Gamers Love Playing the Bad Guy

Posted on November 1, 2005

A new survey has found that teens love to play the villain in games. The survey found that overall 59% of gamers survey like to play the bad guy and in teens the percentage climbed to 62%.

The survey certainly explains the success of popular games where people get to play bad guys like in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A GameCloud article (no longer available) about playing the bad guy mentions a few other villain games like City of Villains, Burnout Revenge, Vice City and 25 to Life.

The article includes an interesting quote from Greg Goodrich at Vivendi Universal. He says he likes to play The Empire in Star Wars and The Horde in Warcraft.

He also explained why it is fun to play the villain. Yankees fans might take issue with his comment.

Goodrich also says, "Obviously, our societal limitations do not allow me to blow up a planet nor do they allow me to hunt Night Elves with extreme prejudice, so glorifying these activities in a video game should not make the socially conscious too upset. Games to me have always been about escaping into a world that I could not otherwise be an active participant. They are fun because my normal daily activities do not include running from the police, jumping from buildings, or casting fire bolts from the tips of my fingers. From the most basic level, this is why we have fun playing games. We are empowered with abilities we would not normally have. If we were limited to paintballs, speed limits and flag football, we would not have the desire to play them virtually. However, there is one case example that I know of in gaming that glorifies villainous activities which should neither be glorified nor condoned. You should absolutely not be allowed to play The Yankees in MVP Baseball."

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