Thursday 1 March 2007
Gamers from England have the most capacity for evil of all the world's videogame enthusiasts, according to Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, quoting statistics from a study of people who played his Xbox RPG, Fable.
The research also showed that most American gamers found it difficult to make evil choices during the game's freeform adventure, with roughly 90% of gamers in the US roleplaying as good characters.
"There was a disappointing number of people that tended towards good," Molyneux told US mag GamePro, "but it is also very interesting that the percentage of good players versus evil players varies very strongly by nationality".
For example, "the English are probably the most evil of all," but Molyneux reckons that 70% of the Americans researched played good characters, while 20% "didn't have the moral fibre to keep going down the evil path" and eventually turned to good.
Molyneux also revealed that in Fable 2 the divide between good and evil will be far bigger than before, explaining that gamers who wish to be either pure good or pure evil will be forced to make some sacrifices - and not just the bloody kind.
Although Molyneux has focused so hard on evil actions that, during a recent meeting at Lionhead, one staffer exploded that he would "never play a game" that had all the nasty things in it that Molyneux had suggested. We would, mind.
