The appeal of the Sith?

[Lord Kristivas]

Really ?!? I'm nice irl and I feel no incentive to play a son of a bitch in a video game. I play republic strictly for what it stands for, not because I have a fetish to play a certain class that is available to only one side.

I stick to my theory that you can't play an evil character in a video game, truly evil character, unless you do have some deep, repressed a-hole within or are simply too immature to realize what you're doing. You just can't be Gandhi irl and play an evil bastard in a video game. The same values still apply, you can't just turn them upside down at whim and still be comfortable doing it.

That's crazy talk, man.

I've played tons of bad guys in video games. The number of people I've killed IRL: 0. On games I've demanded more cash for jobs, lied, cheated, stolen, murdered. IRL I've only been in jail once, over a decade ago, for driving without a license. IRL, my friends and family all consider me to be a nice guy, who will help out when I can, even if I am a bit of an asshole.

There have been a few choices that have made me squeamish over the years of gaming when playing an Evil character, but I've made em for the sake of the game and the story. That's because that's all it is, a game and a story. Even in PvP, no one's really getting hurt, aside from maybe some bruised egos. To generalize like that? That's like saying every actor that's played a movie villain must be evil. Bruno Ganz, who played Hitler in a badass movie called Downfall, would certainly not want to exterminate Jews outside of the role. It's madness, that line of thinking.

[Ixator]

btw, I dont know if the subject has been touched but would you SLAUGHTER THE YOUNGLINGS? I would. Midgets piss me off.

[Cirque]

People like the dark, broody, badass, evil characters more than the noble characters, generally speaking.

This for me. I like to play what I am not IRL. (yet I'm alliance, because my bf insisted - as a way to make this work, I rolled warlock though. In SWTOR, I'll insist on the dark side though!). Also, they generally look a lot cooler than the lolpaladin-wannabe-classes in most games. None of the hypocritical holier than thou-bullshit, just an axe in your face. That's what appeals to me. IRL I like to think I'm a sweet and honest girl, with good intentions and who cares. In game, as such, I'd like to be the opposite in the race/class I pick (not in the way I behave, though, unlike some douchebags in this world :/).

And again others like to play what they're most like IRL. I can understand that too, I suppose, but I'd never roll a human and make it look as much as myself. I am forced with one human, who has all the features I do not have IRL (like a dark skin).

[Deleted]

People like the dark, broody, badass, evil characters more than the noble characters, generally speaking.

For me the jedi are not noble , they got the own narowminded view of how things should be and everything besides that is 'the dark side' to them. white and black , no shades of grey really there.
Sith embrace passion which is how it should be, plenty of them grey shades there ^^
Wonder if jedi's get darkside points for romancing their companions :') should be that way ...

[GarGar]

btw, I dont know if the subject has been touched but would you SLAUGHTER THE YOUNGLINGS? I would. Midgets piss me off.

My character might if she had a good reason.

Don't know if I could IRL, though nobody really knows how they'll react until they're actually put in a situation where they have to choose.

[zealous]

Wonder if jedi's get darkside points for romancing their companions :') should be that way ...

They do.

Most of the choices that are against their Buddhist code give DS points, including making out and making babies.

There's a lot of freedom of choice present, you're not pigeon-holed into being a monk.

Same thing with the Sith - you don't have to be a slaughter-happy maniac, you can try to defend the weak, show mercy etc.

Both atypical lines of behavior however, are supposed to affect the plot in an appropriate way iirc.

[jearle]

For me it comes down to the iconic character representing each side.

Growing up Vader was the most badass thing in the world to me.

After getting into the TOR lore and reading some books, Malgus is now that badass character to me.

That and the Sith Code appeals to me a great deal more than the jedi code.

The Sith Code
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

[Deleted]

All this, "That side is for the emo kids" crap needs to stop. It's just a biased opinion that both sides share. Neither are correct. This discussion can be had without the insults.

I belive it's the bad choice of showcasing the Sith done in the Trailers really, they are all ashen coloured with evul black colours.
They should have gone something less Darth Maul and more Darth Revan.

[zealous]

I belive it's the bad choice of showcasing the Sith done in the Trailers really, they are all ashen coloured with evul black colours.
They should have gone something less Darth Maul and more Darth Revan.

Revan is impossible to pin down =) You have to check the time of day to be sure what side he's on right now =)

Seriously though:

Thing is, it's a market choice. It's prosaic and sad, but what you gonna do. How many people feel the appeal of Revan as a character and an aesthetic standard? Not many. Mostly KoTOR fans like me.

How many people feel the appeal of Vader and Maul? Every kid who ever watched the SW movies (just like I did).

You guess which is the bigger number.

[Gxeternal]

I have always related more to being "the bad guy" in rpg and mmo games.
While neither horde or alliance were good or bad in wow, my main was always horde due to them having the bad guy feel almost.
In EQ i was a shadow knight, and in eq2 i was always a evil aligned character.

