What do your villains want?
http://union.virtueverse.net/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory
Erzsébet Báthory always was a slightly powermad control freak. In life she kept complete control over her subjects and punished those who would question her authority. She has a personal fetish in inflicting pain and suffering. And she would just like the freedom to do so whenever she feels like.
Her search for more power and knowledge goes far. Especially into the dark arts. Which often use sacrifices of human flesh and blood. As she sees her subjects as worthless anyway those where always easy to get.
Now all this was before she became a vampire through a deal with demonic forces. Which also increased her magical powers.
Her goals are still the same... freedom to act and power to keep that freedom. Now it just also includes blood to feed upon and keep her young (filling her blood bath). And ultimatly... her position made many enemies. She hates being opposed... and needs to safeguard her position. So enemies should be eridicated! This is just an neccesity... there is no real hatred here. They are worthless beings like all the rest anyway. Just with power enough to annoy her and her plans.
Ofcourse she has a lot of fun playing with her subjects... So although world domination would be nice... there is no way she goes for world destruction. All those happy meals on legs are there just to serv her... or feed her in time. Whatever comes first!
- The Italian Job: The Godfather Returns #1151
Beginner - Encounter a renewed age for the Mook and the Family when Emile Marcone escapes from the Zig!
- Along Came a... Bug!? #528482
Average - A new race of aliens arrives on Earth. And Vanguard has you investigate them!
- The Court of the Blood Countess: The Rise of the Blood Countess #3805
Advanced - Go back in time and witness the birth of a vampire. Follow her to key moments in her life in order to stop her! A story of intrigue, drama and horror! Blood & Violence... not recommend to solo!
![](http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/2826/bathoryerzsebetlogo.jpg)
Beyond:
"He's so far beyond good and evil that he couldn't find it with a telescope on a clear night."
- Mr Croup
Which would be the case of Fimbulwinter. All things end, including the universe. And Fimbulwinter is the avatar of that end.
You could see it as a variant of Higher Purpose, but Higher Purpose seemed to hint that you were aware of it and didn't like it, but hey, it's not your responsibility. It's still within the good/evil dichotomy.
Fimbulwinter is beyond that. It's time to put up the chair, turn off the lights and close the door of this universe.
Still @Shadow Kitty
"I became Archvillain before Statesman nerfed himself!"
Villains on the other hand, are instigators. They need choices that heroes or others can respond to. That's really hard in mission writing, but they either need variety in the types of missions, or more choices, and rewards for those choices that benefit the villain. When CoV was in Beta (or after live, I forget) I suggested that initial villain contacts should be based on motivation, as opposed to heroes that were based on origin. At least cater to the destroyer types that just want to break everything down, monarchs who want to rule the world, and the mercenary thugs (where the biggest direction of the villain game writing went) that just want to get rich.
Anyway, that's a lot of text, the tl/dr version is basically, heroes are responders, villains are instigators. Writing for heroes is easier than villains, and motivations should have been better catered to than the mission-giver's desires at CoV launch, but it looks like they're trying to get better (outside of that extended Dr Graves tutorial *shudder*. I like the Shining Stars... don't care for the Graves one at all. |
Moment aside, I do agree with you on the subject of villains and their motivation, and the idea of having different starting contacts based on a villain's motivation is inspired. I'm ashamed I never thought of it. Kalinda vs. Burke tended to be a BIT like this, with Kalinda representing the path of cooperation with Arachnos while Burke represented the path of defiance against Arachnos, but that in itself is the problem because it wraps villain motivation around Arachnos. If you're sensing a redundancy of my speech, there's a reason for it - it's all about Arachnos, even today.
Having a variety of starting contacts with even just basic, simple missions might have been fun. The game actually has contacts to that effect scattered about, when you think about it. The mad/malicious people could have started with Vivacious Verandi and her quest to just start all manner of chaos, you could have had a mercenary contact like Vince Dubrowski, someone like Dran McArthur to cater to the empire-building villains and so on. Granted, I listed a lot more motivations than there's reasonable chance to make contacts for, but I was being specific. A lot of those can be combined into the same general storylines. And, granted, it's kind of hard to make an "empire building" storyline without it being origin-specific, but I feel that can be sidestepped by having the player work AGAINST a variety of enemy origins, but receive abstract benefits. "Power" and "Money" work well here.
