Cimson Elite: Royal's page

in a truly good rp environement there are no set sides merely alliances that shift like the desert sands

I think that depends on the kind of RP in which you're involved. For example, a simulation-heavy game in which you're a soldier in a war. It's rather helpful to be able to identify the opposition.

Of course, exceptions will occur, but the general idea in this case is knowing that there is a clear division of sides.

Nothing Odd Here wrote:

Alignment is irrelevant.

Not according to the pantheon of Golarion.

Also, not according to paladins, clerics, druids, barbarians, and monks.

Southaven, MS (just over the state line from Memphis, TN). This is depressing, I think I'm the only one from this area.

I do not know many of the details, but the scuttlebut I'm reading in in this thread alone makes me curious and apprehensive at the same time. Speculations on the finished product can be fun, but it's just too early to know for sure.

That being stated...I would hate to think that there is only one way to look at alignment in the scheme of the game overall. Incorporating alignments that have any meaning in an MMORPG is a bold move, and I am interested in the result. Unfortunately, this anticipation seems to be causing a little anxiety. I understand that. When I was a child, I would get very nervous about going to see a doctor, always afraid I would have to have shots. I can remember several times I pitched a fit over shots. As it turned out, the shots weren't nearly as painful as I feared. I hurt more from the aftermath of the screaming and weeping than I ever did from those little hypodermic needles.

You may be asking yourself why I wrote all that down. Here's my answer. I wrote all that to write this: we sit here analyzing the benefits and detriments of alignment in game we haven't yet touched. There seems to be a range of emotions on the topic. Good. However, we don't know what's going to happen. I think most of us will play the game, alignment system or not, and try to find ways to make the system work to its best advantage for us. The anticipation of pain is an illusion, and it won't be nearly as bad as some are making it sound. So, maybe the (figurative) temper tantrum should stop. There's no such thing as a PERFECT game.

What do you imagine a utopian society has to do with anything, Deacon? You complain of strawmen, yet are the builder of them.

Dude... that was an attack. No bones about it, an attack. He just conceded that you were CORRECT about homogeneity in society being the cause of stagnation, and used a utopian society as an example. Your kneejerk response to the idea of a utopian society he used as his example in his post is evidence of your desire to spite him. It is not because you sought to correct a mistake. I see through the charade, and my only response is contempt. Stop being a pedantic jerk.

Hi, everyone. I've been reading this thread, and digesting the material posited herein. I think that something needs to be said in regard to the idea of community alignment vs. personal alignment.
Prisons are designed as lawful communities, but it is safe to assume the majority of the residents of those communities are not lawful. I would think that most are chaotic. According to the way the alignment rules of Pathfinder seem to work, this environment would not be feasible. but prisons are real, and the idea should not be that difficult to simulate in game.
That being stated, a prison is an extreme example of this. A less extreme example is my hometown. I'm from Memphis, TN. A lawful society by its charter, but in practice... not so much. Shouldn't there exist in a game such as Pathfinder a similar type of settlement?