[quote=@Lord Wraith]
[INDENT][COLOR=SLATEGRAY][B]G M   A N N O U N C E M E N T:[/B][/COLOR][/INDENT][hr][INDENT][COLOR=SILVER]◼   [B]WEEK 04:[/B][/COLOR] [I]As the first round of secondary plots are coming to an end, let's discuss antagonists. So far there hasn't been anything too serious in the RP but what are your thoughts on antagonists? What makes a good villain for you? Do you like them unhinged, do you like them cold and calculating? Do you prefer an NPC villain or one who is directly portrayed by another player? What's good about being bad?[/I][/INDENT]
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OH GOODNESS do I have a lot of thoughts about villains. As someone who RP's a lot of VERY gray area characters in general, the topic of morality v.s. perspective comes up a whole lot. An [i]interesting[/i] villain by my definition has to be a hero in their own mind-- they have to think that what they're doing is right, proper, justified-- even the unhinged ones that are "evil for the sake of being evil" can have the reasoning that what they're doing is good for them.

Villains that just wanted to be violent because they feel like it, is as good as a villain who is directly acting against the protagonist-- or one that is acting according to their own beliefs. I personally don't like seeing the evil v.s. good thing as black and white respectively. I go off the sole belief that no matter who you are or how you're acting, you're someone's antagonist.

What is a hero if not the [b]villain's antagonist[/b], after all?

In this regard, I tend to RP characters that are complex enough to veer toward villainy or heroism based on situation, who they are, and how they see things. This has landed my characters in a lot of "HOW COULD YOU" situations. As long as the action fits the character then it's good business and the story is going well.

A lot of what [@SgtEasy] said is similar to how I see things... if you couldn't tell.

Now in the realm of NPC or Character portrayed, well, it just depends on the story writing, honestly.
I like both. One is not necessarily better than the other unless, of course, you have someone that isn't very good at portraying a spectrum or variety of villains. (i.e. I have a friend that can only portray brutish types of characters well, but that's a writing issue tbh.)

I rambled a bit because jet lag during the great migration, hahaha. Yes.
Hope you are all doing well!