I was having a conversation with an anonymous person that shall not be named and it came to my attention during it that it could be a good idea to have an alignment system within the game. Ruthless, selfish, or cruel actions shift your character to the dark side. While selfless, considerate or virtuous choices shift your alignment to the light side.
My proposal: That there be benefits in usage of force powers or abilities the deeper into each side of the spectrum you go, and likewise penalties, to reward those characters whose beliefs and actions befit those of a Jedi, or those of a Sith consistently, acknowledging that while they may deviate from the core of the belief ocassionally (as do all beings with free will) that is the path they are on.
FAQ:
1- Q: I am personally not a fan of enforced alignment systems, because I feel they ultimately just make people locked into this or that. Shouldn’t we let people’s actions through RP decide what they are?
A: That is exactly what I am proposing here. If your character is in charge of a squad chasing a Sith, and he’s taken refuge inside a school and may have hostages.
If you choose to order the squad to shell the school, killing all the children inside but also annihilating the Sith without permitting him to escape, this was a ruthless action. You gain dark side points. Your alignment begins to shift. “Your character has gained 10 Dark Side points.”
Another example. The school has caught fire and there are children that might be killed by the flames if they get to them. Your character has no idea about how far away the flames are. The Sith is right there and making his escape. They can fight the Sith, or attempt to save lives then possibly at the cost of the Sith escaping.
If they chase the Sith and leave the children to their fate, his was a ruthless action. Not as heavy as directly killing them, but it was.
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To reiterate:
If you are a Jedi, and you can be selfless, patient, and virtuous, your actions align with this paradigm most of the time, even if you are grumpy and rude, there won’t be an issue if once you slip and act in anger and say, kill a subdued enemy because you deemed him too much of a threat. Consistently living by their code (even if you slip every once in a while) is still sustainable.
If you have been selfless, patient, virtuous when it counted and your character is a paragon of the light side- Committing a ruthless action wouldn’t put him back to 0. Much like in the Star Wars games it takes a consistency, and even if you play a Dark Side character choosing mercy a few times won’t really affect the path your character is on.
But if you are a Jedi that regularly lives by the motto ‘The end justifies the means’, if in the pursuit of your enemies you kill bystanders, innocent people, or see others as acceptable casualties. Your first choice is violence and murder. You are ruthless. Those actions shift your alignment to the dark side. Just like letting a young boy live, when they have witnessed your character in a place he shouldn’t have been, when it’s obvious such mercy may bring you trouble or inconvenience in the future, will net you some Light Side points if your Sith character is knee deep in the dark side. Kill him ruthlessly because he might inconvenience you, you gain Dark Side points.
Those characters whose actions are very inconsistent all the time, would remain in the middle.
The suggestion:
That those are at the edge of the spectrum on either the light side, or the dark side, accrue benefits for committing to their ideals. The force rewards that. Those in the middle with no commitment to neither good nor evil, neither selflessness nor selfishness, neither ruthlessness nor compassion, enjoy flexibility, instead.