Who really are the 'good guys' in PS2?

Not a society, as I have always understood it. It was the planet where the tech was located and the factions sent their warriors there to secure it. That's why everything 1) is military utilitarian in nature as far as the buildings and such and 2) everything looks like it was either dropped from orbit or shipped to Auraxis and then assembled.

The society(s) are off-planet.

pffft that show is the DEVIL!!!

I learned all my morals and values from quality family programming like Married with Children

Fixed. VS are the good guys.

Who needs to be a good guy when you have science and Bill Nye on your side

Now you look me in the eye and tell me Bill Nye isn't the good guy!

It's pretty obvious TR are the good guys. We're just trying to keep anarchy at bay.

I laugh when people use "fixed". See how this works?

TR: Communist space Nazii's
VS: Fanactical elitist mad scientists
NC: EA

There are no 'good guys', they're all as evil as eachother!

A society has many definitions not limited to your understanding of what one should be. "a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations." (wiki) We are a society of warriors locked in a struggle with a loose command structure coming together when needed and no death.

These are the original speeches of the three empires:

"Loyalty until Death! Strength in Unity! Order requires law. Law is enforced through deterrence. Deterrence is based on the fear of consequences, and fear is the most powerful motivating force. The separatist groups, the Vanu Sovereignty and the New Conglomerate, will be dismantled through the exercise of forceful deterrence. Dissidents will fear the consequences of their disloyalty. Unity and order will be restored." - The Terran Republic

"Tear down the Threat that is Tyranny! Burn it all down and Start Again! We call all able-bodied soldiers to The Frontlines to take up arms against those who would deprive us of our basic freedoms. Do not forgive! Do not forget the History of Oppression that we have endured at the hands of the Terran brutes and the Vanu maniacs! Volunteer Now!" - The New Conglomerate

"The destiny of the human species tilts toward ruin. Thousands of years of shortsightedness and provincial thinking have hampered its proper evolution. We plunge toward oblivion. Those able to comprehend the promise and potential of humanity will advance. They will usher the less gifted through the gateway of understanding and cleanse the taint of blindness, ignorance and mulishness from the species. We are the shepherds of evolution, the harbingers of progress. We lead toward the light. " - The Vanu Sovereignty

Three factions of genocidal maniacs killing for ideology. No one is good.

VS is fabulous though.

Perspective is a hell of a drug...

kinda makes them all sound like fanatical a-holes...

I think that may have been the point.

There are no good guys. The Republic on the other side of the wormhole (NOT the playable TR) are the closest thing to that.

So who are the good guys?
NPCs.

Who are the villains?
That should actually be Nanite Systems (NS), as they're building the things neccessary for the war to continue.

Sadly, it isn't quite that simple. We've got no NPCs and no way to fight NS, so we're stuck with fighting the 2 opposing factions.
There we've got the principles of war:

1. He who wins is the good guy.
2. There is no "good" side, there's just the side you're fighting for and the side the others are fighting for.

This is a rehash of something I posted during beta:

NC follow something resembling anarcho-capitalism (probably best described as voluntaryism with a heavy corporate influence), the ones you can see (players) are actually independently contracted mercenaries. They work for the corporations who were contributors and members of the initial expedition that are now participating in the war as a conglomerate.

The "Freedom" thing is mostly recruitment and morale propaganda. Although it's technically accurate, every NC knows you won't succeed in the culture of your corp of choice if you can't follow their rules.

Technically the TR are still a democratic group back on earth according to the Lore, however on Auraxis after the assasination of Connery and the posibility of the expedition fleet falling apart they transformed into an oppresive and controlling regime while colonizing Auraxis.

PEACE THROUGH POWER, ONE VISION ONE PURPOSE. FOR KANE! errr.. VANU!

Sorry, I got the wrong game in my mind. o.o

TR oppressed the NC and VS so they broke off.

TR is the Super Power

NC are like the militia, they broke off from the TR because of the oppression.

VS just don't care...Waht!? Shinny lasers? PEW PEW!

NC are the only faction that would be remotely considered "Good".

Given the lore and looking at it objectively VS have the "highest cause", they're trying to either uncover artifacts from, or find an alien race. The other two factions are mostly concerned about who gets to be the boss.