In general, I agree that a villain's motivation is an integral part of that villain's character. A villain without a good motivation can still be cool based on look, powers or specific interactions, but a lot of the time, the WRONG motivation can utterly ruin a villain. That's actually the downfall of a lot of JRPGs like the Final Fantasy series, as well as many anime TV and OVA series - the villain, when boiled down to what he or she wants at the end - is just laughable. For some reason, it always seems to boil down to either "The world is imperfect, so I must destroy it!" "I will become a god!" or "We ask only for war!" - an actual and horribly narmtasting line from Front Mission Evolved. I get that a villain can be cool and respected and threatening, but when you have to stop and ask: "Really? That's why you're doing it? REALLY?!?" then that takes a lot of the impact away.
Overall, I find a villain's motivation to be an integral part of a villain's character. And not just that, but allowing a villain to act on his motivation is pretty important, too. Really, I find a villain to be the most entertaining when that villain is acting out that motivation of his, because that's when the villain really stands up on his own merits.
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
|
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
|
I have three villains that I really have anything invested in and one who spent long enough redside to matter.
The first is my Traps/DP defender. She's a mercenary, pure and simple. No morals, no anger, no grand goals besides a nice healthy bank account. She takes pride in being the best, but generally doesn't let herself get led around by it. Ego cuts into the profit margin too much.
Second is my MM. She's megalomania incarnate. The world is hers. You're trespassing. Grovel sufficiently and she might forgive you.
Third is my Ice/Pain Corrupter. She's a thrall of the second, so technically she falls under Higher Power, though there is just a sneaking hint of Revenge in there as well. She obeys because she must. If she could kill her mistress, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
My Stalker used be my fourth, driven by fear and the desire for revenge as she fled her captors, but eventually, the better angels of her nature took over and she slid over to blue-side.
<del>Misguided</del> Idealism: "I don't want to rule the world, I want a world that CANNOT BE ruled."
@Mindshadow
Honestly most of what they've added villain side has been great.
The first villain I created that I enjoyed a whole lot (but had to shelve when I hit that level and lieutenants were immune to me) was my dominator, whose goal was to construct a magic blender, throw people, machines, and plants into it, and create a clone army of herself.
When the architect came out it was the first thing I made and it was a blast. So I still to this day consider the AE as villain content.
Another great addition was the cloning facility missions. Going up against clones of myself made me really truly feel like a badass. And being betrayed and watching the facility go up in smoke? Icing on the cake.
I love the Mortimer Kal task force and everything leading up to it. more like that, and I'll be happy. I probably shouldn't ask for too much because stuff designed by committee probably wouldn't be as impressive.
you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you <3
Also, just for the record: I LOVE the way you think!
![]() ![]() |
My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."
![](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/HellkatPredator/2012%20Livestreams/ChompAeon.gif)
Any of my characters who are motivated by greed or power are generally Rogues.
All my actual villans are insane. One is driven insane by immense pain levels, and so he doesnt want much, other than to lash out and destroy.
My only other villain is also insane. She is horrified by her condition (fire/thorns dom) and to a degree she is in pain when she uses the thorns. She wants to be normal ... and she wants to kill anyone who has powers but is still normal/beautiful. She actually is beautiful when thorns arent erupting out of her, but she is too unhinged to see that. As this point she is just too prone to fits of rage.
At some point, I plan to cross my dual blades/sr scrapper over and have him be someone who kills because to him it is high art, or fashion, or a performance. So he would be insane also. What he wants is to have his creativity and his sensations pushed to higher and higher levels in his quest for art, perfection and glory.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
Thought for the day:
"Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."
=][=
I want to take a moment to sidestep the "heroes are responders" argument by saying that I simply don't agree with it. They CAN be, much like villains CAN be mercenaries, but I tend to give my heroes motivations as complex and contrived as my villains. Build a corporation to provide security to the whole world, serve as a shining example of heroism to inspire others, protect just a single loved one, save a friend trapped in the Null Void, etc. I CAN play heroes with no motivation other than responding to threats as they appear, but I find that after one or two of those, I want something more substantial. And those usually get deleted, too. I will always remember Insane Rick.
|
I have a number of heroes with some very strong motivations; like my Stalker who, before Going Rogue came out, was a 'hero' in the Rogue Isles. I took paper missions and strung together my own stories for him making concentrated strikes on Arachnos (his main objective) and following clues to put a stop to other villain groups in the Rogue Isles as the story in my head dictated. He worked out rather well, all things considered. My University teacher in power armor takes up 3 character slots for his different armors, and each iteration added a new depth and understanding into his nature and what he's about. He's probably my most developed charcter out of all of my creations, hero or villain.
