On Sat, 12 May 2007, R. G. 'Stumpy' Marsh wrote:
> Deep black != stupid though. It's possible to enjoy evil, yet refrain
> from indulging most of the time because of the risk of punishment.
Correct. Many serial killers have been quite intelligent and many are
able to moderate their behavior, at least for a while, to avoid
punishment.
> And then there's scale. There's a difference between enjoying harming
> people on an individual level, and enjoying seeing suffering on a larger
> scale.
I haven't given the later sort much consideration, but it does seem like
they'd be different to me.
> Deep black and dumb isn't very interesting, but there's as many ways to
> be evil as there are to be good.
The interesting element of dumb evil is not the mindset behind the evil
but how it plays out in practice and how other people react to it.
Consider:
"Listen. And understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be
bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or
remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are
dead."
Plenty of relentless killer horror movies follow the same model. A simple
evil that "can't be bargained with", "can't be reasoned with", "doesn't
feel pity, remorse, or fear", etc. is often pretty interesting in movies,
but as a monster for the protagonists to fight, not a character to play.
> Valid observations, and perhaps good reasons not to bother playing
> evil characters, but not a reason to consider it BadWrongFun to do so.
But I think that just about everyone in this thread have ****ed away from
saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the group of guys who
get together weekly to gleefully murder, rape, and torture their way
across a countryside of innocents created by their GM for their sadistic
pleasure, or that they'd love to play in such a game. That, to me,
suggests that even though people are reluctant to say so, they consider at
least that particular style of evil game BadWrongFun and from there, it's
just a matter of discussing degree.
John Morrow
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