I agree with you here, Yagr.

AL, I don't think there is as much divide between those who never 'pretend' and those who sometimes do as there seems to be implied here. In both instances alters switch as needed for the purposes they fulfil. The only difference in my mind is that there are occasions when a coconscious alter (that is one who is aware of their own uniqueness and difference to the host) knowingly hides the fact that they are a separate entity in certain situations once they have been triggered - perhaps by not speaking, or inhibiting some of their own unique behavior or characteristics. I wouldn't even call it 'pretending'. It is simply a normal part of performing their job of protecting the host. They have been triggered out because of the usual reasons they get triggered out (all in order to protect the host) but they best serve the needs of the whole by hiding their own uniqueness in certain situations.

To leap from that (which is just a normal part of a system's functioning really) to separating systems into categories of those who pretend and those who don't (while simultaneously stating that pretending is a form of lying, play acting, or choosing right from wrong) seems unnecessary to me.

Yes, there are probably extremes - those whose alters own their uniqueness to the point of insisting all other people call them by their alter name all of the time (because if an alter knows their own name and self but still answers to the birth name that is just another form of 'pretending' too) and those whose alters consistently try to pass as the host no matter what - but ultimately the world is not made up of black and white but infinite shades of gray.