I'm relatively new here, but some of you may know me. Anyway, this is my first actual topic I've made as I was curious to what type of discussion would spur from this. So, what exactly makes something good or evil in your eyes when it comes to Skyrim? Feel free to use specific factions or individuals as an explanation for your views.

For me, killing people for no reason or stealing for the poor.

Nazeem is an exception, though. Kill that bastard, and all you will get around here is the love and admiration of the entire internet.

You're good if you're a follower or Shor, Shezarr, and/or Talos, and evil if you're a dirty mer who believes that ending the world is a good thing/Mundus is bad.

Good: Doing deeds that benefit a person/people, and doing it for no other reason than to help

Bad: Doing deeds that hurt a person/people and doing it only for pleasure and/or personal gain

Of course... "Police girl."

What "evil" is to me are the Men. We commit genocides without a second thought, and we blame who we killed to be the ones at fault. Nothing makes genocide justifiable.

And what's "good" to me are the guardsmen. They protect with no care for their lives, even if you hurt just a mere chicken belonging to someone else, they will try to kill you for it.

Man, I guess the followers of the other Eight Divines, Ebonarm, Magnus, Y'ffre and so are just out of luck, huh?

Good: Whatever gracious Alduin says is good.

Bad: Whatever gracious Alduin says is bad.

Qilaan wah zok onik Alduin!

I see before me, three devils mentioned. It is Alduin, Firstborn of Akatosh who is deserving of our praise. And it is he who is Mankind's last hope.

Nothing. No matter what kind of character you play, it's all too gray or too goddie-goodie. There is no "bad guy" role, unless you RP and make it up for yourself. We had a decent Vampire mechanic, with AoS at stage 4, until that was taken away.

There is no love for the wicked.

Easiest way to think about good and evil is to think about life and death. It's good to show mercy and let those live who you aren't absolutely forced to kill. It's neutral deed to kill someone as self-defence if you are forced to do that for surviving. It's evil to murder anyone or to mess with someones soul or afterlife. So murdering, soul trapping and necromancy are indeed fully evil deeds.

Ditto.

Doing something for your own gain that negatively impacts another, especially if you yourself are devoid of guilt from the act.

Well hello to you too

Evil to me usually denotes a certain spark or insanity and a blatant disregard for the safety and well being of everyone around you. Good, for me, also shares a high standard in my book. To be truly good, you must be totally selfless, helpful and sincere in everything you do, have sympathy towards others, and overall, just being plain heroic in all that you do.

this.

good and evil in games or in real life almost never has a clear defined straight cut line defining both sides. it has to do with intention just as much as it does the action but also has to do with what is known at the time or not known. one can only act from what they know. i do not believe in the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions". because it is the good intentions that is often the saving grace of a bad action. its really a case by case thing most of the time and the lines are always blurred. i think this tranlates just as much into game worlds when determining right versus wrong. for example in a game your character might be an assassin. if they assassinate someone purely for the reward money or the fame for their skills or for some other personal gain or for the fun of it then thats evil clearly. but if they assassinate someone because they are evil and committing atrocities against humanity like in the assassins creed series then the act of assassination is not nearly so evil as it is intended for the greater good of all people. the same goes for thieves. to steal for greed purposes is clearly evil but to steal in the spirit of robin hood from rich corrupt merchants or noblemen to give some money back to the people the merchants swindles and the noblemen robbed then it is viewed as a lot less evil and the kind of justice and fairness only an outlaw can give.