Shattered Kingdoms

I'd normally enjoy a discussion on snowflakes, but this doesn't seem the best thread for that.

The point relevant to new players is getting them excited about SK's roleplay style. One of the draws when I chose to play was reading "The Cauldron". Is it worthwhile to make other fun race or alignment stories available from the Hall of Creation? (If these stories are common knowledge, it's not OOC to know about them.)

I was thinking about something to add to the creation halls. Perhaps some sort of family name kinda thing? you can look up stories on the histories of some of the important families of SK (selected after you select your race?) and base your character off of one of their relatives. Something that adds a greater rp aspect maybe.
I dunno. the von eisenfaust woods. Who was Von eisenfaust? what race was he? why are the woods named after him.
Making history a bigger part of sk could improve rp maybe?

That's what a wiki is for.

That is something I don't think has been brought up yet. The wiki doesn't need to just be about how to gain IC tactical advantages, it can have histories of any character someone wants to take the time to write up. "help hero" still exists, but the stories are centuries old.

What if you added an optional quiz in the Hall of Creation that would suggest the most suitable alignment for your character based on your answers?

That'd be neat.

But I'd rather see a system where you don't even get an alignment until journeyman, and that alignment is assigned based on quests participated in and choices made in them, flavored roleplay rewards, and other factors. Restricted alignment classes would need to be refactored to either convert or branch from base classes; for example, paladins and hellions may both start as "knights." Maybe before becoming a knight, you'd have to start off as a "warrior," too. That's one way to do it. There are probably others.

It'd turn "paint by numbers" character creation into "snowflake smelting." Crazy enough outcomes, and maybe you just get thrown out.

In-game, the logic could well be that aura isn't projected from a mortal until they reach a certain level of power and experience, so it isn't really about "assigning" your alignment as much as it is discovering what it is via your aura once it drops or enlarges or whatever.

Why would such a dramatic change improve the game?

Given that the point of the thread is to investigate dramatic changes, it seems that the premise that dramatic changes could improve the game is sort of a given for all but general griping and flame disguises.

None of the poll options would represent a dramatic change to the core alignment system. Why are you so adamant that your pet issue is an area that would improve the game for others?

Accessibility and features are to me obvious key drivers of growth and retention. It is not obvious to me that the "grep alignment system" is more attractive, inclusive, and marketable than the "SK alignment system" and therefore I would like to see you explain how this is truly a good idea for attracting and retaining players in 2014.

I already ruled out removing the static alignment system in the suggestion thread that was the basis for this poll. That's why it's not on the poll. Although I did welcome write-in candidates, I should have been more explicit in saying that they should be ideas not already previously ruled out.

My honest opinion is that even if we implemented grep's "deferred alignment choice" suggestion, it would not help to acquire many new players. Most people don't even know how to RP when they find SK, it's something they only learn after. So subtle variations on how we define RP within the game is not going to be a big driver.