Idea to reconcile open-PVP

So, when I used to MUD alot back in the 90s, I played a MUD called EmpireMUD. This was a pretty hardcore, RP and code-heavy game that pushed the boundaries for text RPGs. It was an open PVP game, but there were a lot of structures in place to make life hard for PKs. To help facilitate the murderous desire of a good portion of the player base, they came up with something they called DIKU Challenge (this was a heavily modified DIKU/Circle MUD).

Every few months they would host a DIKU Challenge, and boot the game up on another port. You'd enter as a new player and create a character, but all characters would be level 30 (max level) and start with a decent amount of gold. Everything looked the same, but a generic longsword from the weapon store would be some crazy Vorpal blade, a waterskin would be full of healing potions, etc. You'd have about an hour to run around, find the best items and equipment you could, and band together with some friends. Then the invasion started. They'd take the mobs from the deadliest zones and throw them all at the main starting town. It was up to players to repel the invasion. Sometimes it was an evil undead necromancer. Sometimes it was a giant zombie chicken. Sometimes it was cooperative, sometimes a PVP free-for-all, and sometimes a combination of both happening at the same time. You get the idea.

Sometimes we did themed quests. One time an Immortal named Shrew did a whole challenge based on Twin Peaks. It was UH-MAZING! Items from that event became rare collectibles even though they had no practical value, such as the garmenbozia I kept for several years.

Anyway, it was a lot of good fun and prizes were given for those who survived the longest or successfully repelled the invasion. Prizes were often entirely unique items (and sometimes of great power, like a perma-sanctuary diadem my friend received), or an item of the player's choice. Or you ask for something like an extra point of strength (stat bonuses were very hard to come by in this game), or an extra mem slot.

I think some challenges like this might be a great way to allow some full PVP action for those that desire it, and bring some folks who aren't usually into that sort of thing (generally bc of the consequences involved) into the fray. Something akin to Shard's "Battle of the Backers". You get some cool prize, be it equipment or a special emote or a pledge upgrade or a coupon for the add-on store. PKers get their fix and yet no one has to feel the suffering of being murdered for more than a few hours. These could also be promotional events to garner more support for the game.

Thoughts?