Alignment System

[Sangwa]

I don\'t think this has been posted yet. I think Planeshift should get a solid alignment system, since it\'s supposed to be a MMORPG.

Why?

• Because, having solid guidelines contributes to the correct appliance of the aligments;
• Because it would be less confusing thinking where our character belongs;
• Because currently everyone is free to give the meaning they want to any alignment, which makes things messy;
• Because we would have an accurate way of distinguishing guilds from each other, due to their alignment;
• Because I can\'t think of any real set-back.

I\'m not saying we should add Alignments in-game, since alignments change with the characters.
I\'m proposing the alignment system as something to be added in the Planeshift setting, where it\'s place should be; together with the races, enviroment etc.

If things are done correctly, this should end any alignment discussions, and make it clear what an aligned guild is in Planeshift, while giving people the liberty to choose its alignmet without any life-time obligations.

[Cyl]

\'I was about to post something similar.

[zanzibar]

There\'s already a guild system and a guild-alliance system.


A Good-Neutral-Evil would be in appropriate.  For one, actions speak louder than words.  Secondly, not everyone fits into those three categories.  Thirdly, there needs to be some sort of goal.  It\'s not enough to just run around and say, \"evil evil evil!\" or \"good good good!\" or \"money money money!\".

[hramrach]

Well, if the setting was more detailed, there could be some concepts , which you may accept or not.

But alignment rules? How do you imagine such thing?

You should consider what your character is like and how it would react in certain situations. But how do you make it a rule? Every character is unique, I doubt you can make some rules that explain these reactions.

[Sangwa]

There\'s already a guild system and a guild-alliance system.

So? What\'s your point?
It\'s so easy to claim stuff like actions speaking louder than words and stuff. But in a roleplay game words are very important. And alignments were created to serve as guidelines, so that people wouldn\'t have the need to claim \"I\'m evil\" or \"I\'m good\". Instead of constantly reminding people, you have something called an alignment to do that for you.

Alignment rules!? Am I speaking chinese!?

What I\'m saying is, since our guilds already choose alignments, we could have our own system, facilitating things for those who are unsure of what certain alignments stand for.
\"Every character is unique\" blah, blah. You know some of the greatest roleplaying games have an alignment system? Roleplaying games where you can make unique chars? How come you ignore this?

I\'ll repeat. The alignment thing is not something you choose when you make your char. It\'s something that would be stated under \"Story\" in the main site, where Races, History, Government, etc are.

And the reason why I think this should be done is because unless it\'s done, the alignments we\'re picking are useless and can only be understood by those who know the D & D alignments.

I\'m not by any way saying we should implement a system where you would have to choose an alignment. I\'m saying we should have the alignment explanations in the site, to make everyone use the same definition, instead of mixing up.

For instance, it would help both of you understanding what alignments are and what they stand for. Wouldn\'t that be great?

[Externals]

Hmm, alignment system.. yes iv played a lot of games before and lots of them having similarites yet differ from each other. Instead of being at a one chosen alignment.. why not make it so everyone starts neutral.. and by the actions a character has done, make it determine if hes..

|| pure evil /bad /neutral /good /heavenly  ||

Example, lets say a player goes on evil quests, does bad deeds, or player kills (if ever implemented). Or just likes to duel a lot. He would get worse by doing this.

Example for good, kills lots of monsters, good deads, helps people out.

Also, as an added benefit, it could be made that for better aligned people, shop stuff would be sold less because he is a better person.

Well let me know what you guys think.

[druke]

.... here we go

for the record, i dont find alignments to work out, factions work better on the conflict point of view

every person should define there own style of alignment, not be constricted by rules

its a role playing game
not a roll playing game

[Neryam]

So a person just sets whether he is good or bad? But what use would that have? What could you use it for

Perhaps based on what you choose when you make your character... But this should be practical, not just an add-on. :rolleyes:

[Externals]

Well im not a game-producer but i mean, it would be cool to have an advantage of being good to have items sold less or being bad and having the liberty to learn differnt spells yet hated by town guards and stuff. items sold for more or denied. Stuff like that. different quests, paths, etc.

[druke]

..... this was jsut a quote and i dont remembember what it was supposed to be so EDIT

[Externals]

Well lets see..

- It could influence your availabilty to some guilds. (If they are of good or bad alience.)

- It could influence on the sort of quests you could be given.

- It could influence on the way the NPCs would talk to you and how they would treat you.. If you were good or heavenly they could give you discounts on some items or if you were bad you could scare them into doing things.

- It could influence many other things but of course this game isint even close to done so i cant just go mentioning things.. Gotta see what they implement.

[hramrach]

Originally posted by Sangwa

There\'s already a guild system and a guild-alliance system.

Alignment rules!? Am I speaking chinese!?

Almost.

As far as I can tell you want a more detailed setting description, and call it an alignment system.

[Sangwa]

So I am speaking chinese... Here\'s another try then:

Druke, people currently choose alignments and so do guilds. A good example is the Arcane Order, which is Neutral. You can have your opinion, but the fact is: barely everyone else is picking alignments, specially guilds.
Adding the alignment system I was talking about would just give the players the information on alignments they need. It\'s not a game system, where you kill and get good or bad, or where your character is created evil or good. I don\'t like those too.

It\'s just a simple chart (you know, with columns and lines) naming the different alignments PS has and what they stand for.
The purpose of this chart would be informing people what Lawful Evil means in PS, or Pure Evil, or Shifting Hell Evil Of Doom And Despair, whatever the devs might want to call the different alignments.

What could you use it for? I\'ll answer with an example of its use:
Go to Kada\'s. Now go to the guild list. See the words \"Neutral\", \"Lawful Evil\", etc? Those are alignments. And they are being used to help people know what kind of guild they\'re visiting.
But those are just words. The meaning of those words is spread across a never ending stream of alignment interpretations.
Imagine being able to have our own interpretation of these alignments on a place that all Planeshifters know how to access. That\'s exactly what I\'m purposing.

[Externals]

What sangwa said isint at all a bad idea. Seriously, an alignment system would help out guilds rule out who to recruit and who not to recruit. It would majorly help the RPing aspect of the game. And it would simply be cool too.

[hramrach]

Or it would be a better idea if the guilds explained what they really mean?

Not saying \"true evil\" but expalining their goals by what means they wish to achieve them.

So what I see is not a lack of chart but a lack of details in the guild\'s codex.