New Idea-Political Alignment Chart?

[Thealtruistorc]

The rough idea for this concept emerged from an alignment-less campaign where each of the players was allegiant to a certain ideology. That got me thinking about a certain political alignment chart that I have been seeing a lot on 4chan, which I have reproduced below.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Political_chart.svg/2000px-Political_chart.svg.png

Do you think it would be possible to run a game where each of the characters used this alignment chart rather than the Good-Evil-Law-Chaos axis used normally? I was thinking that Paladins would all have to be authoritarian and that inherently chaotic classes would all sit as libertarian or neutral. That aside, I think the idea of a left/right dynamic would make roleplaying and ideal-forging a much more interesting matter, offering the potential to create more fleshed-out characters and possibly elicit some interesting insights. Thoughts?

[torrasque666]

No. Keep politics out of gaming.

[Ravens_cry]

Let's . . . not. Fictional politics can be good and I'd like to see more of them. But better than a chart is something more like a tag list for a piece of online content of your allegiances, with a numeral or adjectival priority. Someone might have small ties to the local thieves guild but be very much about protecting their family,and, if push comes to shove, will choose one over the other.
Having strongly held opposed allegiances is a recipe for some of the most epic kind of drama one can have and has been the basis for some of the most amazing stories.

[Nifft]

I think you found a 4chan troll graphic and reposted it here.

I don't think that posting 4chan troll graphics tend to contain good ideas, though they may be good for a laugh.

This one seems more dumb than funny. That's not your fault, of course. It's just the nature of the internet to contain rather a lot of dumb content.

[Cosi]

On a basic level, I think that having alignments like "Communist" or "Utilitarian" rather than "Lawful Good" or "Neutral Evil" seems like a huge improvement. That said, this is (like pretty much anything from 4chan) worthless. The idea that the opposite of "Libertarian" is "Authoritarian" is essentially Libertarian propaganda. But let's not talk about that on this forum, as I doubt the mods will approve.

However, if you were actually writing alignments it seems to me that borrowing from ideologies that actually exist and have been fleshed out for hundreds or thousands of years seems vastly more useful than describing one of your sides as "Good". Saying that Demons believe in virtue ethics (or whatever) while Devils believe in deontological ethics (or whatever) is a massively better explanation for the Blood War than saying one is "Chaotic Evil" and the other is "Lawful Evil."

[Troacctid]

Maybe if your gaming group is comprised primarily of Political Science majors who are really into that sort of thing, but otherwise, it just seems bad.

[Marlowe]

Basically, this is the superior option.
http://i.imgur.com/dKqvDSf.png

[Shackel]

Hearts of Iron 2 had a relatively in-depth political system that was based on a two-axis idea(Left-Right, Democratic-Authoritarian). While I can't find the easy-to-read picture table for it, it's still something that might be worth looking into.

I must say though... any game where being Liberty Prime as a paladin with "SMITE COMMUNISM" is an option is already the best system.

[Bad Wolf]

Asmodeus being a communist is an odd idea.

[Marlowe]

Seriously, you're going to run into problems where the same specific idea can be considered "Left" (progressive, new-fangled) in one culture and "right" (conservative, traditional) in another. I'm not going to list examples for obvious reasons.

[Arbane]

Basically, this is the superior option.
http://i.imgur.com/dKqvDSf.png

Confound it, where's the 'like' button on this forum!?

:smallbiggrin:

[ZamielVanWeber]

The biggest problem with alignment is that it simplifies an issue that is too complex to be simplified. This chart takes an issue that is too complex to be simplified and simplifies it. It does an even worse job, though, since as was pointed out what may be considered authoritarian, libertarian, left, and right are subjective.

[Der_DWSage]

You can discuss politics or you can keep friends. Pick one.

[Ravens_cry]

You can discuss politics or you can keep friends. Pick one.

Can I keep you? Your snake avatar is damn adorable.:smallbiggrin:

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff: Real world politics discussion is explicitly prohibited by the Forum Rules.