One of the most common assumptions (I think) of the post-apocalypse genre is that there will be a substantial percentage of survivors who will become practicing psychopaths. I'm talking about individuals whose violent methods go beyond understandable (though not necessarily condonable) practices, such as looting, stealing, and robbery, required for survival under such grim conditions. People who engage in violence for the sake of violence.

Do you think this is simply a convention of the genre, or an accurate portrayal of what would likely happen? A recent example would be the Raiders in Fallout 3. There are also a few good ones in The Road (highly recommended, and no worries, the "oprah's book club" sticker peals off!)

The phalanx following carried spears or lances tasseled in ribbons, the long blades hammered out of trucksprings in some crude forge up-country. Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illclothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each."

And later, describing humans kept as livestock:

Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous

The motorcycle gang in Dawn of the Dead is a good example of who I wouldn't include in this group. Honestly, they did nothing that your average person wouldn't be compelled to do if the dead would happen to rise. They're no more morally questionable than our heroes, who even fired the first shot.

So, do you believe that a lot of 'normal' people would be driven to atrocity for pleasure, or would a sense of decency and civility prevail in most of us?