Yes, I am aware some of these ideas have been posted. Flame me if you want. If you think a good/evil system has been beaten to death, then don\'t read this.
I don\'t think a saint title is a good system, atleast not for catching hackers. I think it\'s a given that everyone should do it regardless of a reward.
However, I do think an evil/good system is not only a good idea, but a vital componant of a true role playing game. While it is not necessary for a game\'s success, or popularity, nothing stops a character, from an evil guild, completeing a quest that no evil characture would do(i.e. saving a girl from a band of theivs).
Yes, you could argue that they could be doing it for the reward, but what if they continually do \"good deeds?\" I don\'t know your previous roleplaying experience, but to me that is bad role playing.
You could also say that it shouldn\'t be programmed in, that its strictly a roleplaying thing (i.e. left up to the community to spread around). You may consider your friends and yourself good RPers, but this is a free game. That means it will reach out and \"grab in\" a lot of people who have little, or no role playing experience. You know the type, the pople who want to hack-and-slash their way to the top with the best uber items. They wont want to RP, much less spread around rumors of who is good and bad. A system of alignment will help them think about their actions.
It\'s also common sense to me that no good character would be using a godly +15 sword of blood, famous for slaying a thousand virgins. Like wise, no evil characture would use a godly hammer of justice crafted by the gods to destroy evil.
I also don\'t think an evil guild would want a character who continually does good quests. No one says \"did you hear about ?\" \"yeah, I heard one of their members saved a little girl and rid a town of bandits the the other day.\"
I would love to see a game where a good/evil system is applied effectivly. For me, this would be done by haveing 3 types of quests. Good, neutral, and evil. Good would add to your rating, neutral would have no effect, and evil would subtract. Failed pick pocketing attemps could also give small deductions.
Someone brought up the idea of merchants travelling between towns in a previous thread, robbing them would be a perfect \"quest\" for an evil guild (perhaps the time of the jounrey would be provided by various NPCs). If a merchant is robbed, prices in the receiving town could be raised till the next one arrives. That would give a good guild an insentive to protect them.
If PKing is later introduced, the person that dies would receive the option of ignoring it, or effecting his status. If the later option is choosen, a good killing an evil character would greatly add points, an evil killing a good would greatly subtract points, a good killing another good would subtract a lot, and any other kills would subtract a few points.
To make it a goal to acceive either a good, or bad, rating: having either extreme would slightly alter your stats (i.e. an evil person would have +5 to str and +10% to dark way damage given and +10% damage taken from the crystal way). Maybe you could have different levels of evil and good, the more negative your points the higher your evil ranking. Being a higher level of could increase the effect on stats.
summary:
+I belive each character should have a good/evil rating. This would be hidden from public view, unless the player decides to make it public(you could say a character had symbols or tattoes, ect).
+Being in the same party with a character for X ammount of time would also reveal thier alignment.
+Also having a certin level in magic abilities would allow you to sense a person\'s alignment, a higher magic would give you a more percise estimate.
+I belive a few of the \"godly\" items should have a requierment of a certin ammount of good or evil points. See above for explination.
+I belive a guild\'s alignment should be the average of all the guild member\'s ratings.
+I feel that there should be small areas of the world where only evil, or good, characters could go (i.e. holy cities, or a thieves camp).
+Each race should have a different starting number for alignment. I.e. diabolo should be close to evil.
+If wanted, you could tie in the saint system so the top 5 characters in both extremes get titles infront of their name. You could also have the 10 top charactures/guilds displayed on the website as sort of a hall of fame.
+if you have a high evil rating, the town guards would try to arrest you. If they arrest you, your rating gets dropped a level and you lose a certin ammount of money.
+to tie it into planeshift you could say one side is Laanx and the other is Talad
