Alignment System (Ragnarok Online) - Revision history

Halca at 16:40, 24 June 2025

2025-06-24T16:40:26Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:40, 24 June 2025
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	== References ==		== References ==
	<references />		<references />
			[[Category:Ragnarok Online Cut Content]]
			[[Category:Ragnarok Online Cut Co]]
			[[Category:Ragnarok Online]]
			[[Category:Ragnarok Online Client]]

Halca at 19:28, 27 August 2024

2024-08-27T19:28:11Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:28, 27 August 2024
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	== Background ==		== Background ==
	Information about this system is limited to what was released prematurely in the Ragnarok Online client. It was originally visible within the client around 2002 and 2003, where when the player right-clicked on another player, they would see the text "align with good point" or "align with bad point"; either of which, when clicked simply provided a modal popup stating "this feature is not implemented".		[[File:Manner 01.jpg\|thumb\|According to John7, the text contains: 플러스 매너 포인트 주기 : Give plus manner points]]
			Information about this system is limited to what was released prematurely in the Ragnarok Online client. It was originally visible within the client around 2002 and 2003, where when the player right-clicked on another player, they would see the text "align with good point" or "align with bad point"; either of which, when clicked simply provided a modal popup stating "this feature is not implemented".

			Further information on the alignment system as a part of Beta 3 was provided by Gravity in a "Newbie guide" which gave some further context on what was planned with the system.<ref name=":1">(2001) '''''"Peeping At Beta 3" Third Part'''''. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20021005005102/http://enweb.ragnarokonline.com/r_update3.htm (Accessed: 27 August 2024).</ref> Aside from outlining what is known currently with the system in terms of registering positive and negative points against players, those who were within the lowest 5% would have a red-coloured name indicating they were evil<ref name=":1" />, and those which were highly ranked would receive benefits but these were not tangibly defined other than relating to guilds. Gravity also outlined that the history of who had rated the person well or badly would be visible, although this appears to later have been abandoned as the UI does not display this section.<ref name=":1" />
			[[File:Manner 02.jpg\|left\|thumb\|Another view showing the point being aligned against the player.]]


	Looking at the "ragnarok_online_client" release provided by iRO in 2002, the client's "msgstringtable.txt" (a list of pre-defined strings which the Ragnarok Online client looks up) has the following items listed for the Alignment system: <syntaxhighlight lang="text">		Looking at the "ragnarok_online_client" release provided by iRO in 2002, the client's "msgstringtable.txt" (a list of pre-defined strings which the Ragnarok Online client looks up) has the following items listed for the Alignment system: <syntaxhighlight lang="text">
Line 13:		Line 18:
	Alignning with a Good Point#		Alignning with a Good Point#
	Alignning with a Bad Point#		Alignning with a Bad Point#
	</syntaxhighlight>This was then expanded slightly in some 2003 clients, which outlined that the player required Level 9 Basic Skill in order to be used. Around this time, Ragnarok Online was near the height of its popularity and there were also several high-profile hacking incidents as well as griefing and client modification which allowed people to send unlimited chats and swear words, as well as trade scams, and it's very likely the Alignment System was created to deal with these issues.		</syntaxhighlight>

			This was then expanded slightly in some 2003 clients, which outlined that the player required Level 9 Basic Skill in order to be used. Around this time, Ragnarok Online was near the height of its popularity and there were also several high-profile hacking incidents as well as griefing and client modification which allowed people to send unlimited chats and swear words, as well as trade scams, and it's very likely the Alignment System was created to deal with these issues.