Its fun being the bad guy

[chewbacca]

Its the same people who play horde on wow ....mostly older guys filled with nerdrage ....not trolling being totally serious .

[zealous]

....mostly older guys filled with nerdrage ....not trolling being totally serious .

Seriously, man?

Report, don't respond to such posts

[chewbacca]

Seriously, man?

This is how you view the world? All Horde players are "older guys filled with nerdrage"?

Are all Turks and Arabs also terrorists? Are all Jews greedy bankers? Maybe every WoW player lives in his parent's basement and has never talked to a girl his whole life?

I'm sorry but this is just pathetic. People like you make me sad.

Ive played alliance the so called good guys for 5 years . After 1000's of bg's I will tell you alliance players go for BG objectives ...Horde simply go for HK's and grieving . You think im making that up role an alliance player . I cant tell you how many times i have seen Horde players go out of there way even if it means losing a BG just to grieve someone....but that is probably your style . Sorry for pointing it out .

[zealous]

Oh and people like you make me want to vomit..how is that KID . Ive played alliance the so called good guys for 5 years . After 1000's of bg's I will tell you alliance players go for BG objectives ...Horde simply go for HK's and grieving . You think im making that up role an alliance player . I cant tell you how many times i have seen Horde players go out of there way even if it means losing a BG just to grieve someone . So don't sit there and tell me I am pathetic you are just in denial and probably one of the nerd raged older guys who is going nowhere in his life and now your mad i pointed it out .

This post is so full of bs, I'm not going to even bother addressing the "arguments" in it.

Oh and I'm 20 years old, I'm currently studying to get my MA degree, I have a day job, and I played WoW as Horde for four and a half years before I quit the game.

I really hope you're just a teen and you'll eventually outgrow this narrow-mindedness, otherwise you're headed for lots of disappointments in life with that kind of outlook.

[DaGhostDS]

This post is so full of bs, I'm not going to even bother addressing the "arguments" in it.

Oh and I'm 20 years old, I'm currently studying to get my MA degree, I have a day job, and I played WoW as Horde for four and a half years before I quit the game.

I really hope you're just a teen and you'll eventually outgrow this narrow-mindedness, otherwise you're headed for lots of disappointments in life with that kind of outlook.

Gotta agree, that situation depend on time of day, day of weeks and on what Battlegroup you play, in other words? His arguments are biased from his own narrow-minded opinions.

I played both side in my 5 years of game-time and from what ive seen on one battlegroup alliance was going for HK (and failing) and horde was going for objective and HK at the same time. On the other battlegroup it was the opposite.

[Meezo]

i have always liked the sith prolly coz they are so bad-ass not sure tho :P

[Roqq]

Playing Sith because they look aesthetically (subjectively ofc) better, and because I had 7 years as Alliance in WoW so most definitely time for a change.

[Makuul]

I think there's a big quality-of-life issue here that people are missing regardless of story, and that's server population. Some of the arguments have been valid (unexplored story of the Sith making the character more intriguing, etc.) while some are pure bias ("Sith armor looks badass and Jedis look like wimmins!"), but, just as in WoW, I think a decent sized chunk of the population flows wherever the people are. A more fluid economy, more options to raid/group, more general population just standing around hanging out.

I think a good number of WoW players who play Horde will assume that others will jump to Sith, thereby swinging population numbers that way.

Edit: At least on PvP servers. I could see there being enough of an influx of movie Star Wars fans (who probably trend Republic instead) to shift it possibly the opposite way on PvE servers.

[Raeli]

Not everyone is coming from WoW, and not all of those are coming from the Horde - the Horde, from my understanding, slightly outnumber Alliance, but not massively, a few percent. Secondly, many of the people coming to TOR that aren't WoW players won't necessarily favour Republic, it's silly to assume to know this. Look at this very thread, there are many reasons outside of what you stated - some people are curious about the Sith because their way of life, their side of things hasn't really been portrayed for instance, there's plenty of reasons other than some people from the Horde wanting to Sith, and also, by the same logic you fail to mention the possibility of Alliance players wanting to go Republic - although both of these assumptions are flawed in that you can't presume to know what people will be doing without some data to see.

[Makuul]

I never stated that everyone was coming from WoW, nor Horde specifically. I said that the group of people whose quality of gameplay will be affected by population distribution will probably skew servers and that's partially the appeal of the Sith on PvP servers, where a sizable subset of people will choose the "evil" side to go with their "I'm a ruthless ganker graaaah" mentality along. Coupled with the regular faction distribution, that would probably tip the balance enough until you have a 60/40 split due to the shifters. Something like 60/40 would be tenable, but while Horde probably outnumbers Alliance by a small percentage GAME-WIDE, I would be willing to bet most servers are well outside those percentages in both directions.