PLAYING BAD CHARACTERS IN A GOOD WAY

There are a small number of character concepts/tropes that are generally bad ideas for the gaming table, not because they are inherrantly bad characters but because players tend to play them poorly. These character types often appeal to players because in media they are often very interesting characters but what is often lost on potential player. 

The key to playing these characters is to understand what they are actually about. Most of the unpopular character concepts are designed as starting points and/or vehicles for character growth. As the character is written (played), they are supposed to develop and change. The lone wolf learns the value of friends. The edgelord learns to share the weight of his emotons with others and gain strength from them. The brash lout learns that there is room in his life for caring and sensitivity. Even the villainous character learns the mistakes in the assumptions they have made that led to their villainy. The key to all of these is that the character, as written explores these changes.

As players, it can be tricky to explore these without coming across as disruptive or annoying but it can be done through effort and an attempt to exposit the reasons and rationale behind their actions and how there character is processing things. This can sometimes seem awkward at the table, expressing a characters' internal processes outloud, but it is what makes these characters work in print and on the screen, though in the latter case we see this acted out and don't read it, but it was written down somewhere. Doing so, however, cuts through any perceptions that the player is doing this to be a problem for the rest of the party.

Next, the player of such characters should make an effort to express that changes and character growth are occurring. In moments of role-play it only takes a few little expressions to reflect this. Perhaps the shutdown, closed-up character shares a rare and new moment of openess. The evil character might give pause before committing and act that once came so esily to him. The pilfering thief puts the thing back. these moments don't even have to be made in the form of dialog or moments shared with PCs. they can be narrated as downtime activities or in interactions with NPCs and even monsters. A violent, "kill 'em all" sort of character who has spent the adventure launching into needless combat might show mercy or restraint at the start of combat, but this becomes clear when the reason is given.

Lastly, embrace the changes. Accept that you have made this character to explore the growth and make a conscious choice of when the character finally reaches that point of transformation from who they wre to who they have become. Much in the same way that players absolutely must make a conscious decision to play and adventurer and find the reasons for their character to embrace the aventures put before them, so to must a potentially problematic character archetype make a choice to eventually change. Such changes are not even the end of that character's cool concept and archetype for now the character's concept changes to one of acceptance, redemption, correction, or even mentoring. The player now gets to embrace the changed character and all the new role-playing opportunities that come with their new self taking the rest of the players and their characters along for the ride.

Problem characters are only problems because people play them poorly. Now, some of this comes down to bad players choosing them for the wrong reasons but, if you are a good player who truly wants to play one of these character archetypes then by all means go for it. Just remember to make it fun, embrace the story that those archetypes are meant to tell and accept that at some point for it to work, the character needs to tramsform.