	There is also an NPC named [[Newbie Instructor (Ragnarok Online)]] which informs the player<ref>eAthena, contributors (2004) ''eAthena Sourcecode: novice.txt. [Accessed At:'' https://archive.is/wip/sdBE4] </ref>: <blockquote><syntaxhighlight lang="text">		There is also an NPC named [[Newbie Instructor (Ragnarok Online)]] which informs the player<ref>eAthena, contributors (2004) ''eAthena Sourcecode: novice.txt. [Accessed At:'' https://archive.is/wip/sdBE4] </ref>: <blockquote><syntaxhighlight lang="text">

Halca: /* Mechanics */

2024-01-15T22:15:03Z

Mechanics

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:15, 15 January 2024
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	* Famed		* Famed

	In the client, the message strings made clear that a user could register one point, which could be registered once per month per player, either good or bad. This would be done by the user right-clicking on the user and clicking "align good/bad point" (in the client it is transliterated to "Aligning with good point" and "Aligning with bad point") and then this data would presumably be transmitted to AEGIS and then stored in its database. ~~When a user then opened their "status" window to view how they had been rated with other players.~~		In the client, the message strings made clear that a user could register one point, which could be registered once per month per player, either good or bad. This would be done by the user right-clicking on the user and clicking "align good/bad point" (in the client it is transliterated to "Aligning with good point" and "Aligning with bad point") and then this data would presumably be transmitted to AEGIS and then stored in its database.

	~~Since the image we have for~~ the ~~client shows 4 dimensions, and we can only assume two dimensions from data we have seen ("good"~~, ~~"bad") then we have to assume that the calculation of~~ the four ~~categories shown~~ in the ~~chart would have been done in some other~~ way~~. We could assume that for instance, the "good" and "bad" corresponded to "righteous~~" ~~and~~ "~~wicked", so if 4 people rated a player as "good" and 2 bad, we would see a peak facing upwards larger~~ (~~representing "righteous"~~/ ~~"good"~~) ~~than a peak half its size facing downwards, so this way the player can judge how often the user is rated bad as opposed to good~~.		According to the official Ragnarok Online website, the four dimensions were used in the following way<ref name=":0">(2001) ''Manual Page''. Available at: <nowiki>https://web.archive.org/web/20010801150356/http://www.ragnarokonline.com/manual_2.htm</nowiki> (Accessed: 15 January 2024).</ref>:

	~~The "Vulgar"~~ and "~~Famed~~" ~~however~~, ~~seems more vague~~. It ~~could~~ be ~~assumed that~~ "~~vulgar~~" ~~is an alignment~~ a ~~GM does or~~ the ~~system does~~ if ~~it notices that~~ the ~~user has used~~ some bad ~~language~~, but ~~what would its converse be? If~~ a player ~~said~~ "~~fuck~~" ~~10 times, what would be considered its opposite -- saying~~ "~~kittens~~"~~? The issue with this system is that really it could just have easily be replaced by a user feedback system showing~~ the % of ~~people who rated the character positively~~, and ~~that would give an idea of how that player had been rated. A graph showing two axes~~ to ~~represent this data makes~~ the ~~display more confusing~~.		* '''Righteous''' - Referred to the number of monsters you killed, and also increased based on a small number of skills or magic spells. This was supposed to affect the attitude of certain NPCs and monsters towards the player and affect the power and success rate of several skills.<ref name=":0" />
			* '''Wicked''' - If the player PKed others, then they would immediately be viewed as wicked. If other characters attacked you, they would not receive the wicked penalty for killing you. It was also supposed to affect the attitude of monsters towards you in terms of them becoming aggressive or friendly. It also references that "you may be directly touched by a guard NPC", possibly hinting at the fact guards were intended to be similar to monsters with attacks and so on.<ref name=":0" />
			* '''Famed''' - Presumably this related to the "register a good point" mechanic described above -- was supposed to indicate the character's reputation, and was supposed to be affected by if they joined a "famous guild" and/or based upon quest completion. It was also supposed to be a condition in the completion of some quests.<ref name=":0" />
			* '''Vulgar''' - Presumably this related to the "register bad point" mechanic described above, but was a different concept to "wicked" which related to player killing. This concept was supposed to prevent the player from joining "honorouble" guilds (which presupposes the idea of "dishonorable" guilds) and was also supposed to relate to the use of abusive language, or stealing items, and was supposed to increase significantly if the user was expelled from a guild or left it. <ref name=":0" />

