Bull Centaurs etc. So maybe yes I have an underlying affinity for making the underdog successful. But basically I like stomping stuff with coolness and Bad Guys do seem Cool ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes but if you were to do Early WW2, would you pick British or French or something like Dutch? From what you have said above I think you would pick something obscure and very much the underdog. Norway? Belgium? Probably not Germans at least who were dominant at the time.
DeleteI do seriously take your point tough. After all didn't "Hugo Boss" design some of the German uniforms?
I think Clint hit the nail on the head, the Underdog or the losers of a war. For the ACW most of the Rejects like playing the Confederates, everyone loves the WW2 Germans. They weren't all bad though, but in the end they were the underdogs and we all know history is always written by the winners.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember the storm troopers being the good guys, protecting us from a cabal of light saber wielding wizard who think that they and their appointed royalty show rule the galaxy.
ReplyDeleteThe blessed emperor respects life, heck he used robots and drones at first. Sure his LT death star'd a planet, but only to prevent the loss of even more life (just like the US nuked Japan).