Proposed Consequences for Murder

I think the reason there are so many kneejerk reactions to PvP, is that the non-PvPer envisions a world of ruthless killers trying to ruin everyone's fun. They see a wave of red and want no part of it. I think their fears are being greatly exaggerated.

Pre-Trammel on the Pacific shard, I encountered approximately 1 red name every three full days of play, unless I was mining - then it was 3 red names a day minimum. The 20% stat loss dissuaded them from hanging out in places like Terathan Keep (I think I saw a total of 5 pkers there in two years).

I predict there will be fewer "reds" on SotA than on pre-Trammel UO. The primary reason is the single character accounts. Players won't be tempted to roll a scoundrel as often. I fully understand someone having multiple accounts and that is fine - however there will still be a reduced number of total red characters.

Some civilian protections and murderer consequences to further dissuade people from creating a red character:
* Most cities should be safe from murderers (also means reduced house placement)
* "Newbie" resource gathering areas should have guard towers.
* A murderer can only be resurrected in one of two murderer friendly towns located on the fringes of the world. They can also be resurrected by players as a criminal act.
* Upon death a murderer loses between 10%-20% total experience.
* Murderers must perform a series of quests to work off their murder flag (should take many weeks) - no more flipping between blue and red.
* Bounty system.
* Increased durability loss.
* Forced to purchase from the black market (more expensive) - yes, I know friends can trade them items.
* Lost Soul mobs that only appear and attack murderers.
* A blue who wants to work off a murder must perform a long and expensive quest.
* Roaming guards.

That is a lot of penalties for playing the life of a murderer. I'm sure people can be creative and think of more ideas.

I do not play a thief or murderer, but I greatly want to feel that sense of unknown danger (and be forced to - not by turning on a PvP flag).

Remove arbitrary restrictions to favor the vocal minority and instead implement consequences to allow for multiple play styles.

 

So people really, really don't like getting murdered.
But now I introduce murder which heaps penalties on the murderer and still kills the victim.

How does this make any sense at all?

 

If there were a truly Open PvP system (which there isn't, other than under the system I have proposed), none of this would be necessary unless you had silly easy escape features, such as the Recall spell. Don't over complicate things.

 

Victim still dies, there will just be fewer victims.

 

i remember times when i had recall up but my hand was shaking so bad i couldn't target the rune.

 

I'm not sure murder will exist with consensual PvP.

 

That's why I think that despite arguments I've heard to the contrary, there can be no PK's if PvP consists of guild war battles. There will be combat, but no murder.

So much for a game based upon Virtues.

 

How about we enable PK hunters by putting in a Tracking and Forensics skill that allows people to find the nearest murderer. I'm sure this would encourage vigilante groups who would love hunting down the wicked.

 

The penalty for murder should be either :

1) not be allowed to play SOTA for 25 years (jail)
Or
2) death penalty (character perma death)

Hmmm, that sounds familiar. Real consequences for sick behavior.

 

And while we're at it, lets spend 2-4 hours crafting each chair to further enhance realism.

Joke aside, we should avoid dealing in absolutes. I understand your PK intolerance, but instead of drawing strict lines, SotA could be more special and inclusive if both positive and negative reinforcements were used to guide game play.

 

Sick??

Really??

If they allow something in a game they are not going to make such ridiculous penalties. Would be the worst business decision in history. That's not saying they will allow it...

If people can be 'murdered' in SOTA it'll be because they allowed it (flagged, entered area etc etc).

I fail to see the big deal

 

I like the idea that some have had to include forensics and proper tracking. That would make the way of the vigilante a true career. Being a killer would definitely get dangerous if hunting them got lucrative. There should be both virtue and gold to be gained, and there should be a timer that unflagged people as a killer. That way, they could be hunted by anyone for X number of hours, and it would be possible to kill them several times even before the flag resets so that they could not just have some friend slay them to turn blue. That, or death drawbacks would have to be more severe for killers so that dying was something they'd really want to avoid. Maybe virtue/karma should regulate their vendor prices and such, though that could easily be worked around with the help of a friend. Anyway, most of these thoughts are old ideas from others.

I'm not too fond of PvP, but I could have tried my hand as a vigilante.

 

Why stop there. Add the hour or so it'll take to chop a suitable tree. Then the time it takes to physically break the tree down into smaller, more portable logs (hours)
Then the time it'll take to dry the wood.

And so on and so on.

 

Difference is, I can't grief you with my chair

 

I've never been a PK in any game and yet I suddenly feel the desire to spawn camp people.

sent from the future using my Coleco Adam

 

That's not my definition of murder. If you flag for pvp and get whacked then its not murder, its a requested feature.

Its murder when its non consensual. And when murder goes unpunished, it leads to low or no consequence murder which is the direct cause of griefing and ganking.

So the question is, is this theread about consensual or non consensual murder? If its about non consensual then my original post stands, there should be massively serious consequences. If its consensual then there should be no repercussions cuz pvpers enjoy being whacked and opted into it.

 

On your 1st point I agree, and that's my point.

From everything we know I just can't see us having non-consensual PKing so it's really a non-issue. Although (hypothetically) you could argue playing a game with PKing allowed counted as consent or atleast accepting the possibility you may be killed.

If a feature is included in a game I just don't see how you can blame people for participating in it. I certainly wouldn't call it 'sick' behaviour. But if that's your belief then fair enough

 

No worries, I wouldn't be playing in a game that doesn't allow consensual pvp so I would never be in the bind of accepting that feature in order to participate.

All I'm saying is this thread needs to specify if they mean consensual or non consensual because the penalties for each should be different.

 

I don't think there is a particular need to add skills like tracking or forensics. The reason murder was so easy to get away with in UO lay in the use of Recall and Gate. Of what use is tracking if a person can magically transport themselves anywhere? Get rid of Recall/Gate, and see how that works first. If murder is still a problem, then other mitigating steps can be taken, but first things first.

 

I understand your point, but recall/gate was usually used after a kill and at the PKers discretion. Having a Forensics/Tracking skill puts the timing of attack in the hands of the vigilante(s), which is a powerful tool to have. You can attack the PKer when they are most vulnerable or even AFK.