My Ranger is always/will always be good aligned. Apart from that it depends on game mechanics and what interests me about the race's of pantheon and I will only be interested if deities really makes a difference to the game play and game world, if not, then it is a bit of a waste of time.
It primarily depends on the game, the character I am playing, and to a lesser degree how that choice affects character progression.
I think Everquest was the last game that I really remember having a religion system that did anything substantial. I played Neverwinter for a while and I believe there was a religion-related choice in that game but I don't remember it affecting much, and I also played FFXIV for a while and again I remember having to pick a diety but I don't remember it affecting much... maybe resistances?
Typically I like to pick something that fits my character or how I would want my character to be roleplayed (even though I typically don't RP). For example, if I am playing a healer typically my diety choice would be something that symbolizes life, health, nature, light, water, or possibly air depending on the lore. On the other hand, if I were playing something like a necromancer I would want my religion to reflect something darker and more sinister like death, chaos, darkness/shadow, hate...etc.
I *do* tend to ally strongly with a faction. If, as in Rift among other games, the developers make faction almost irrelevant after an expansion or two (usually to save time and effort by not having to make different content for different factions) I tend to leave. Religion is rarely, if ever, a core faction choice it is more of a frill. So I tend not to care much. Pantheon may be different given the lore.
Almost always good. Occasionally neutral. Never evil any more though I have (blush) gone that route in the past.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - In-Game Religion - Do you typically align your character with religion and if so is it usually good, neutral, evil or some combination of them all? #MMORPG#CommunityMatters
If given the choice, neutral/none. I don't particularly care about/for religion in games.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - In-Game Religion - Do you typically align your character with religion and if so is it usually good, neutral, evil or some combination of them all? #MMORPG#CommunityMatters
For my best possible roleplay experience, I try not to force a lot of pre-creation decisions onto a character. That way the character can kind of develop naturally. For this reason, I prefer for things like in game religion to be either a purely roleplay choice or if it is an in game mechanic for their to be ways to earn religion changes. This way I can adjust the religion to match that characters life. Barring that, at least having the religion choice be post creation to allow for some immersive in game influence over the choice.
-Gottbeard-
I tend to only bother with Clerics and Paladins and rarely pick anything evil.
It's almost impossible to get immersed in being 'evil' whatever people say.
If you do it properly you will end up being distructive/disruptive and annoying other players. If you half-ass it, it's to the detriment of the feel of the game.
I suppose it depends on your definition of 'evil', but I'm thinking selfish? Cruel? Unempathetic? None of that is going to help coop gaming.
Sometimes those Paladins can be jerks, but at least they usually have the greater good at heart.
I have played 'evil' race characters plenty of times, but I would downplay the whole religion thing and express my 'evil' as a free-spirited disdain for anyone or thing that tries to stop me 'adventuring', including the religions and priests of my own race...
I will usually put a characters religion into what I think fits them from a Role Play point of view.
For my main, assuming its not already narrowed down I'll try to pick what looks like the god I would worship if that pantheon was real.
If I lived in Norrath would totally worship Karana.
Whatever fits my character from a roleplaying perspective. Don't get too into it and will be playing on regular servers but I do enjoy making choices based upon how I feel my character would react and enjoy getting immersed in the lore.
Mainly tend to have the classic "chaotic good" aligned characters but will certainly have an evil one too
I do align with something. It helps in character centering, and is a nice topic of conversation where you can speak of in-game religions as if they were your own through your character in stupidly broad terms, safely in-game, that would wouldn't dare in real life about your perceptions of such things- to get practice! and maybe crystalize your own thoughts on the subject.
Omgosh I remember - sheesh- the only black characters in game so I identified and made my doll, and finally found my way outside. I knew religion was a "thing" but I wasnt sure how big a "thing" it was as I was just learning. Then I get killed by.....a Heretic?! they can sense my allignment? now I have to be aware of what people think I believe in?!? 0_o 16yr old me was floored. I must have spent a good 20min staring and sighing intermitently, not moving, just pondering. Made me read up on Lore, though, and gave some nice background so I could RP fairly well if called out or in a situation where people were doing it.
I 'min max' so to speak if its something like Everquest, where an Enchanter needs to be Agnostic for illusions, or certain really good items are locked behind certain deities.
That said, if the consequences of my choice can later be adressed - such as just having different faction levels based on diety that I can grind out later - then I prefer to go with whatever fits my RP vision for the character. :)
I'm not a neutral kind of player. I'll tend to go for good alignment first. But lately I look for the evil alignment since they sometimes provide more challenge.
I wouldn't choose a neutral religion. Trading religions however are often neutral. So for a none-crafting character I can go all out on evil or good religions.
I enjoy the polarity of the two extremes.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - In-Game Religion - Do you typically align your character with religion and if so is it usually good, neutral, evil or some combination of them all? #MMORPG#CommunityMatters
Yes, usually if I am playing warrior its lawful nuetral and if its paladin then usually lawful good.
I've historically used Role Playing Games to pretend to be evil, but being evil in a majority of MMORPGs (when being good is an option) is usally penalized by "appearing" relatively uncomley, and/or being treated unfairly by NPCs... so depending on the impact being evil has on my gameplay, I may choose the path of least resistance since I don't have the time to invest into an MMORPG I once had that was required to overcome any disadvantages that came with being evil.
Counterfleche said: It depends on the character, but if the only real difference is lore-based backstory and a buff, then picking a religion is basically buff-shopping for most people. I like the idea of different gods giving different buffs, but there needs to be meaningful differences in-game based on religion. Like one religion forbids attacking all beasts with horns. Another requires a specific offering be placed at a shrine every time you level. Another requires a pilgrimage to a far away ruin to get your buff. Some small, secret areas should only be open to followers of specific deities. Make it matter or don't bother.
This sounds awesome.
Religion definitely mattered in EQ by way of faction... being a DE SHD was a f****ing nightmare! All good races hated Dark Elves, and some evil races hated innorruk - it was sooooo difficult for me to do my epic quest; I spent months farming faction (wasting maybe 200 hours of my life) at one spot just to ruin it somewhere else... meanwhile a Eurdite having to do 0 faction work; was the most awful experience in any game (that plus taking a back seat to warrior being THE tank, and filling the role of "puller" ultimately lead to me quitting).
So I agree in "make it matter, or don't bother" but don't make the game revolve around it. Ugh!
Depends on the game. In most MMO's I look for what the religion gives me as a bonus/negative and not what the religion actually is. If there are no bonuses/negatives then I usually go with the racial religion if there is one (if playing a Dwarf select a religion followed by Dwarves). My third check is to determine a religion based on my class (God of War for melee, God of Protection for Healer, etc).
Overall I do not look at religion too much unless it has an effect on the game itself.
If I ever play a religious character, I try to separate the character from the deity while still following the religion. I tend to lean towards good deities, but I could also see a lot of fun in playing a character that worships an evil aligned deity but attempt a different character alignment, it makes the game choices far more challenging/impactful to me as a player.
