In responding to @Kaemik's suggestion on "How to fix the reputation/murder system", I tried to think of an alternative to the murder count system while taking into account their approach of having blue/red status transfer to reputation - which I think is good. It addresses the right problem in terms of encouraging localised reputations, and enabling red & blue dynamics between regions. It however doesn't take into consideration the necessity for immediately felt consequences for impacting upon another player's experience - which is what MC as it stands now should be trying to achieve. In short, a player should feel compelled via the game mechanics to reconsider their intent in RPKing someone, especially against players who are actively blue. Note, this suggestion is similar to the MC system in many ways, but aims to frame it a bit differently.
What are soul wounds?
Soul wounds replace murder count (MC) as a way to imply similar immediately felt repercussions for murdering blue players, without directly affecting city access or red and blue status outside of the reputation system. It is a typical morality system; evil vs good represented as a sliding scale that applies penalties to that player's stats and values upon death (a res sickness of sorts). Having a positive soul is called "Soul potency" and acts as a buffer against soul wounds.
In roleplay terms:
"A soul wound is an ethereal tear in the fabric of ones soul after performing an act that the soul cannot come to bear. A soul wound directly impacts the soul's ability to return to the physical world and that of the amount of lifeforce a priest is able to impart. One's soul is known to be able to become potent enough to bear the weight of soul wounds through devout and lawful dedication."
How are soul wounds displayed?
Replacing Murder Counts on the character sheet, a value between -10 and +10 [20 total] or a visual graphic as a sliding bar from left to right, negative to positive. Players start at 0.
What do soul wounds impact?
The following are some examples of impacts they could have on player stats and values, as well as game mechanics.
Upon death if your Soul Wound value is below 0 the following examples could be applied:
Soul wounds are applied through murder reports.
Recovering/gaining soul wounds (or soul potency)
Players recover Soul Wounds over time. Players gain Soul Potency which is a buffer to Soul Wounds for extended periods of non murder.
Sandbox Full loot PvP-MMOs live and die by their ability to retain players outside of their core audience (e.g. people who aren't already invested in this genre). A mechanic such as this that aims to target and provide a form of disincentive for random PKing and that is an immediate consideration, is necessary. On the other hand, reputation should be considered as a slow burn, a grind of sorts that rewards players for dedication to their chosen faction.
The impacts are only felt upon death and do not actively nerf a players stats/skills or ability to be a murderer/outlaw but aims to slow them down upon death and thus spend more resources/time to recover. More or less impacts might be necessary where appropriate to balance this out but for this suggestion, I've left them reasonable.
As mentioned, a fleshed out reputation system as @Kaemik has suggested should be implemented to encourage proper factional/regional reputation with further longer term repercussions for similar behaviour. The blue and red flagging system should be tied to the reputation system and this system should be a hidden personal value for the player's consideration.
Overall, we need to actively seek out ways that we can put emphasis on positive interactions in game whilst disincentivizing mechanics that - yes - while still allowed, impact negatively upon another player's gameplay experience.
EDITS:
- Forgot to add timers on the end of some of the impacts.
- Changed recovery rate to be offline over a longer period
- Added example of effects that could be applied in general (outside of death windows)
- Added considerations of other mechanics
What are soul wounds?
Soul wounds replace murder count (MC) as a way to imply similar immediately felt repercussions for murdering blue players, without directly affecting city access or red and blue status outside of the reputation system. It is a typical morality system; evil vs good represented as a sliding scale that applies penalties to that player's stats and values upon death (a res sickness of sorts). Having a positive soul is called "Soul potency" and acts as a buffer against soul wounds.
In roleplay terms:
"A soul wound is an ethereal tear in the fabric of ones soul after performing an act that the soul cannot come to bear. A soul wound directly impacts the soul's ability to return to the physical world and that of the amount of lifeforce a priest is able to impart. One's soul is known to be able to become potent enough to bear the weight of soul wounds through devout and lawful dedication."
How are soul wounds displayed?
Replacing Murder Counts on the character sheet, a value between -10 and +10 [20 total] or a visual graphic as a sliding bar from left to right, negative to positive. Players start at 0.
What do soul wounds impact?
The following are some examples of impacts they could have on player stats and values, as well as game mechanics.
Upon death if your Soul Wound value is below 0 the following examples could be applied:
- You lose an additional 5% health, stamina and mana reserves per soul wound (5% of the amount lost at a base of 0).
- Your health, stamina and mana reserve recovery rate from all sources is reduced by 5% per soul wound for ? minutes.
- Resurrection sickness timer penalty is increased by 10% per soul wound (e.g doubled at -10).
- Criminal flag timer increased by 10% per current soul wound (e.g doubled at -10).
- Stat/exp/attribute gain is decreased by ? per current soul wound.
Soul wounds are applied through murder reports.
- -2 for murder (final blow)
- -1 for assisted murder (not the final blow but damaged the player)
Recovering/gaining soul wounds (or soul potency)
Players recover Soul Wounds over time. Players gain Soul Potency which is a buffer to Soul Wounds for extended periods of non murder.
- Soul Wounds (negative values)
- recover at a rate of +1 every 24-48 hours (offline inclusive)
- can pay gold tribute to priests in order to recover +1 soul wound.
- Higher negative values cost larger amounts of gold, to remove -1. Good gold sink
- Soul Potency (neutral or positive values)
- gain +1 soul potency every ? hours of in-game playtime.
Sandbox Full loot PvP-MMOs live and die by their ability to retain players outside of their core audience (e.g. people who aren't already invested in this genre). A mechanic such as this that aims to target and provide a form of disincentive for random PKing and that is an immediate consideration, is necessary. On the other hand, reputation should be considered as a slow burn, a grind of sorts that rewards players for dedication to their chosen faction.
The impacts are only felt upon death and do not actively nerf a players stats/skills or ability to be a murderer/outlaw but aims to slow them down upon death and thus spend more resources/time to recover. More or less impacts might be necessary where appropriate to balance this out but for this suggestion, I've left them reasonable.
As mentioned, a fleshed out reputation system as @Kaemik has suggested should be implemented to encourage proper factional/regional reputation with further longer term repercussions for similar behaviour. The blue and red flagging system should be tied to the reputation system and this system should be a hidden personal value for the player's consideration.
Overall, we need to actively seek out ways that we can put emphasis on positive interactions in game whilst disincentivizing mechanics that - yes - while still allowed, impact negatively upon another player's gameplay experience.
EDITS:
- Forgot to add timers on the end of some of the impacts.
- Changed recovery rate to be offline over a longer period
- Added example of effects that could be applied in general (outside of death windows)
- Added considerations of other mechanics
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