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What's your alignment?

meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
So, I know we've had a few of these, but there hasn't been an active one in a while, and I wanted to see if any things changed. Just to be clear, I'm asking what you think your actual alignment is, not your favorite to play or whatever. You, in real life. Or as real as It gets wham you start using videogames to describe reality.
  1. What's your alignment?115 votes
    1. Lawful Good
        3.48%
    2. Neutral Good
      25.22%
    3. Chaotic Good
      25.22%
    4. Lawful Neutral
      11.30%
    5. True Neutral
      11.30%
    6. Chaotic Neutral
      15.65%
    7. Lawful Evil
        4.35%
    8. Neutral Evil
        1.74%
    9. Chaotic Evil
        1.74%
DungeonnoobBlackravenMontresor_SPHrafnCrevsDaakGoturallolien
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Comments

  • TwaniTwani Member Posts: 640
    I'm probably on the border to CG, though. Really. I swear. >.>
    jackjackBlackraven
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    I remember doing online alignment tests and most placed me either at neutral good or chaotic good. I am all eager to play it by the rules most of the time, so neutral good fits me better I guess. It gives much more freedom to player IMHO, you don't need to follow the rules but neither you need to be a rebel and free spirit all the time.
    Quartz
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,607
    True apathy.
    BlackravenjackjackTJ_Hooker
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    Neutral Good, Chaotic Good tendencies.
    lunar
  • FrozenCellsFrozenCells Member Posts: 385
    These topics always skew towards CG.
    jackjackBelgarathMTH
  • thesoloerthesoloer Member Posts: 77
    Let me see if I understand things correctly. If you're Good, you actively help others. If you're Neutral, you actively help yourself. And if you're Evil, you actively harm others. Right?
    BelgarathMTHQuartz
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    thesoloer said:

    Let me see if I understand things correctly. If you're Good, you actively help others. If you're Neutral, you actively help yourself. And if you're Evil, you actively harm others. Right?

    In a nut-shell, yeah. Good and evil are hard to describe, especially in real life, where everything is shades of gray instead of stark white&black of many fantasy stories. D&d alignments are fun as they are simple and help run the imagination.

    That said, neutral beings care about themselves, but care about their relatives and those close enough to them too. They are not selfish and so can help their loved ones as well. Good aligned beings care about others regardless of their relevance and relation to them, and help them regardless of the cost to their own. A neutral can help others if it is a small thing, but will not go too far out of his/her comfort zone to do so. A real good person will help others even if it costs him/her time, money, effort or if it requires a sacrifice on his/her part. An evil being will be more selfish and will not care if he harms others or not. Infact, harming others while benefitting yourself is the definition of evil in most situations.

    BelgarathMTH
  • BalladBallad Member Posts: 205
    Whenever I play Planescape: Torment, my alignment ends up oscillating between Neutral Good and Chaotic Good, which I take that as a good indicator for my real-life alignment.

    I am opposed to relativism of any kind. The popular liberal notion that that there are no better or worse ways to go about life, that every alternative is just as good as any and purely a matter of preference is, as I see it, dangerous and harmful both to individual, collective and (ultimately) planetary well-being. Actions do have consequences, some better than others. One could say that I believe in sin and karma, though I rarely use those words due to them having become distorted through hundreds of years of misuse. To me, sin is not some obscure religious judgement but the often very tangible end result of following an unsound course of action. There is nothing personal about it. You eat spoiled food, you end up feeling bad in the stomach. You treat other people and living beings as stepping stones or means to ego-gratification, you wind up feeling bad in the end. Since these notions have become quite unpopular in today's do-it-all, have-it-all climate, a lot of people do not even realize that they are stuck in a loop of karmic action. Any satisfaction they find is short-lived and they often feel powerless to act on their higher aspirations. They are aware that something is not quite right, yet they cannot exactly put their finger on what it is. When they go out to seek for answers, the world tells them that what they need is more material possessions or instances of psychological gratification. To me, misdirection is the true evil.

