In games with moral alignment, who do you play as?

[LightSpectra]

Typically in WRPGs like Knights of the Old Republic and Fallout 3, where you're given moral choices throughout the game that affect how your character is treated and often the quests you do. I'm just curious about what most people go with. (If you often play through multiple times, pick the option that you find yourself the most satisfied with in general.)

Me, I'm always the most altruistic guy I can possibly be. I feel bad when I commit evils against fictional characters, strangely.

Edit: To clarify what each position means:

1. Heroic and saintly - you always take the path that's the most just, even at your character's expense. Ex.: When offered a reward for rescuing a child, he says, "no reward is necessary, m'am."
2. Mostly good - almost always pick the good option, but you also try to benefit yourself if it's possible under the circumstances.
3. Intentionally neutral - you go out of your way to not take a side. Possibly to avoid making enemies, and possibly simply because the character's just as dull as a brick.
4. Pragmatic - you take the option that's most beneficial to your character, whether it's good or evil.
5. Mostly evil - your character is generally taking the "evil" options, but not to the extent that he becomes a comic book villain.
6. Evilest bastard that ever lived - when your character is asked by a beggar to spare some food, he promptly eats her children.

 

[Maniacal]

I generaly end up being mostly-good but depends on how I feel about the characters (if they are annoying I tend to dislike them) and/or my personal benefit.

 

[Thrawn]

I pretty much always end up doing good. I would like a game where it's not automatically obvious which choice is good and which is bad though.

 

[Maniacal]

The Witcher is interesting as none of the chocies are good. Everyone is either evil, a douchebag, jerk, . .. .. .. ., twit, prick, arrogant, butthole, butthead, etc or some combination there of.

 

[Synobun]

Both. I play the game as a good person first, and then as a bad person.

 

[Dachs]

Depends on what I feel like doing at the time.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Most times I'll be good during my first playthrough, sometimes leaning neutral when I commit acts that are not too evil but very profitable. My second character than becomes a babyeating monster.
In my last Mass Effect playthrought I decided to be racist, nice towards humans and a huge jerkass towards aliens, especially Turians.

 

[Phlegmak]

If the moral alignment is determined by actions, then generally I play good (stealing makes you evil, helping others makes you good, etc.). Otherwise, I'll play something randomly determined.

 

[steviejay]

Heroic and Saintly. Given the option where my choices affect the game (Fallout 3) I tend to do it "nicely" but I always tend to get guilty (yeah, I know) when I'm bad so don't tend to do so well with it.

 

[Maniacal]

Yeah I was having a tough time about being a murderous "witch" in Fallout 3. It took me TWO HOURS to get out of Vault 101 in the beginning as I couldn't make up my mind about what to do.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Mostly good, although if the game gives me the option of having my own agenda I can be pretty evil. Not many games let you have your own agenda however.

 

[CCRunner]

I usually ignore the good/evil option and go for the most cash/bonus items/whatever other perks.

And usually that's the evil side.

 

[sirtommygunn]

I do whatever benefits me, so long as it isn't needlessly evil. So I guess I'm neutral.

 

[mech654]

Do to my opportunistic nature I would go with pragmatic. The dark side seen to reward me better.

 

[IronMan2055]

Well I can only really recall two such games... KOTOR where I was, I guess goodish for most of it....until the ending there where I killed my friends and made a death fleet. ^_^U

And Fable where I played pretty much as the most evil "hero" ever, until I decided to try being good and donated vast amounts of money to bring me up to neutral. Then my disc became unreadable due to a 6 year old's boot. =P

 

[Ulyaoth]

I go with the best benefit, easiest to function way. Which usually ends up being good for me somehow. At least the last few games I played of such things(FO3, B&W2, KotOR and Fable) I ended up good. Yeah you get better rewards being evil usually, it causes conflict, I rather like being a snarky dick who appears good but rips people off and says nasty things behind their backs. You know, like real life.

 

[azzaman333]

Whatever leads to victory easiest.

 

[Izipo]

Neutral good is my most common course of action.

 

[Munch]

I generally play through games making decisions that I would make if I were in that situation. So, mostly good, but I would have picked heroic and saintly if it wasn't for the fact that I loved stealing things in Oblivion. In Fallout 3 for instance I played it through with a character that was a fictional pseudo-me, even in appearance (almost... it was exaggerated and extrapolated quite a bit), which was fun. It's not quite the same in Oblivion, say, where even though I might do things as I would myself, I'm not actually a lizard.

After my first chap in Fallout 3 I tried to follow a more evil path with subsequent characters but quickly got bored with them, as the evil options were either unsatisfying or needlessly destructive (also, the game really has almost no replay value for me). For instance, blowing up Megaton: why?? You can sleep there, and there are traders and quests. Blowing the place up made no sense to me, regardless of whether my avatar enjoyed breaking peoples' legs with a baseball bat and following them as they hobbled in vain to escape.

 

[GVBN]

Mostly evil. Too bad there are just a handful of games where being evil actually pays off. Planescape: Torment is the probably the best one of them

For instance, blowing up Megaton: why?? You can sleep there, and there are traders and quests. Blowing the place up made no sense to me, regardless of whether my avatar enjoyed breaking peoples' legs with a baseball bat and following them as they hobbled in vain to escape.

Why not? You can sleep in Tenpenny Tower, Moira survives the explosion and you can still complete The Wasteland Survival Guide and Blood Ties quests after blowing up Megaton. The only things you'll miss are Jericho and the STR bobblehead

It's still a horrible quest. Save Megaton -> Get a house. Destroy Megaton -> Get a house. Yup those are some deep choices & consequences you've got there Bethesda. And it feels like it's the only moral choice in the game, everything else after Megaton feels like an afterthought