I'm Chaotic Good!

April 1st, 2012
by Margaret Krohn

Hello world,

Today is the first day of the A to Z Challenge and I thought it'd be fun to make these a bit more interactive when it comes to blogs, so I hope y'all don't mind. I'll also try to keep these short, unless I'm feeling extra wordy. Let's get started!

For "a", I want to discuss alignments in games. As you can see in the photo to the right, alignments have progressed throughout the years, having started in old school games like pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons and now being referenced when discussing players in first person shooter (FPS) games. Alignments are definitely something that helps build a foundation for character's attributes. I often find myself playing characters that are much more on the good side of the spectrum than evil. I just love being the hero and making the right choices. I don't really find doing evil things to be fun and so I general sway towards that side of things. Although, I did play one D&D session where my group all became evil and I ended up slowly going that route. It was a little rough for me, but I got a hang of it. It was still fun, but I felt like it all ended up in us being really greedy and trying to plot our way into taking over the world *queue Pinky and the Brain theme song*.

As far as my alignment in real life (IRL), I am much more of a chaotic good person. I can be a bit ragey at times and I'll admit that. Although, I hate yelling, so I avoid that at all costs, but sometimes, I just want revenge or I want to ruin that persons day who is ruining everyone else's day which probably isn't the best way to go about things. I know...Negative times positive equals negative, but seriously...Seriously, sometimes, you just have to stab someone (in game) about a million times (or maybe just once) in order to show them how much of a butthead (keeping it PG) they are.

So...I was wondering! What alignment do you normally play when you play games and in what way do you think game developers can help make it easier for you to play that role? If you aren't really a gamer, what alignment do you think you are in real life and how do you think that affects the decisions and actions you take in daily life? Leave me a comment a below!

<3 x 9001,

/Mags

Posted in Blog
Posted in A-Z Challenge, Blog, Alignment

14 Comments

Add Your Comment

Jihel - April 1st, 2012 at 1:19pm

In-game, I love to explore every possibilities, so I always play them to see all the different ends.

But I loooove to be a badass. I always start with the evil side.

In FPS I'm usually chaotic good, but I can switch immediately to chaotic evil. I don't scream not to wake my sister, but lots of swearing.

So what can developpers do to make it easier to me to be a freakin' badass ? Allow me to kill everyone. Maybe not when I want, I mean if I kill Roman in GTA IV because he's pissing me off with his bowling in the early game, it won't be the same game, but at least I must be able to explode him later when he's done with his missions.

Video games are an outlet for me, so I've to be able to do what I want. I hate scripts.

IRL, I'm quite calm, but if you mess up with me it can turn into a "low kick balayette rotatif". Don't ask me to explain.

Offer me a beer and I'm your best friend. (Please not american piss)

So I'm just chaotic.

wes - April 1st, 2012 at 2:07pm

Just wanted to pop in a say a quick "Hi" and welcome to the gaming circle of A-Z.

With you that makes four of us in total. ^_^

Great read BTW. I've seen the picture posted applied elsewhere and didn't even know there was a gaming version.

/Wes

A Fettered Mind - April 1st, 2012 at 7:02pm

Great A post - unexpected and a good read

Han - April 1st, 2012 at 9:48pm

*queue Pinky and the Brain theme song*.

I just play in the most practical way possible; I'm neither good nor bad. I align with the choices best suited to accomplish the mission, whether its good or bad.

Jennifer Amlie - April 2nd, 2012 at 5:11am

It depends on the game for me. In Mass Effect, I'm good. In BioShock I'm good. In Fallout I'm really evil. lol

Tony D - April 2nd, 2012 at 9:39am

Haha, nice post.

I really (am a nerd) go full out ROLE PLAYING when I play RPGs. I feel it's boring or something to play an RPG with all my normal morals and such. I guess it goes with my entire game playing motivation, I want something different than my reality.. I will usually play the most non-human character I can find.

That being said, my usual stance in creating my alter ego when playing an RPG is a blank slate, I like to flop around in the character creation process (Whatever that is) and often get inspiration for my persona when creating the character.

Like my ME character, I just started messing with the sliders and created this really ugly dude, but he had this certain look to him and it just struck me... This is Dr. Shepard!! A meticulous engineer with his mind set on the mission, he's a renegade that will kill anyone in his way to get the job done. That just popped into my head and I went with it for the passed 6 years?! I would have to call Dr Shepard Lawful Evil... with a hint of Lawful Good in him... wait does that make him neutral or something?

Dragon Age, I played a rich female Dwarf.. not sure why.. Like I said, I farted around in the character creator until inspiration hit.. I think it was the blush that got me... Crazy blush, must be a rich Dwarf! She didn't take shit either, didn't like Alistair.. had a touch of lesbian in her personality, but didn't like to show it. (Morrigan got lots of gifts, but...)

But in the end, some decisions do cut through the RPG and hit home... ME really made me make some tough decisions, probably the hardest to make in all the games I've ever payed. ME3, Dr Shepard had to step back and think about things for a while. And some of the decisions take a landslide in a direction you don't always suspect. Ok, I could keep blabbing, write a book on the subject, or I could stand in front of an oncoming train and see how many times I can say "Ohhh long johnson!"

One thing Dr. Shepard taught me was that morals are just a viral thought meme, spread through society.. Nothing's black or white, everything's grey.

But awesome first blog in the A-Z thing M, very thought provocative!!

P.S. Real life I'm totally Neutral Evil or Chaotic Neutral. Screw the system, and root for the underdog! In one situation, an act can be seen as good.. in another, the same act is pure evil. Why Dr. Shepard WHY!?!?!?

Tony D - April 3rd, 2012 at 12:09pm

Hhmm.. I'd hesitate to say it's a big part/aspect that I enjoy.

Although I do use it to find inspiration sometimes, but say... Skyrim VS WoW character creators. I almost find as much use in the limited WoW creator (picking a few faces and overall color), than the limitless Skyrim creations. It really depends on the situation, game, mood, et cetera. I guess at times I'm fine with choosing between premade characters.

The real motivation for my methods to to role play with variety.

Keep up the good blog!