For years I played as Chaotic Good. More recently I've become disillusioned with Baldur's Gate's alignment system and general perception of 'good.' As a result, my PC in BG2 has been Neutral Evil for a few playthroughs and my PCs in Tutu have varied between Neutral Evil and Chaotic Neutral. In practice in the game I either have an average reputation or a despised reputation. I basically do whatever I think is morally correct and/or fun and if the game designers didn't see it that way than my party's reputation suffers.
In real life my alignment is probably either Neutral Good or Chaotic Good.
Neutral Good, unless I'm playing a paladin. Been playing NG in PnP and RPG for over 30 years, actually... I played neutral twice but didn't have as much fun, and my one attempt to play evil lasted about 10 minutes before I had to quit and start over. Just couldn't do it...
I tend to play neutral good characters because I think of myself as neutral good. I think the law is wrong sometimes, and when it's wrong, break it. Preferably without getting caught.
So by now i have been playing P n P rpg and CRPG's for around 10 - 15 years now.
i have found that the alignments of most of my Toon's have changed abit with age.
when i was younger my fav. was the paladin the easy lawful good option, later it changed to chaotic good.
and now always the grey neutral options. (I still dont like playing evil)
am i slowly turning darkside . or is this just a natural age progression? ^^
..so have you changed like me?..
This is interesting, as I have done the opposite. As a child/teenager I played mostly evil, often favouring a LE Cleric/Fighter of Hextor, or when the DM allowed it, a monstrous race such as an Ogre.
It wasn't until my late-teens that I started preferring Good characters, and looking back on it, I do think that Evil alignments are mostly for younger players unless it's a more sinister, thoughtful type of evil. I'd have no problem playing the occasional evil character, but really, I stick to Good.
Though I do have to disagree about Lawful Good being an easy choice. In a video game, it might be at times, but in pen and paper, you often find yourself in many a moral dilemma.
The only alignment that I seriously DESPISE is Chaotic Neutral. It's basically used for powergamers who want to do whatever they want and never suffer any consequence for it. CN is perfectly acceptable and understandable with the proper backstory, playing style to back it up, AND on rare occasions, but I've seen and heard of DMs that let too many things slide, and do not enforce alignment choices. If you are going to play CN in one of my or my friend's games, you'd best be careful not to do too many Good or Evil things, or your backstory will be brought into question...and you may just receive a verbal hammer to the face for being a shallow, powergaming idiot.
Its actually been much the same for me.. but I do force myself to try stuff other than neutral evil etc.. but most of the time I either end up being in the grey or down to the more evil aligned.. I don't think I ever played a lawful char and I am very certain I will never try out lawful good. so well.. not that much of a shift for me.
I agree with Chaotic Neutral mostly being used by people that wanna be stupid, or powergame, or be chaotic evil but the DM isn't allowing evil characters.
I think Chaotic Neutral characters would mostly be Selfish and Chafe about being controlled. That doesn't mean they don't prefer good to evil, but they would be less likely to be selfless good. Like, they'd probably side with the good king over the evil warlord, but they wouldn't do it on the cheap. Neutral characters tend to prefer good over evil in a sense that, you would rather have good neighbors than evil neighbors
Most people in real life, I think, would be True Neutral. They care about the people they love. They don't care about strangers for the most part. They'll obey the laws they like or they have to obey but will break the laws they don't like or can get away with if it benefits them.
I think Chaotic Neutral would be more likely to do the right thing for selfish reasons, especially if it means more freedom. Like, if Robin Hood was fighting the Sheriff and Prince John, and his motivation was mostly to be on top when the king returned, he would've been Chaotic Neutral. He probably would've done far less heroics himself and spent his men's lives more freely. It wouldn't necessarily make him Chaotic Evil, but a character already skirting Chaotic Neutral would fall over the edge.
@CaptRory: I agree with the majority of what you had to say, but I would go a step beyond you and say that even EVIL characters would prefer good neighbors (NG and CG, not LG) over evil, as contrary to popular belief, evil does not commonly unify unless it's already an evil faction. Any cooperation between differing evil individuals or peoples is very likely due to money and/or duress.
On your perspective of real life people, however, I am not sure I have the majority pinned down. I would love to believe that most people are NG/LG, but I really have seen quite a mix. I am unable to agree with you that True Neutral is the most common, or even close to it for real life alignments. TN generally cares a great deal about balance, and if that comes at the expense of a relative, friend, or stranger, I'd say the most common answer would be: "So be it."
I've always been leaning towards CG myself, from the early age when I started playing games with alignments in them, and now still going in my 30s. I don't think I'll 'mature out of it' either. Considering myself fairly good-natured and empathic and having always thrived more on short-term focus/talent rather than long-term discipline/preparation, it just feels like the most appropriate choice.
I used to play as Lawful Good (if not playing a Thief), usually for the same reasons as most, then gradually slipping into Neutral Good, to Chaotic Good. Now I play Chaotic Neutral. I think I'm likely to stay here for a while. Although I have tendancies to want to go Lawful Evil... .. >:D
@Anduine Caring about balance is only one interpretation of True Neutral. Another is simply not having strong feelings one way or the other about Law and Chaos and Good and Evil. It can be the "meh" alignment.
