[MUD-Dev] Alignment & Introductions

[lapsos]

  I've yet to introduce myself to the list and for simple reasons i
wouldn't know what to say about me.  I've always been fascinated by games
of any type.  Wether Text or graphic, RPGs of any sort have been my breaking
point.  I started playing muds a few years back, started with SneezyMUD,
and have gone on to continue my playing(Big jump, no? :).  In the last few
months me and a few friends of mine have begun working on a mud ourselves.
I've been listening to the posts for a small while and the recent talk on
this subject caught my eye so i felt this would be the chance to introduce
myself and respond.

Alignment.

  One problem i see with using Alignment is who is to say what is evil and
what isn't?  Even from a mud point of view you will have players/zones
based upon the belief that an iron fist is the true way of doing things,
and thus would be good to them.  While you will have others that believe
the opposite.  Some of the better ways i've seen to replace alignment is
Factions and Legacy.  With both these systems you don't have good or evil.
Simply what you believe in and what others believe in you.  When using
alignment you usually must decide on whos views are correct.  Is Killing
Evil?  Is Killing Evil Good?  or both?  While these may be simple answers
they might not(and almost guarenteed not to be) agreed to by the players
and gods/immorts on those particular muds. Least with factions you can
easily increase the size and meaning of the system with little/no hassle
to either Coders or Players.  For most of these reasons i feel Alignment
is not only outdated and to small but rather a Monopoly on views in most
muds.  When forming a system like these for something as wide grasping to
a mud you should usually use something that allows a wide selection and a
wider acception of views and placement. While crude its still true `Its
within the Eyes of the Beholder.'

						William.

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody
appreciates how difficult it was.