    On the other hand, I reject rigidity, dogmatism, authority or any model of thinking that is rooted in theory rather than present-moment awareness. While there are undoubtedly 'better' and 'worse' actions to take, we rarely have the whole picture at the time of deciding. Rather than trying to live up to an idea of a good, righteous, virtuous or spiritual person, it is more helpful to trust our intuition when dealing with life's challenges. Tolerance and forgiveness often trump judgement while humor and kindness are usually more powerful changing agents than any sermon or lecture. At other times, courage and principled, decisive action might be required. Sometimes this means going against established customs, rules, norms or traditions. As long as we stay attuned to our inner moral compass, our actions tend to be pure and sincere as well.
    BlackravenBelgarathMTHEadwyn_G8keeper
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    edited April 2014

    @thesoloer It's more like good is altruistic and evil is egocentric.

    Pretty much. On the ethical side of things, Law is "orderly" and "conformist"; Chaos is "disorderly" and "individualistic". Then you put those together with the moral alignments!
    jackjackQuartz
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    edited April 2014
    thesoloer said:

    Let me see if I understand things correctly. If you're Good, you actively help others. If you're Neutral, you actively help yourself. And if you're Evil, you actively harm others. Right?

    Not really.
    Good=selfless
    Evil=selfish
    Neutral=confusing.

    Maybe dropping the neutral(which doesn't do anything) will help.

    Lawful good
    Good
    Chaotic good
    Lawful
    Neutral
    Chaotic
    Lawful evil
    Evil
    Chaotic evil.

    Only CE actively tries to harm others for no reason. NE doesn't care what happens as long as they being it. LE doesn't really make sense :P LN just follows the rules. Nothing else. CN I think was pretty accurately described in a text conversation I had. "Lol I dunno I just do whatever" TN does the "correct" thing. They don't really care if it's good or evil, they just help the weak, or losing side. They don't care whether they're good or evil, they just need help. True neutral is... Hard.
    Dungeonnoob
  • AristilliusAristillius Member Posts: 873
    I want to be chaotic good, since it is cool, but I am lawful good. Also, I think more people are lawful good than those who vote it. But, important to note, that is based on my subjective interpretation of the alignment scale.
    GoturalBelgarathMTH
  • Demonoid_LimewireDemonoid_Limewire Member Posts: 424
    From the beginning, up until a certain point in my life (puberty), i had always been lawful good, and with a passion, too! I mean, i did not know sit about how our world operates, how our society works, how people think, act and pursue their interests... I was only thinking about good, doing good, and criticizing all those who weren't pure and good.

    After some time passed, and i started eating sit and slaps from life head on, i had a stupid, shallow and twisted metamorphoses into the chaotic evil alignment. I became sadistic, twisted, was happy about learning of others' misery and misfortune, and thought ill and nothing of anybody and everybody else.

    When i saw that this was stupid and leading to nowhere, i turned to being chaotic good. I liked general good, but hated laws, because i saw how hypocritic, primitive and needless they are. Only idiots obey laws out of fear. Real men obey laws because they know both good and bad, and can choose with free will, plus NOT blindfolded justice (everybody knows that following laws, many times, ends up against justice itself). But i still was getting things wrong.

    Finally, i became a chaotic neutral. Neutral is the wisest selection. Because this way, you can judge without blindfolds and you avoid choosing a side. Because this way, you accept everybody else, just the way they are, and not out of the passive simplemindedness of good people, or their possible hypocricy. Because this way, you do not screw any other side, you are not preoccupied, you are not sheepherded, you are not manipulated. Because this way you savor life the best, just the way it is, and you become open-eyed, misery and drama free. And most importantly? You serve no one.

    And this will be my final change. I am going to die as a chaotic neutral character. I hate laws. Because they become tool for the corrupted to rule the gullible and weak. I hate laws. Because i make, i believe, and i follow, my own, unwritten ones, not out of fear, but out of respect for others; respect for others not out of having something to gain in return, but out of using human's best gift... Brain!
    Blackravenmeagloth
  • illusionillusion Member Posts: 17
    Neutral good leaning towards chaotic. I have a pretty strong moral code, often go out of my way to help others, but have pretty serious disdain for most laws. I feel that most of them(especially nowadays) are arbitrary. Generally speaking if a rule gets in my way of doing what I think is the right thing to do, I'll break it without thinking twice.
    Demonoid_Limewire
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    I agree with the sentiment that neutrality doesn't necessarily imply that you actively strive to maintain balance, or that you even believe in the importance of balance in some sort of philosophical sense. For me it's basically just self-centeredness; I avoid hurting other people, and I'm usually pretty nice, but at the end of the day my main focus is looking out for myself.

