Not only must there be alignment, it must also result in appropriate rewards and punishments in-game. For example, if a society is defined as being generally good and especially lawful, where stealing is considered a crime, then if in-game a player resorts to stealing from people in town and they get caught doing it, or even just bring suspicion upon themselves, there ought to be in-game negative consequences. I utterly disagree with and reject the notion that this amounts to "punishing a player for playing the game their way." Same thing if you have gained a reputation as someone who slaughters people for your material benefit or just for the fun of it. The excuse that 'I want to play the game my way' should not be allowed to dictate the game responding appropriately to such behavior by the player based on the values of the society within which the game is set.
