The Meaning of Evil for MMO Villains
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist
Evil manifests in many ways. Some come from space asteroids that bring forth black alien costumes that also shoots web strings by coincidence, some come from gigantic green balls that call themselves “The Green Ball of Evil”, I’m sure you get the idea. Anyway, here we will discuss the epitomes of evil in the world of MMOs. Unlike the EVIL we know and love, MMOs also have their own definition of evil in the online planes. Let’s dive in and see what horrors these MMO villains can unleash. One thing though, these individuals understand more than your average “destroy the world” concept.
One MILLION Dollars!
The concept of world domination
While some villains try to build weapons of mass destruction that inevitably, MMO villains never fail to take casualties during their first wave. For some, world domination revolves around everyone bowing to you, or at least to your doomsday device that’s pointed at the sun (or something like that). You have to give credit to MMO villains though because they tend to launch the attack before making their demands. They are actually hell-bent on world domination, not World Bank domination. Take Arthas for example. Here we have a former Prince who killed his father and sat down in an air-conditioned chair located on top of an icy castle. I suppose he took the “you’re as cold as ice” line a little to seriously. Arthas pillaged a lot of towns, transforming the villagers into mindless zombies that follow his every whim. Evil? The whole “turn everyone into mindless zombies” is a bit normal, but for him to sit down in an air-conditioned chair while everyone suffers? That’s just evil man. It’s like nobody “Forks” with him.
Aircooling Harbls Before World Domination
Evil means: staying in one place
One of the most common (and stupid) villainous traits of all time is the camping phase. After a series of actions done by our melodramatic masters of mayhem (commonly found in MMO’s), you can bet your arse they’re bound to settle down in an uncharted (actually, mostly charted) part of the world. They don’t really require a time limit and always wait for our heroes to get level capped (and geared). Not the brightest option, but whatever makes their boat rock right? MMO villains also suffer from this stupidity. Why must they always wait for the Hero to appear (in MMO’s case, HEROES)? Other MMO villains play it smart by relocating at times, but that’s only after they get beaten up bad in their first lair.
You know how hard it is to walk in these shoes?!
Evil means: rewarding the heroes?
Yes, you read right. It’s a known fact that MMO villains always reward heroes after being beaten down to a pulp (wait, that’s not evil). Not Evil? THINK AGAIN! If you’re familiar with Lord of the Rings, everyone fought over Sauron’s ring the moment it dropped on the floor yes? That’s the whole point of this looting phase. Here players are corrupted into taking the loot for themselves, hence the birth of Ninjas (or loot stealers). MMO villains never fail to bring forth that last sin of greed upon death, and that my friends… IS EVIL.
Evil means: being bigger
In most cases, MMO villains are always bigger than the player. I would understand if we’re talking about demons and dragons, but for a regular human to actually stand more than eight feet tall is quite absurd. I suppose it’s a way to intimidate players, but does it really work? If you think about it, why bother becoming a mad scientist if you can just be a gigantic mad scientist right? That totally makes sense.
Evil means: looking cooler than everyone else
Curse your coolness! One thing about MMO villains is their awesome fashion sense. Some grow demon wings, some wear awesome armor that make them look like a dark lord, some even transform into beings far different from their origin. Seriously… must evil always have the good stuff? WHY DO ANGEL WINGS SUCK COMPARED TO DEMON WINGS anyway? Their weapons are extraordinary as well, at least compared to the crap they sell back in town. Come to think about it, does anyone even buy those things? I really want to know if there’s a seamstress or tailor exclusively for villains, because I really want to know where they get their threads.
So cool it’s hot!
Evil means: MINIONS! And a lot of them
Unlike most villains who actually have a right hand man or a team of special forces, MMO villains have minions (commonly referred to as adds) who are also tailored for to match a specific boss. Let’s see… we have Baphomet and Baphomet jr (Ragnarok Online), The Caliana Queen and her Caliana Amazons (RF Online), Arthas and his undead scourge (WoW), I’m sure you get the idea. Villains must have their own shop for minions as well. Maybe a shop where you can look at the mirror while standing next to the minion of your choice to make sure you guys match or something. Think about it! All the bosses match their adds for some reason. Maybe EVIL has vanity issues.
Evil never dies
The biggest difference between a regular villain and an MMO villain is their persistence. You’d think the world could finally rest after the dark lord has been slain; unfortunately, evil never dies. In other words, EVIL will always respawn no matter how bad they get beaten up. These villains are pretty masochistic, quite similar to Castlevania’s very own “Dracula” who respawns every century to get a good dish of BDSM Belmont whippin. The only difference is that these dudes tend to respawn every day (some every minute). I am aware that they just keep coming back to get hurt, but you can’t blame anyone for being this driven.
Final remarks
And there you have it. MMO villains are actually quite similar to comic book/anime villains, except they don’t tend to lose track of their objectives. These villains will never die and will continue to show their blazing hot (or icy cold) armor. If ever you’re in need of a villain to pursue, you’ll know where to find them… it seems that the only thing wrong about them is their method of secrecy.