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Overall, I find a villain's motivation to be an integral part of a villain's character. And not just that, but allowing a villain to act on his motivation is pretty important, too. Really, I find a villain to be the most entertaining when that villain is acting out that motivation of his, because that's when the villain really stands up on his own merits.
|
This would be great all around, but an amazing tool for villains to create their own plots and agendas without following some contact's lead (Imagine if you did a paper mission, got the goodie or whatever, then you had a choice of what to actually do with it, which led to another mission. Depending on what you did with that mission it would either end, or give you the option of another 'step' in your plot with another mission, so on and so forth).
It would be impossible to create a step for every scenario imagineable, but if they went on the base motivations that's been discussed, I'm sure that would still satisfy a lot of villain character types.
"I play characters. I have to have a very strong visual appearance, backstory, name, etc. to get involved with a character, otherwise I simply won't play it very long. I'm not an RPer by any stretch of the imagination, but character concept is very important for me."- Back Alley Brawler
I couldn't agree more.
Huh. All my villains are boring cop-outs that explain nothing.
Oh well.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
I'm not sure that the entire scope of someone's villainy can be explained in motivation. Just saying what they fight for or are aiming towards doesn't always speak of the means that they'll go about it doing it, or their demeanor in general.
TPN trial guide video / MoM trial guide video / DD trial guide video / BAF trial guide video
/ Lambda trial guide video / Keyes trial guide video / Magisterium trial guide video / Underground trial guide
Hm. Well let's see. Something I should mention. I'm heavily influenced by the DCAU, and it affects my style.
Bejeweling, my Earth/Fire Dominator - she also goes by the title of the Bavarian Bombshell and has volcano powers thanks to her theft of a gem from what may have been fueling one of Vulcan's forges (otherwise known as volcanoes). She's German because I get very annoyed with people making every single German villain a Nazi, and she's not. At all. Also, I can't pull off a cheesy French accent in-game to save my life (I'm not kidding). Bejeweling is very pulpy in style, and meant to harken back to 1930s serials and characters like Roxy Rocket from Batman: TAS. If Roxy could take out a building.
Her primary motivations are money and thrills and a deep-seated rebellion against authority. She has an odd idealistic streak to her personality, and while admits that she's not really a good person, she likes to think that's an honorable one and has limits. She prefers crimes with artistry to them, and crime that has a degree of craftsmanship to it. She's old school, and has little respect for villains that rely on crude methods like mass slaughter to do the job.
She grew into a supervillain out of boredom with the mundaness of every day life, starting out as an unpowered thief as a way to amuse herself and blow off steam while at university. She later broke into the big leagues. A lack of ambition and glory to it, a frustration of going through the motions. Life should be glorious, in her view. She does this by living larger than life, stealing fire from the gods (literally). She probably could have become a hero if things had gone differently. While she'll do deathtraps and stuff, the idea of an inglorious end to a worthy hero (I suspect she regards it much like dueling) is something she despises. As she puts it, "There should be Valkyries."
Reanimistress - my DP/Rad corruptor - a mad scientist who lost the ability to die permanently in a confrontation with a hero that went badly. Her primary motivation is her own curiosity and desire for knowledge, especially over the secrets of life, death, and creation. She does stuff, such as construct Frankensteinian brutes out of corpses, vat grown material and whatnot, primarily to see if she can. She's insane in the sense that she believes she's advancing knowledge, but it's mostly her indulging her curiosity... and she has almost no limit to how much she'll indulge. She's whimsical, even charming... and she has a tendency of shooting lab assistants that fail her and reanimating their corpses as servitors.
To her, heroes are an annoyance for the most part. She enjoys the conflict on occasion, just for the challenge it represents. The best enemies are rare, wonderful things that keep you on your toes and should be savored.
Stormhulk - Sonic/Dark corruptor, but might reroll him to something else. Stormhulk is a big seven foot evil robot with a brain in a jar. He was built to be a minion... then the mad scientist that built him got caught, and Stormhulk got forgotten. Poor Stormhulk. He's fun. Stormhulk isn't really one minion so much as an army of minions... that appear one at a time. There's a factory somewhere with them, and nobody's ever changed the settings on it. Destroy Stormhulk, the next one on the line starts up and walks into the teleporter.
