westin-phipps

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  • The Real Villains: Westin Phipps

    by 
    Adrian Bott
    Adrian Bott
    05.02.2008

    City of Villains is full of avatars of comic-book evil. They have skull motifs and spikes and scowling faces. They sport names with 'dark' in them.But the most despicable being in all the Rogue Isles is a weaselly, bespectacled little man with thinning hair plastered across his scalp; a man who is regarded as a public benefactor, a champion of charity. His very ordinariness is what makes him so dreadful, as it is much easier to recognise the evils of the real world in him than in a comic character like Lord Recluse.In our brief tour of the contacts in CoV who have the most authentically villainous content, Phipps's missions are the final stop. Some people have found them disturbing to play; the mission writer, Constellation (no longer with the CoX team) wondered if he might have gone too far. Some players have even wished for side-switching after playing Phipps's missions, and now that player generated content is on the horizon, players are proposing custom missions in which you get to beat Phipps to a pulp. So, what is it about this content that provokes such guilt and remorse?