A HUGE element in TES games is being who you want to be, you can be a great hero, a noble thief, a silent assassin, an evil wizard, or whatever you like. The point is though defining the ability to be whoever you want is not just about what race and class you choose, it's also about the choices you make in the game. Crime and Punishment are a huge staple of the series, and the ability to steal or kill anyone was a big deal, it could mean the difference between a good character and an evil one. From a lore perspective TES tends to deal more with ambiguously gray characters that may do something deplorable, but with valid logic (at least from their perspective).

Then comes the problem many MMOs face, which is railroading you (regardless of faction) into playing the "Hero". I think it's quite fair to say that while plenty of players will choose this route, nobody wants to be forced into it.

So let us create a discussion to add to our latest Wild Mass Guessing game about the implications and possible implementation of alignment in TESO, how do you think it could work? what are the pitfalls? have any MMOs done this right?

There have been MMOs like Salem which use a nice system that seeks to punish those who kill other players and lead to a form of self-moderation. Murderers are flagged and they leave behind a trail for other players to follow, so they can be put to justice. Having a similar system would be very nice, in my opinion. Since this game is going to be more PvP oriented, it might be good to implement a system where players get bounties put on their heads just like in any tES game. This happens whenever you kill someone of the region's faction. Those bounties can then be earned by that members of that region's faction(unless they are wanted themselves). That would be a system that should work rather well. Potentially give members of the guilds these tasks to fulfill, much like quests.

You could band together as a community and create your own quest text to go by on RP servers. Its been done in other games.

Perhaps this is the game for you.

http://forum.mmosite.com/thread/2/24/20120509/4faa41ae24773e313-1.html


Demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwHW4z6Ko1Y

i like the idea of guards putting bounties on your head for other players to chase down. it will be interesting if they implement the ability to kill all npc's or just the enemy faction npcs.