He's still looking for a motivation, though takes orders well beneath his loud personality (he sounds like Brian Blessed yelling through an old 1950s high school intercom). That, and y'know, destroy all humans.
I admit, part of my motivation for making him was to be cannon fodder. He's a villain, but he lacks the intelligence or ambition to really be anything above a lackey, and he gets blown up a lot. I'd go so far as to call him a professional minion, hiring himself out to minion for others.
You want to know the secret of the world? It's this: Save it, and it'll repay you, every second of every day.
@Dr. Reverend - My DeviantArt Gallery
Crow Call - Gods of the Golden Age
Raptus Regaliter: To prove that he's the smartest man in the room. To take over Crey Industries, or destroy it... depends on his mood. To create a personal army of supernatural cyborgs and achieve with it as much personal power as possible.
Kiini: To glorify the goddess of her cult with blood sacrifice, and make a little money as an assassin-for-hire while she's doing it.
December Man: If you asked him, he wouldn't be able to tell you. All he knows is that he seems to have no empathy to the pain of others.
Ro-Bust: She's pretty much insane, and she enjoys causing others mental anguish.
Molm Reindar: To be the world's most perfect killer.
Zaphoirza: To pay back the debt she feels like she owes to Raptus Regaliter, whom she doesn't actually realize is a horrible, horrible person.
Axe Jeeves: Usually he's quite content in his job as a butler. But sometimes people upset him, and he has to kill them. With an axe.
Global name: @k26dp
Hrm, I'll bite. Never a bad idea to remind myself why my characters do things.
Toy Dispenser: The android mercenary with as many personalities as he has robotic minions, Toy leans from Personal Gain to Kicks and Giggles depending on the given day. Upkeeping a manufactory satellite and designing a slow growing robot army is expensive, but sometimes he does things simply for the experience. Like getting a Hero ID and pretending to be legit when he gets bored. He has something of an obsession with being the only android of his class, but I'm not sure where that would fit in the list.
Archlich: A Megalomanic raised and undead. He tends to temper himself with some Misguided Idealism about being the only one worthy of controlling all magic, but that doesn't stop much. One of the only survivors of Mu and the first lich, Archlich has spent all the centuries since gathering arcane knowledge and unlocking the true secrets of magic. He wields primal forces like we breathe and one day he'll make sure humanity finds out just how much he learned.
Captain Farfield: Daniel Farfield is a Webmaster who's loyalty to Arachnos is absolute. A model soldier and exemplary commander, Farfield's true desire is Revenge. It started off as a desire for revenge against the lone hero who accidently burned down his apartment and killed his fiance, but Arachnos tutelage has broadened his feelings. All heroes will burn and their ashes tramped under steel boots if Farfield gets his wish.
Lord Netharak: A Doom Lord of the Burning Legion cast adrift in Primal Earth, Netharak is Pure Malice personified. Suffering begets power and power brings the coming of the Legion ever closer. And if there's one thing Lord Netharak is good at, it's causing suffering through untold destruction and death. Or he would if those damn heroes would ever get off his back.
I have some other villains, like Brutish Ghoul and Rich the Claw, but they're mostly all mercenaries in the same vein as Toy Dispenser. I tend to enjoy roleplaying Rogues much more than actual Villains.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
They should revamp CoV to feature destructible environments and killable civilians to go along with all the enemy groups. Something to really say "villian". Plus, totalling ripping off GTA might attract a whole new player base to the "redside".
|
Now to my Villains and Rogues. I'm a new player, so most of them aren't level 20, so the distinction isn't too clear. Most of them are more Rogues then Villains though.
Dr. Augmented wants revenge on those that betrayed her, and enough resources to continue her research. What else does a Mad Scientist need?
Maiden of Chaos is in it for the fun, she relishes the thrill of the fight as she was originally designed as a super soldier mercenary.
Morgaine la Fay just wants to zap things and see them twitch. She's actually one of the most evil of my characters even though she looks like a pretty little fairy.
Efreeti Princess just wants to live in comfort, have fun and not be bothered.
Samasmar is immortal and just doesn't care as he'll outlive nearly anyone and anything.
Some of my other characters have just grown up on the Rogue Isles and don't know any better than the fight to survive.