    I also completely agree with @Blackraven's definition of good/neutral/evil.
    FinneousPJBlackravenFinaLfront
  • jacobtanjacobtan Member Posts: 655
    edited April 2014
    Most True Neutral people are not concerned with abstract concepts like balance. It is not as if you do one good thing a day, then you must do one bad thing one the next. Some are indeed somewhat concerned about balance, like an office worker who desires to see the various factions at the office in contention with one another, or possibly even work towards it by switching sides as needed.

    But other people, like myself, are merely noncommittal on concerns of good and evil, law and chaos. Sometimes it is due to jadedness, but it need not always be. They are self-centered, but not malicious or malevolent. Mind one's own business, care for loved ones, and stay out of external conflicts. Let the powers that be fight things out and stay away from the collateral damage.
    BlackravenTJ_HookermeaglothFinaLfront
  • winterswinters Member Posts: 252
    jacobtan said:

    Most True Neutral people are not concerned with abstract concepts like balance. It is not as if you do one good thing a day, then you must do one bad thing one the next. Some are indeed somewhat concerned about balance, like an office worker who desires to see the various factions at the office in contention with one another, or possibly even work towards it by switching sides as needed.

    But other people, like myself, are merely noncommittal on concerns of good and evil, law and chaos. Sometimes it is due to jadedness, but it need not always be. They are self-centered, but not malicious or malevolent. Mind one's own business, care for loved ones, and stay out of external conflicts. Let the powers that be fight things out and stay away from the collateral damage.

    And it's more or less what canon says about most inhabitants of Faerun. Regular people everywhere follow most laws and stay generally benevolent because it makes their life easier, neither malice nor righteousness make surviving from day to day particularly pleasant.

    This is why I chose CG and not TN, because I consider myself one of those not exactly reasonable individuals who keep fighting windmills against all odds. I value calm stability, but external calmness is unachievable without inner peace - and the other way around. As they say, if you're not even slightly angry at the world, it means you're not paying enough attention. But anger is not enough, what matters is what you do with it.
    jacobtanBlackraven
  • Montresor_SPMontresor_SP Member Posts: 2,208
    I don't care much for society's laws except when I agree with them, so by that definition I am definitely chaotic. I mostly keep them to avoid trouble with the authorities.

    I like to think of myself as good, so Chaotic Good it is.
    Blackraven
  • jacobtanjacobtan Member Posts: 655
    Believe me, I have few RL friends, and even they have chided me for being so annoyingly noncommittal :)

    I used to think I was angry, or should be angry, at the world. Then, as I delved deeper into various subjects like history, religion, and the like, I became increasingly dispassionate even as I became more learned and knowledgeable. That I majored in Statistics probably contributed to this, since statistics reduce everyone to a number, including myself.

    In any case, I see the world as being functional with or without me, nothing is new under the sun, and it is always "meet the new boss, same as old boss". Not terribly motivated to move the status quo any way. Just give me a wide berth to police myself, do things I enjoy (reading, learning, etc.) and have a couple of guilty pleasures (like watching SPN :P)
    BelgarathMTH
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    I think not caring for laws isn't chaotic. Chaotics should have a more active anti-establishment stance.
    jacobtanGotural
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    @jacobtan‌ thats interesting about the statistics. I was going to say the true neutral is usually a cold, economical point of view, where you can see things as right and wrong, and help the greater good, but maintain a cold, logical, minset. i.e. The train problem(I don't remember it's real name):
    there is a train coming down the tracks at a family of four. The family cannot move and the trains brakes are broken, but there is a large man that you can push onto the tracks and stop the train. It feels wrong to actively kill someone, but you're saving four people.
    Though thinking about it I bet any alignment could have a justification for doing that.
  • winterswinters Member Posts: 252
    @jacobtan, this is why I assume it's not just a matter of experience or age, but rather something inborn. I'm getting more angry and more restless with age and I usually go by ancientwinters - not without reason :) Also, an engineer.
    I generally agree with you, but I simply couldn't live without asking questions - while realizing that most of them are pointless, but still hoping to find the right one. I think I can appreciate so called small things, I value personal comfort but living without a tiny bit of rebellion would make no sense. My experience says: I can make difference, it will not necessarily be praised in worldwide news, but that would actually be kind of awful, so.

