I think that, as long as you don't just make someone evil for no reason, you're good to go.

There are plenty of things (or so I'd like to think but its not really all that true) that can help with that. He can be evil because of:
Something bad happened to him or someone he knows and he wants vengeance.
He think he's doing it for the greater good.
He's insane, and that can be branched out into other things.

I'd like to say more, but really... thats all I got. The first 2 are used so much that you can almost call it cliche, but of course the reasons behind it change and that helps you not think of it as the same ol' stuff you've seen before. There are probably other reasons that other people can come up with, I just can't, atleast right now.

There are always the ultimate being of evil like teh devil or something too, but..... those are usually either shallow or he has a reason like revenge or its his nature.

Quote:Original post by pothb
He think he's doing it for the greater good.

Jesus, and what if he IS? What if the one we're fighting just happens to be correct and we're not fighting against his ideas, but for our life? I don't think this has been done, ever.

I actually think it has, but I don't think it was the main bad guys. I can't name anything off the top of my head, but I do recall something like it (I could be wrong, I have an abysmal memory). But in those stories, there always seem to be an alternate way to have less casualties.

Im don't think its too cliche for a villain to have shallow motives but whats is cliche is ridiculously overly complex plots to archive shallow motives, EX. if their just in it for money or power their villainous plan should have a better effort vs return than just robbing a bank or becoming a oil CEO.
That and even then they still make a fairly bland villain.

tbh the standard antagonist who's out to conquer the world or what have you is perfect for a specific age group, it depicts the world in a very black and white i.e these people are good and should be protected and these people are bad and should be punished, this system inherently teaches those people that certain individuals or actions require definitive action either good (protect) or bad (punish).

as one grows older you learn that the world isn't as black and white as we once thought and is more of a constantly changing shade of grey. the principals of the black and white world remain since they can be of great use in situations that call for and indeed bring upon a definitive answer where as in the grey world things are more difficult to discern.

this template for growth can and should be applied to antagonists and protagonists alike, games made for younger players will have a more black and white view to the world with a bad guy who is inherently bad and a good guy who always saves the day while games for more mature players should incorporate a more grey scale view to things and as such make the player have to make serious decisions or thoughts based on events within the game.

then again this wont stop a 30 year old from playing a kids game because he/she wants something simple that requires less thought input and that's also a good thing.

It's one of the biggest turn offs in any game for me. A "bad guy" that I thought was awesome is the main bad guy in the comic book called the watchmen like other have said a bad guy should be someone who is acting bad because they believe it's the right thing to do.

Its not hard, its only hard if you're planning to make one that everyone will be pleased with. I'm sure there hasn't been one badguy yet with a sexual background with horses. But can you make him a cool bad guy? Probably not.