	== References ==		== References ==
	<references />		<references />

Halca at 17:55, 14 January 2024

2024-01-14T17:55:37Z

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Alignning with a Bad Point#
 </syntaxhighlight>This was then expanded slightly in some 2003 clients, which outlined that the player required Level 9 Basic Skill in order to be used. Around this time, Ragnarok Online was near the height of its popularity and there were also several high-profile hacking incidents as well as griefing and client modification which allowed people to send unlimited chats and swear words, as well as trade scams, and it's very likely the Alignment System was created to deal with these issues.
 == Mechanics ==
@@ Line 29: / Line 41: @@
 The "Vulgar" and "Famed" however, seems more vague. It could be assumed that "vulgar" is an alignment a GM does or the system does if it notices that the user has used some bad language, but what would its converse be? If a player said "fuck" 10 times, what would be considered its opposite -- saying "kittens"? The issue with this system is that really it could just have easily be replaced by a user feedback system showing the % of people who rated the character positively, and that would give an idea of how that player had been rated. A graph showing two axes to represent this data makes the display more confusing.

Halca: First ver

2024-01-14T16:31:11Z

First ver

New page

The '''Alignment System''' is a defunct feature which was partially implemented into Ragnarok Online which was implemented around 2002. It is thought that it was to be implemented as a means of rating players and potentially making the work of Game Masters (GM) easier by allowing them to view how they had been rated by players in general. It required the user to have at least Level 9 [[Basic Skill (Ragnarok Online)|Basic Skill]] to use.

== Background ==
Information about this system is limited to what was released prematurely in the Ragnarok Online client. It was originally visible within the client around 2002 and 2003, where when the player right-clicked on another player, they would see the text "align with good point" or "align with bad point"; either of which, when clicked simply provided a modal popup stating "this feature is not implemented".

Looking at the "ragnarok_online_client" release provided by iRO in 2002, the client's "msgstringtable.txt" (a list of pre-defined strings which the Ragnarok Online client looks up) has the following items listed for the Alignment system: <syntaxhighlight lang="text">
You haven't learned enough skills for alignning.#
Alignning has been done.#
You already spent your point for today.#
Hasn't been a month yet since you aligned this person.#
You got a Good Point from %s.#
You got a Bad point from %s.#
Alignning with a Good Point#
Alignning with a Bad Point#
</syntaxhighlight>This was then expanded slightly in some 2003 clients, which outlined that the player required Level 9 Basic Skill in order to be used. Around this time, Ragnarok Online was near the height of its popularity and there were also several high-profile hacking incidents as well as griefing and client modification which allowed people to send unlimited chats and swear words, as well as trade scams, and it's very likely the Alignment System was created to deal with these issues.

== Mechanics ==
[[File:Alignment System UI.bmp|thumb|The Alignment System from the RO GUI in 2002.]]
The mechanics of the system can only really be inferred from what has been provided in the Ragnarok Online client. The first part of the client which shows the Alignment system is the UI, where there is a radar graph with four dimensions:

* Righteous
* Vulgar
* Wicked
* Famed

In the client, the message strings made clear that a user could register one point, which could be registered once per month per player, either good or bad. This would be done by the user right-clicking on the user and clicking "align good/bad point" (in the client it is transliterated to "Aligning with good point" and "Aligning with bad point") and then this data would presumably be transmitted to AEGIS and then stored in its database. When a user then opened their "status" window to view how they had been rated with other players.

Since the image we have for the client shows 4 dimensions, and we can only assume two dimensions from data we have seen ("good", "bad") then we have to assume that the calculation of the four categories shown in the chart would have been done in some other way. We could assume that for instance, the "good" and "bad" corresponded to "righteous" and "wicked", so if 4 people rated a player as "good" and 2 bad, we would see a peak facing upwards larger (representing "righteous"/ "good") than a peak half its size facing downwards, so this way the player can judge how often the user is rated bad as opposed to good.

The "Vulgar" and "Famed" however, seems more vague. It could be assumed that "vulgar" is an alignment a GM does or the system does if it notices that the user has used some bad language, but what would its converse be? If a player said "fuck" 10 times, what would be considered its opposite -- saying "kittens"? The issue with this system is that really it could just have easily be replaced by a user feedback system showing the % of people who rated the character positively, and that would give an idea of how that player had been rated. A graph showing two axes to represent this data makes the display more confusing.