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[MvmntInGrn]

I find the cast of GTA games entertaining. I don't mind playing as them usually. The protagonists of GTAIV and EFLC were likable despite the active crime you engage in as them.

Now in Red Dead Redemption, which I'm playing right now, I don't like being the "bad guy" very much. Generally I wouldn't say you are the bad guy through the story though. You kill a lot of people in the game but they have either done something reprehensible (forcing themselves on a women, actively trying to rob someone, stealing your horse, etc) or they are part of one of the many gangs that are painted to be a nuisance. The game is pretty quick to put a bounty on you for killing innocent people too (unlike GTA where a block later its all rainbows and sunshine).

 

[d31m0s]

Personally one of the things that puts me off with a lot of western games is that many times their main characters are criminals.Crime itself is portrayed as a "fun or cool" activity and even if the gameplay itself is fun i can't ignore the crime themes and enjoy the actual games.

What's your opinion on this and does anyone else feels the same?

Spoiler

I guess probably not when you look at the sales of games like GTA.

GTA IV did it right crime is not portrayed as fun more so as a way of surviving and fighting

 

[Cloudy]

I don't mind it but I notice I go out of my way not to kill innocents.

 

[Camjo-Z]

I generally pick the "hero" choices in games where the option between good and evil is given, but I don't have a problem with being forced to play as a criminal like in GTA. Mowing down grannies in a limo is always good for a laugh.

 

[dreamfall]

I love it- the twisted psychopathic tendencies, the dark moral complexities, the unabashed violence that it comes with.

No qualms here. The more incorrigible, the better. Anti-heroes always are great, but the more unhinged the better. No marauding as heroes who kill millions, striking ludonarrative dissonance.

 

[icurehangovers]

I can't do it. I have tried to be cruel and evil. Can't do it. I can't even steal in Skyrim. However, if the role has me already as a bad guy, I'm ok with it. Like GTA. I only have a problem with it if it has to be my choice.

 

[ckohler]

No. In fact, when I played Oblivion and Skyrim I never stole anything unless the game required me to. I hated stealing and murdering and avoided it. Silly, I know, but that's how I preferred to play.

 

[Absinthian]

Games are all about the challenges that you overcome, not the story.

 

[Scrabble]

So OP, have you never watched a movie with a flawed protagonist or someone with a questionable morality? Do you actively avoid shows like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos? How about movies like the Godfather or Goodfellas(not about good people)? I'm personally happy games are just now starting to move away from "the perfect, virtuous, wisecracking hero, who just happens to be perfect at everything he does, and is made deliberately so the player cant have any moral objection or qualms to." Characters with depth and flaws make for much more interesting characters. Joel from TLOU isn't an awesome super likeable dude, but that's exactly what makes him so compelling. Also if you played GTAIV you'd know it very much does not glorify crime.