Villains - an IFDB Poll

"[T]he thief [in Zork] is important to the development of interactive fiction because he functions as a true villain, not simply an obstacle or opponent.", writes Nick Montfort. Apparently, he moves around, taunts the player, actively hinders his progress, and can be finally overcome. What other games have such a villain?

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	Zork II, by Dave Lebling, Marc Blank 5 votes "Kind of an obvious choice, in light of the initial remarks here, but the Wizard of Frobozz was arguably a more dastardly opponent, and a more satisfying one to overcome, than the Thief from Zork I." [+]"Kind of an obvious choice, in light of the initial remarks here, but the Wizard of Frobozz was arguably a more dastardly opponent, and a more satisfying one to overcome, than the Thief from Zork I." () --Xervosh... "The Wizard: Villainous Enough to Fit Even the Tightest Parameters!" [+]"The Wizard: Villainous Enough to Fit Even the Tightest Parameters!: This definition of "true villainy" feels a little snug (do I look fat in this definition?), but I think the Wizard makes the cut." () --Ghalev... "My favorite of the ZORK trilogy." [+]"My favorite of the ZORK trilogy.: The wizard was quite a character." () --Puddin Tame... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --DJ... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Jason Lautzenheiser... Vote for this game

	Party Foul, by Brooks Reeves 3 votes "The Hostess- she..." [+]"The Hostess- she is a pain all the time, and figuring out how to distract her is a key puzzle. She's always undoing all your best laid plans and she does it in a snide and "innocent" way. " ( - Full review) --tggdan3... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Celestianpower... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --o0pyromancer0o... Vote for this game

	Plundered Hearts, by Amy Briggs 3 votes "The primary..." [+]"The primary villain here is a sneering, taunting character whose influence is felt long before you actually meet him, and the face-offs involving his defeat are hugely satisfying." ( - Full review) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --DJ... Vote for this game

	Lock & Key, by Adam Cadre 3 votes "Baldo-..." [+]"Baldo- doesn't interact directly, and you're the villain while he's the hero, but he has a lot more characterization than any other NPC I've seen in a while. " ( - Full review) --tggdan3... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Hunter, in Darkness, by Andrew Plotkin 3 votes "The Wumpus meets..." [+]"The Wumpus meets this definition (assuming taunting doesn't require speech)." --Matt Wigdahl... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --DJ... "The Wumpus is..." [+]"The Wumpus is your match" --Christina Nordlander... Vote for this game

	Jigsaw, by Graham Nelson 2 votes "Arguably Black..." [+]"Arguably Black moves, acts, and taunts with the best of them, though s/he's also the romantic interest." () --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Sobol... Vote for this game

	Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin 2 votes "The interrogator" [+]"The interrogator: "villain" kind of implies evil, which may not be accurate in this case, but he serves as your primary antagonist (and the only NPC you interact with on a deeper level), trying to tease the truth out of you while you try as hard to outsmart him" --Christina Nordlander... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --o0pyromancer0o... Vote for this game

	You Find Yourself in a Room., by Eli Piilonen 2 votes "A sort of..." [+]"A sort of interactive metafiction in which the game itself is the villain - verbally abusive and doing its best to belittle you and mess with your head." () --o0pyromancer0o... (No comment) [+](No comment) --lostinreverie... Vote for this game

	9:05, by Adam Cadre 2 votes "A very relatable villain" [+]"A very relatable villain: (SPOILERS) The game toys with genre conventions of not knowing your own belongings and house at the beginning of the game - despite allegedly having lived there for years - by having the protagonist actually be someone who has murdered a father and attempts to take over his life and even his job. The utter absurdity of such a situation is played to the hilt in the hilarious ending. If you've ever played a game - especially a timed one - where you feel like you're being expected to live somebody else's life despite not being them, this game ought to offer catharsis." --P-Tux7... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Denk... Vote for this game

	Worlds Apart, by Suzanne Britton 1 vote "A realistic slave-owning villain" [+]"A realistic slave-owning villain: (SPOILERS) Lashiaran is one of the most realistic villains - despite not being a human by dint of his aristocratic racism. Refusing your mom access to a healer, letting her die for refusing to submit to slavery, and threatening to expel his enslaved jester to homelessness for fraternizing with you and your family are some of the vile things he does in the story, and you as a player will especially hate him because, unlike most characters, he ignores any questions you have due to you being lower-class than him, not allowing you to utilize one of the game's best systems with him. He also comes across as particularly realistic because society is structured to support him - despite the game ending with vague promises of a sequel, I have no idea how he would even be stopped, and there is the uncomfortable knowledge that even if Lashiaran himself were to be stopped, there are others in the world exactly like him." --P-Tux7... Vote for this game

	Violet, by Jeremy Freese 1 vote "Julia primarily..." [+]"Julia primarily serves as an obstacle to be overcome, yes, but she also thwarts quite reasonable solutions to other puzzles." () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game

	Forbidden Castle, by Mercer Mayer 1 vote "The Blue Faerie-..." [+]"The Blue Faerie- she's obnoxious, you have to barter with her to complete the game, and talk to her to find out what's going on, she shows no love for you, and the whole problem is "her fault", and she moves around and takes objects if you leave them in her area. " ( - Full review) --tggdan3... Vote for this game

	Rogue of the Multiverse, by C.E.J. Pacian 1 vote "Dr. Sliss, the..." [+]"Dr. Sliss, the lizardwoman scientist who treats you like a glorified monkey and sends you on strange errands as part of her experiments." () --o0pyromancer0o... Vote for this game

	Murmellius II, by VDSB 1 vote "Piet & Dirk" [+]"Piet & Dirk: They aren't intentionally opposing you, but working on their own designs." ( - Full review) --Biep... Vote for this game

	The Fortress of Fear, by Larry Horsfield 1 vote "Wladyslaw is behind it all and you will meet him in the end." [+]"Wladyslaw is behind it all and you will meet him in the end." ( - Full review) --Denk... Vote for this game

	Shelter from the Storm, by Eric Eve 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) () --DJ... Vote for this game

	Enemies, by Andy Phillips 1 vote "A definite antagonist taunts you every step of the way" [+]"A definite antagonist taunts you every step of the way: Whoever it is seems to know you well, and not in a good way." --mjhayes... Vote for this game

	Eat Me, by Chandler Groover 1 vote "Spoilers" [+]"Spoilers: the Queen (the narrative voice) spends the entire game egging you on and corrupting you into accomplishing her goals" () --Christina Nordlander... Vote for this game

	Varicella, by Adam Cadre 1 vote "General Wehrkeit" [+]"General Wehrkeit: while most of your rivals are essentially obstacles (they're nasty people, but they're not actively working against you), Wehrkeit (even if he's absent for most of the game) probably counts as a villain in the sense of this poll. He makes active attempts to stop you, and even after you've disarmed him, it's possible for him to kill you if you screw up." --Christina Nordlander... Vote for this game

Is there another game that you think should be on this list? Just fill in the title of a game you'd like to vote for.

Poll created on September 1, 2010