Official News - page 7

STAR CHAMBER

by Freya

Part 3 - Tips and Tricks for creating a "Real" Arch Villain personna

1. Know the system. Know who is sleeping with who, know who the powerful players are, know who the staff are especially the senior staff, and know what will get you into trouble and what will keep you safe as you go about your business. Identify other powerful players and make sure you have reasons that they will, when push comes to shove, back you whether they like you or not - and make sure they're aware that backing you is in their best interest!

2. Never, ever, under any circumstance, fight a battle you cannot win. Whenever a conflict appears, evaluate it for: "Can I achieve my desired goal?" if the answer is no, back down gracefully or even join the other side! But do NOT fight a loosing battle. It will hurt your creditability and your perceived strength.

3. Have goals and have a philosophy before you begin. Add to it as time goes by, but your character's core philosophy should be something you will fight over and try to convert other people into believing. The goals and philosophy should be somewhat personal, and absolutely rigid. People don't change you, you change other people.

4. Consciously evaluate what things you want and how to get there. Evaluate what you need to get there and what you don't. Get the things that you do need and don't bother with the things that you don't. Be proactive, and if the situation doesn't suit you getting where you want to go, change it.

5. Gather followers. Make friends. The loner character isn't a good villain because they don't get the general pervasive power they need to enact their goals. NOTE: It is not necessary for these friendships to be one-sided or false, but they can be!

6. Be willing to fight and enjoy conflict. If you're the type of person that doesn't enjoy egging other people on or creating a scene, a villain probably isn't the right type of character for you. Conflict will be an endless headache, especially once you're established and people make a point of trying to knock you off your high horse.

7. Exercise patience. It's not really possible to be a villain overnight. In fact, don't bother striving for villainy and just make sure whatever it is that you are doing is something most people disagree with, then do it. Do it well and then find something else other people disagree with and do it. You'll be a villain in no time, especially if you're successful.

8. Remember that Fed2 is not old Fed. It's a very different game and different people run it. There are all sorts of new opportunities to exploit if you do your research carefully.

Conclusion

A lot of the villains we see are of the "I do bad things" type, but good and evil really isn't that simple. Villains aren't just about "being evil", they're characters that create and stimulate conflict. A three-dimensional person has a bit of it all in them, and villains should be, above all, characters. Whether or not they're good or bad shouldn't be evaluated by a conversation or style, but by their affect on the game and other people.

With luck, these articles should achieve their goal to improve villains by letting them see the perspective of a villain and imitate it. If one of our historic villains doesn't agree with everything, they probably agree with at least some of it, and any of it can help someone get into the game and make a great villain that suits their needs.

Good luck!

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