I'm pretty sure that codifying morality is not only fruitcakey -- it's futile. And I'm not even speaking within the context of tabletop RPGs. Was alignment really intended to be a set of guidelines for player character behavior? I kinda hope not. Maybe for NPCs, but players should have the freedom to do whatever they want, and then deal with the consequences.
More tedious than crazy, I feel. Some people just seem to get enjoyment out of sucking the fun out of a given activity. There never was an enjoyable pasttime for them didn't merit being killed, stuffed, and mounted.
It's like China Mieville said: we gamers are prone to "the systematization of the fantastic". Sometimes that's a good thing; other times it's just daft.
Is there any way we could find out who they are and imprison them or at least crush their fingers so they can't type? Is it too late to wall up the arts faculty ends of every university campus on the planet? Are there enough rubies and emeralds in the world to compensate the army of psychiatrists needed to help these people?
Hey, I tried my best, but that's a conversation that will always pop up every half-year or so. I felt like putting out my feelings on the matter, and it was implied that I'm a crypto-psycho. :D
I wish. Aside from some gardening with my lovely wife, the reality is far, far, far, more boring.
The trouble with the D&D alignment system is that a throwaway concept ("so manticores are aligned to medusas, and hobbits are aligned to centaurs, yeah, and giant man-eating spiders") ballooned into something taken altogether too seriously and shored up with three decades worth of floof. Predictable results ensue.
I'm pretty sure that codifying morality is not only fruitcakey -- it's futile. And I'm not even speaking within the context of tabletop RPGs. Was alignment really intended to be a set of guidelines for player character behavior? I kinda hope not. Maybe for NPCs, but players should have the freedom to do whatever they want, and then deal with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI knew better than to read those comments, but I did anyway. :(
ReplyDeleteMore tedious than crazy, I feel. Some people just seem to get enjoyment out of sucking the fun out of a given activity. There never was an enjoyable pasttime for them didn't merit being killed, stuffed, and mounted.
ReplyDeleteIt's like China Mieville said: we gamers are prone to "the systematization of the fantastic". Sometimes that's a good thing; other times it's just daft.
ReplyDeleteIs there any way we could find out who they are and imprison them or at least crush their fingers so they can't type? Is it too late to wall up the arts faculty ends of every university campus on the planet? Are there enough rubies and emeralds in the world to compensate the army of psychiatrists needed to help these people?
ReplyDeleteRacist.
ReplyDelete;)
ReplyDeleteHey, I tried my best, but that's a conversation that will always pop up every half-year or so. I felt like putting out my feelings on the matter, and it was implied that I'm a crypto-psycho. :D
ReplyDeleteI wish. Aside from some gardening with my lovely wife, the reality is far, far, far, more boring.
The trouble with the D&D alignment system is that a throwaway concept ("so manticores are aligned to medusas, and hobbits are aligned to centaurs, yeah, and giant man-eating spiders") ballooned into something taken altogether too seriously and shored up with three decades worth of floof. Predictable results ensue.
ReplyDelete