To preface this, I have well over 2000 hours in BG3 alone, 5.5 runs. I've played pretty much every top tier CRPG available.
I just don't enjoy evil runs. I play video games because life is dark and challenging enough; I want to lose myself in a space where I can look forward to a happy ending, or at the very least a bittersweet one.
I totally agree. Video games is be far most enjoyment and entertainment for me. Yes, darkness in games and movies can make pretty engaging stories, but if made without any humor or light in the tunnel most people just think it is depressing. Even an "all-black" world like Vampire: Bloodlines (original) have a lot of humor to balance it. For many it is a big difference between playing a righteous hero in a dark world and an evil menace that tortures and kills innocent kids and animals. But of course, the setting is important, whack-a-mole had a rather gruesome concept but was a big hit. More realistic depictions may be different. I remember in BG3, mass kill goblins in isometric view is just fine, but some of the (more realistic rendered) cutscenes (Dame Aylin in particular) always give me shivers of discomfort.
Some 15 years ago I read some discussion on Gamasutra, an discussion forum for game developers. It was there said something like "they were always told to make "dark story paths", but then it always turned out that 90% of the game runs where played on the "good paths".
To use similar amounts of development resources for different "good" and "evil" paths would in the end be a big waste. Too few would appreciate it. By default most people want "to do the right thing", at least in a game that feels emotional engaging.
