I've always had problems with alignment. In the 40 odd years I've played D&D, AD&D etc. I've chosen an alignment and always end up playing the same type of person. My own personality has a habit of shining through.
A somewhat shorter timescale with RPGing in my case but yeah, I've found the same thing. I guess some people are better at creating a persona and getting into that mind-set, but my characters always just end up being me. I'd be a terrible actress.
That's a common issue with DnD or roleplaying games in general, some people just can't wear a mask, they end up acting themselves which is why a lot of players never cross genders and many may play a unique race but effectively act and perceive human. A good GM will help with that, but how much a matters depends on the group anyway, long as everyone is having fun who cares?
I've always found the alignment system to be pretty silly, though I know why it exists. It's there as a measuring tool for players to help them stay in character. IMO it's much better to create a complex / complex character; how are you going to judge alignment on someone (like the demon chick) who has diffiferent personalities in and out of combat? Or someone who is extremely racist to a typically peaceful race because they were enslaved and abused by one bad subset of it?
Of course, these days, most people just pay DnD for da loot and killing, but my GMs have always gone far and beyond to make the story entertaining and she always helped with encouraging us to make interesting characters and giving us the prompts to show that off.