We all know that alignments can be hard to fit to real people or detailed characters, but they're really just shorthand.
As a kid I always played neutral good. Then recently I played a Sith Warrior in swtor. Now I don't think I'll ever go back to being "good" in RPGs again.
@etagloc yup it's great. My alignment score hung around 0 too, because as was mentioned, a lot of times the "evil" choice ends up being just being chaotic stupid.
But it is really nice not being constrained to be so noble all the time, bending over backwards to help people as much as possible. Yes you get better rewards that way, but it is just as rewarding telling the fools to be silent and then end their pathetic lives.
At least in games, irl probably still better to be nice.
irl probably still better to be nice. (only because i can't force choke)
haha ofc i kid. but being "evil" in that game was really satisfying, the way you can choose to manipulate, instead of just smashing, was pretty well written.
i suddenly got bored with it around lv 40. dn why really.
killing those obnoxious Jedi was so much fun to begin with. Wish it had been a SP game
I used to always pick chaotic good when I was younger, but now I'm always chaotic neutral. I think that when young, kids are easily mindwashed into being good, but then as they age learn more about the real world, they shift towards neutrality. As for my chaotic part, im not interested in politics, never vote, and hate a lot of silly laws.
@Anduine Caring about balance is only one interpretation of True Neutral. Another is simply not having strong feelings one way or the other about Law and Chaos and Good and Evil. It can be the "meh" alignment.
We all know that alignments can be hard to fit to real people or detailed characters, but they're really just shorthand.
Interpretation is all that we really have on this topic.
Comments
In real life my alignment is probably either Neutral Good or Chaotic Good.
Ha!
Once Chaotic Evil, always Chaotic Evil.
My characters jump around a lot though.
This is interesting, as I have done the opposite. As a child/teenager I played mostly evil, often favouring a LE Cleric/Fighter of Hextor, or when the DM allowed it, a monstrous race such as an Ogre.
It wasn't until my late-teens that I started preferring Good characters, and looking back on it, I do think that Evil alignments are mostly for younger players unless it's a more sinister, thoughtful type of evil. I'd have no problem playing the occasional evil character, but really, I stick to Good.
Though I do have to disagree about Lawful Good being an easy choice. In a video game, it might be at times, but in pen and paper, you often find yourself in many a moral dilemma.
The only alignment that I seriously DESPISE is Chaotic Neutral. It's basically used for powergamers who want to do whatever they want and never suffer any consequence for it. CN is perfectly acceptable and understandable with the proper backstory, playing style to back it up, AND on rare occasions, but I've seen and heard of DMs that let too many things slide, and do not enforce alignment choices. If you are going to play CN in one of my or my friend's games, you'd best be careful not to do too many Good or Evil things, or your backstory will be brought into question...and you may just receive a verbal hammer to the face for being a shallow, powergaming idiot.
I think Chaotic Neutral characters would mostly be Selfish and Chafe about being controlled. That doesn't mean they don't prefer good to evil, but they would be less likely to be selfless good. Like, they'd probably side with the good king over the evil warlord, but they wouldn't do it on the cheap. Neutral characters tend to prefer good over evil in a sense that, you would rather have good neighbors than evil neighbors
Most people in real life, I think, would be True Neutral. They care about the people they love. They don't care about strangers for the most part. They'll obey the laws they like or they have to obey but will break the laws they don't like or can get away with if it benefits them.
I think Chaotic Neutral would be more likely to do the right thing for selfish reasons, especially if it means more freedom. Like, if Robin Hood was fighting the Sheriff and Prince John, and his motivation was mostly to be on top when the king returned, he would've been Chaotic Neutral. He probably would've done far less heroics himself and spent his men's lives more freely. It wouldn't necessarily make him Chaotic Evil, but a character already skirting Chaotic Neutral would fall over the edge.
On your perspective of real life people, however, I am not sure I have the majority pinned down. I would love to believe that most people are NG/LG, but I really have seen quite a mix. I am unable to agree with you that True Neutral is the most common, or even close to it for real life alignments. TN generally cares a great deal about balance, and if that comes at the expense of a relative, friend, or stranger, I'd say the most common answer would be: "So be it."
We all know that alignments can be hard to fit to real people or detailed characters, but they're really just shorthand.
haha recently did exactly the same thing, same class and all, really liked playing that with mosly grey or evil options ; )
But it is really nice not being constrained to be so noble all the time, bending over backwards to help people as much as possible. Yes you get better rewards that way, but it is just as rewarding telling the fools to be silent and then end their pathetic lives.
At least in games, irl probably still better to be nice.
But it will change, I guess.
irl probably still better to be nice. (only because i can't force choke)
haha ofc i kid. but being "evil" in that game was really satisfying, the way you can choose to manipulate, instead of just smashing, was pretty well written.
i suddenly got bored with it around lv 40. dn why really.
killing those obnoxious Jedi was so much fun to begin with. Wish it had been a SP game
Interpretation is all that we really have on this topic.