    Wow, this topic definitely doesn't need a butt paladin and I hope it stays this way.
    Blackraven
  • jacobtanjacobtan Member Posts: 655
    meagloth said:

    @jacobtan‌ thats interesting about the statistics. I was going to say the true neutral is usually a cold, economical point of view, where you can see things as right and wrong, and help the greater good, but maintain a cold, logical, minset. i.e. The train problem(I don't remember it's real name):
    there is a train coming down the tracks at a family of four. The family cannot move and the trains brakes are broken, but there is a large man that you can push onto the tracks and stop the train. It feels wrong to actively kill someone, but you're saving four people.
    Though thinking about it I bet any alignment could have a justification for doing that.

    False dilemma fallacy.

    Have you ever considered that... the real True Neutral person may also not do anything? :)
    BlackravenEadwyn_G8keeper
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    @jacobtan I don't think anyone would do anything. It's not a hypothetical situation, it's a thought experiment, just to prove that killing someone can be morally "correct" in certain circumstances. I don't know how... Reasonable that is.
  • winterswinters Member Posts: 252
    meagloth said:

    @jacobtan I don't think anyone would do anything. It's not a hypothetical situation, it's a thought experiment, just to prove that killing someone can be morally "correct" in certain circumstances. I don't know how... Reasonable that is.

    A reasonable and cool person with logical mindset would definitely know that pushing this exceptionally big guy wouldn't guarantee saving four other people, it might, but the chance would be rather slim (and the chance of killing him - ohwell) so the best solution is to call 911 ASAP :)
    jacobtan
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    thesoloer said:

    Let me see if I understand things correctly. If you're Good, you actively help others. If you're Neutral, you actively help yourself. And if you're Evil, you actively harm others. Right?

    No, that's not right.

    If you are good, you are all about the greater good. Often times that means helping others, but it isn't necessarily about that. Sometimes it is about shoring up the whole rather than the individual. In any event it is about making a positive difference for society as a whole and the world in general.

    If you are evil, you are more about self serving goals and furthering your own agenda. Evil isn't 'Necessarily' the Snydly Whiplash of the world. They aren't always about pulling the wings off flies and kicking babies just for fun (that's more psychotic than actually evil). They are more about what they can get for themselves by any means necessary.

    Neutrality is basically what it sounds like. You are neutral. you don't get involved. You aren't a goody two shoes going around helping everyone. You also aren't the type that would screw over your neighbor for a percentage. You do your thing, you don't go out of your way to help or harm others and you aren't all about getting 'For You'. You are just middle of the road.

    Neutrals should be the hardest of the alignments to play, contrary to what most people think. It is HARD not to get involved and help people. It is tough to not be selfish and greedy. And it is darned tough not to do either for the opposite reason. It's like standing on a precipice where the right hand plunges you down towards evil and the left hand (or vice versa) towards good. It's a slippery slope on either side.
    wintersSethDavis
  • jacobtanjacobtan Member Posts: 655
    edited April 2014
    @meagloth‌

    I'm afraid this "thought experiment" does not prove anything. Its main purpose is to be a wet dream for the questioner as he imagines himself asking this question and the answerer is seemingly put in a spot :)

    @winters‌

    A True Neutral person may call 911. But he may also ignore this entire thing. It's not his role to play god and he may even do nothing if he sees himself as having withdrawn from this world, i.e. he's a non-actor in the course of events.
    winters
  • iuventasiuventas Member Posts: 95
    I'm most definitely somewhere on the Chaotic side of character, I'd say CN with huge CG elements.

    Some time ago I would've happily described myself as Lawful Good though, and quite religious at that. But then things and stuff happened, and it turned out that blind following of laws and religion that are actively discriminating against people is not what I strive to do.
    BlackravenDemonoid_Limewire
  • dustbubsydustbubsy Member Posts: 249
    I aspire to be good, but I don't help out people enough to justify it. To me someone Good is someone who actively volunteers or works at something that truly benefits others. It's not enough to just have good intentions, or to help out friends and family only.

    My lawfulness is more in terms of personal dogma rather than following society. Again, it's something I aspire to so maybe I'm more of a TN. But as the Order of the Stick says, "trying is important".
    Blackraven
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