The main reason most of my characters are Villains is because one of my friends that I started playing with really wanted to play an evil demon, otherwise some of these characters might have been vigilantes instead.
Doc_Rev,
I really like Bejeweling. Characters that I make like that, I tend to make them rogues. But yeah, very nice!
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Doc_Rev,
I really like Bejeweling. Characters that I make like that, I tend to make them rogues. But yeah, very nice! Lewis |
![Smile](images/smilies/smile.gif)
One of my goals with villains tends to be making sure they're not jerks. Yeah, sure, they're evil and all, but that's no reason to be rude about it. It also makes teaming easier. Being an anti-social jerk might seem badass and cool, but nobody likes you. I've noticed my villains end up being almost kind of chipper sometimes.
You want to know the secret of the world? It's this: Save it, and it'll repay you, every second of every day.
@Dr. Reverend - My DeviantArt Gallery
Crow Call - Gods of the Golden Age
I like to ascribe to a "villain by choice" rhetoric, though by that I don't mean a Saturday morning cartoon villain who sings a song about "I do it all because I'm evil!" In our everyday lives, we often have to make choices. Not necessarily between good or evil, or even right and wrong, but often between ourselves and others. Mine are "villains by choice" not because they chose to be evil, but because time and again, they chose to do things that hurt others, destroy lives and doom others to a grim fate. Though they never explicitly chose to be evil, it is still the choices they make that define them as villains. These are not misguided, confused or "salvageable" people They made their choice.
|
Actually, I don't even see most of my villainous characters as "villains." I see them as "outlaws." I think that best describes them. They disregard the law, the social rules, and the typical moral code that most people adhere to most of the time. Its not so much that they pursue evil, but rather that they refuse to live under the restrictions that good requires.
I can't play a "straight villain" - someone who thinks its wrong, knows its wrong, but does it anyway. I can play an outlaw: everyone else thinks is wrong, but I don't, so I do it. And I can play completely crazy: everyone else thinks is wrong, but they don't count because their heads are upside down and they taste like ginger snaps. But its not generally in my nature to play evil for its own sake. I can be Magneto. I can't be Hannibal Lector.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
Anti-villains, on the flip side, are also strange to me. This has to do with my "evil by choice" notion, in the sense that a misguided villain or one forced into villainy against his will can be "fixed" by removing the circumstances that keep the person a villain. Whether he can be forgiven is another matter entirely, but he can be fixed nevertheless. A villain who chose the path that led him into evil, however, isn't one who can be easily fixed, if fixed at all, because this person made a conscious choice. He isn't "damaged" and thus forced to be evil. He chose to do what he chose to do and he accepted the circumstances. You can no more fix a villain set in his ways than you can change people's political or religious views once they've accepted them consciously.
|
Of course if you've got a "burnt cookie" - tough and surly on the outside, soft and wimpy on the inside - then that's a prime candidate for a heel-face turn if someone just gives them a hug or something.
@Mindshadow
Oh, joy. I never get enough time to talk about my villains.
Arachnos Unit BT99F - EM/EA Brute - My original villain back from CoV launch, BT9 is a nine foot tall battle robot that was originally a Crey and American government experimental cyber-soldier. The project was decommissioned after several officials raised "human" (feh) issues. Stolen and reprogrammed by Arachnos, he serves Black Scorpion and Recluse without question (literally, he can't talk, but can emit command prompt via an electronic speaker).
Geist Dieb - SS/EA Brute - Originally a Longbow Spec Ops that managed to infiltrate Grandville Tower, she went rogue after coming into contact with the DESTINY portal. The future she saw was destroyed and home to nothing but rubble, so she pretty much embraced her most selfish values, turning to a life of high-tech thievery. Her patron is Ghost Widow, because she thinks that outliving death sounds pretty good.
Geiger Killer - Ah, my most powerful villain. He is actually the Praetorian version of my main hero, Doctor Scotts. Once a heroic figure and genius of unparalleled skill, he organized the communications between the Resistance, Carnival of Light, and assorted rebellious groups. His best friend was also a freedom fighter, and in one swoop his entire organization was destroyed by Cole. His friend was torn in half by Marauder and his network betrayed. Using the last of his connections, he launched an assault against Anti-Matters portals, enough to stall the Praetor and use them. Unfortunately, he passed through unprotected and had his neurons and sanity fried by the temporal energies. When he arrived on Primal Earth, he pretty much started killing anything he saw. His primary goal is to: A) Kill any version of Marcus Cole. B) Supplant the Primal Doctor Scotts and take over. C) Burn everything he can.*
Addendum: Since Incarnates came out, he has become the Incarnation of Hephaestus, god of smithing. His insanity has been mostly healed and he now fights against Cole and The Coming Storm from a secret base located between the Rogue Isles and Paragon.
I want to take a moment to sidestep the "heroes are responders" argument by saying that I simply don't agree with it. They CAN be, much like villains CAN be mercenaries, but I tend to give my heroes motivations as complex and contrived as my villains. Build a corporation to provide security to the whole world, serve as a shining example of heroism to inspire others, protect just a single loved one, save a friend trapped in the Null Void, etc. I CAN play heroes with no motivation other than responding to threats as they appear, but I find that after one or two of those, I want something more substantial. And those usually get deleted, too. I will always remember Insane Rick.
|
On a different level entirely, I believe that heroism is almost always associated with a certain amount of selflessness and service: a need to serve others. So in a grander sense, superheroes are always reacting to need. Others need help, they discover that need, and they try to serve it. Villainy, on the other hand, tends to be associated with selfishness: with seeing either one's goals, agenda, or personal preferences being superior to everyone else's. Villainy tends not to react to others but to react to their own needs and desires.
An individual act may be proactive or reactive, but the motivations most associated with heroism are reacting to others in need and villainy tends to be associated with serving one's own interests. We normally describe serving ones own interests as being proactive, while serving others interests as being reactive.
[Guide to Defense] [Scrapper Secondaries Comparison] [Archetype Popularity Analysis]
In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile...
(Please support the best webcomic about a cosmic universal realignment by impaired angelic interference resulting in identity crisis angst. Or I release the pigmy water thieves.)
I haven't read through all of the responses, but I fear I'm forgetting what I want to say, so here's a partial response with some observations in it:
First of all, I added a couple more "motivations" to the list. Specifically, I added "kicks and giggles" and "revenge." Again, it's not a complete list or even a meaningful guide, I just felt that people were describing motivations I hadn't really covered.
Secondly, I'm seeing a lot of villains who are either anti-villains (far-end Rogue) or, on the flip side, evil because they're insane. This is something I wanted to address, and there's a reason I didn't add "insanity" to the list of motivations. That reason is that, to me at least, insanity is the sort of no-answer answer to the question of why a character is evil. It's the equivalent of "a wizard did it" when explaining plot points. Obviously, that doesn't make it wrong, it just doesn't explain anything.
Personally, speaking of insane villains (and I do have a few fit the bill), I like to think that there's something more to their evil than just abstract insanity. I like to view insanity as the catalyst which brings up more deep-seated reasons for one to turn to villainy. Think of the "protagonist" from Falling Down, for instance. Yes, he snapped and can probably be called insane by the end, but his craziness is an extension of the frustrations he felt in his life. I don't mind insanity being an answer, I just mind it being the ONLY answer. Again, I don't claim that's a bad thing. I just tend to want more.
Anti-villains, on the flip side, are also strange to me. This has to do with my "evil by choice" notion, in the sense that a misguided villain or one forced into villainy against his will can be "fixed" by removing the circumstances that keep the person a villain. Whether he can be forgiven is another matter entirely, but he can be fixed nevertheless. A villain who chose the path that led him into evil, however, isn't one who can be easily fixed, if fixed at all, because this person made a conscious choice. He isn't "damaged" and thus forced to be evil. He chose to do what he chose to do and he accepted the circumstances. You can no more fix a villain set in his ways than you can change people's political or religious views once they've accepted them consciously.
Even though they're on pretty much polar opposite sides of the "likeability" spectrum, I see pure madmen and pure anti-villains as very close to each other in terms of making a face turn, almost as though the likelihood curve is a circle where the far left and far right sit side by side. Anti-villains are practically heroes with extenuating circumstances while insane villains are practically victims of their madness. In either case, if a villain is made cool enough to where people want to keep seeing more of him, then a face turn becomes very likely, if not in official continuity, then at least in fan fiction.
At least that's how I see it, but I welcome argument to the contrary.
Finally, and this is somewhat sideways of the subject, but I LOVE the idea of having a character serve as a remote-controlled entity while the REAL character is never seen on-screen. Great idea there, and I'll definitely be using it