My idea is to introduce karma and permadeath in a way that could perhaps be acceptable by most players and that would reduce a bit the number of trolls and douchebags (it would be still possible to be one, but now it would also be a real risk - IMHO making the game more interesting for EVERYONE, also for those who want to play some "psychopaths") while keeping more mature PvP (TC battles) intact.
1. Introduce karma.
2. The karma would drop in every location when you shoot (-30), kill (-90), successful steal (-stolen item base price/100) or do other "bad" things to players, UNLESS:
a) the person you attacked is on "permadeath" timeout
b) the person has "unprotected" flag (like a thief who failed stealing and was spotted by guards)
c) the location you are in is a war arena (there is Town Control timeout in the location).
d) the person you attacked has very low karma (I don't know, something like -2000)
3. Every time your karma drops, you enter permadeath timeout for N seconds/turns where N = karma drop. If you die during the timeout it's equal to permanent death of the character. It would reduce "shot first, ask later" attitude which is unrealistic and unfalloutish IMHO, even if it's wasteland most people aren't psychos shooting everything that moves.
4. Suiciders who will manage to kill someone are automatically permadead. Make sure there are proper checks to prevent causing permadeath by planting explosive on dead body etc exploits.
5. Add some way to turn off peramdeath timeout during events in specific locations.
6. Perhaps there should be some skull icon over a head of people on permadeath timeout, blinking during the last 5 seconds / last turn of the timeout.
I am a fan of the permanent death mechanic and I am very excited to see that a game master for this great mod is considering implementing it in some form, and also communicating with the community for feedback. I feel the mechanic described in your post is too restrictive however. It also worries me that you seem to think the suicide bomber and the PvP in the open wastes are both the same.
To rebuff my PvP points, I like to think the game has one more profession that is unnamed: the criminal profession. This profession is the pickpocket who steals from you in the busy marketplace, the highwayman who you meet in the wasteland who wants to make your goods his, the murderer who kills maybe only because you said the wrong thing and he can get away with it, etc. The noob advice thread as linked through the wiki says to think of an idea for a character and build them around that idea.
Just as Fallout 1 and 2 had the "Good" and "Evil" way to play, so should Fallout Online. Where one player chooses to play the armorer who forges armor to live a "good" way, so too can a player choose to be a robber to meet the armorer on the road and take his creations.
The right way to think of this game is that every action is a Player vs. Player action. If you are making goods you are competing with others doing the same. You can undercut their price to deprive them of income. You can get to a buyer first and eliminate demand. You can gather resources faster (geckos, buying ore form others, etc.) With every sale you are increasing the strength of your position in the game world. Thus, when one moves about in the world one is setting about to increase their own power, whether it be to gather resources or acquire caps through sales. By killing other people in the wastes, you are preventing them from gaining a power advantage over you, and you are acquiring power for yourself.
With these rules in, what is to stop some noob who wanders into an encounter with higher level players from trying to steal all the loot? Right now when two parties enter an encounter, one party either gives up the loot/kills, or both parties assert rights over the loot/kills and risk what they have for it. There is an element of playing poker in this situation. Can your hand beat his hand? Are you willing to risk your chips for the pot? There is one more option, and that is the criminal one: where one party wants to kill the other party. This mechanic you have introduced is designed to discourage the third option, but it also would absolutely ruin the great game play experience involved in the first two. Some kind of loot tagging system where people can only loot what they kill could be put in, but loot tagging is unrealistic, and preventing unrealistic gameplay is one of the goals of these mechanics. It is also one goal I agree with, but this way ruins other things.
1. Introduce Zone of Control
a.) Zone of Control is World Map squares surrounding a town through which the town patrols, scouts, and enforces it's justice (Hub, Junktown, NCR, etc.)
b.) Each Zone of Control has it's own rules established/enforced by the controlling town.
2. Introduce karma.
a.) Karma is unique per Zone of Control3. The karma would drop in
every location Zone of Control when you shoot (-30), kill (-90), successful steal (-stolen item base price/100) or do other "bad" things to players, when you violate rules enforced within Zone of Control, UNLESS:
a) the person you attacked is on "permadeath" timeout
b) the person has "unprotected" flag (like a thief who failed stealing and was spotted by guards)
c) the location you are in is a war arena (there is Town Control timeout in the location).
d) the person you attacked has very low karma (I don't know, something like -2000)
3. Every time your karma drops, you enter permadeath timeout for N seconds/turns where N =
karma drop TOTAL KARMA (x2,x5,x10, maybe higher).
If you die during the timeout it's equal to permanent death of the character. It would reduce "shot first, ask later" attitude which is unrealistic and unfalloutish IMHO, even if it's wasteland most people aren't psychos shooting everything that moves. 4. Suiciders who will manage to kill someone are
automatically permadead. Make sure there are proper checks to prevent causing permadeath by planting explosive on dead body etc exploits. awarded Karma according to Rules within Zone of Control. The penalty will be fitting to discourage this unrealistic game play significantly. [/u][/b]
5. Add some way to turn off peramdeath timeout during events in specific locations.
6. Introduce Evidence Token
a.) Evidence Tokens are items that hold the numeric values of the karma of the player(indicating severity of crimes).
b.) Evidence Tokens are unique to each Zone of Control.
c.) Players marked with Permadeath who are killed are not actually permanently dead, but respawn. An Evidence Token is created on the player's corpse
1.) Evidence Token is dropped ONLY for the Zone of Control the player was killed in.
2.) The Evidence Token has a lifespan of 30 minutes.
3.) If the Evidence Token is destroyed (not picked up and encounter is destroyed, lifespan ends) Karma points and permadeath status are returned to the outlaw player.
d.) Outlaw Players who die within a town have their Evidence Token automatically created into a Record.
7. Sheriff Changes / Introduce Outlaw Records
a.) Create Sheriff for each unique Zone of Control
b.) Sheriff now accepts Evidence Tokens with matching Zone of Control.
c.) Evidence Tokens accepted by the Sheriff enforcing justice will either create an Outlaw Record for the offending player, or if the offending player already has a record the numerical value will be added to it.
d.) Players with an Outlaw Record can be killed within any Zone of Control they have an Outlaw Record in without Guard retribution.
8. Bounty Tag Changes
a.) When killed within the Zone of Control the outlaw has a Record in, the outlaw player drops a Bounty Tag which can be turned in.
b.) Upon this tag is recorded the current numerical value of the offenses. This prevents a player keeping a tag when the bounty value is low and turning it in later when the bounty is high.
b.) When the tag is turned in, a financial Reward (in caps) is given which scales to the crimes of the offender.
c.) When the tag is turned in, there is a Consequence: a percent chance the former outlaw player is marked with permanent death, and will no longer respawn. This chance scales to the crimes of the offender.
d.) When the tag is turned in, the record of the offending player has the value from the tag subtracted.
e.) When the tag is turned in, all tags created before this one for this outlaw are deleted.
Advantages:
The Evidence Tag may seem redundant with the bounty tag, however it gives the player who kills the outlaw player the option of whether to punish the outlaw player. The outlaw player's crimes may have been minor, or the player with the tag may not wish to sacrifice their time to go to town and punish the outlaw. There are also options of blackmail: perhaps the Evidence Tag is sold back to the player. Or perhaps the outlaw players friends are also in the encounter and nobody hostile to the outlaw player ever gets the Evidence Tag.
The whole scheme gives players room to kill other players in the desert, but those focusing on killing will be weeded out.
Risk vs. Reward: Players who kill others outright increase their power over their peers dramatically. As they obtain this power though, they will risk losing their options to travel in those Zones of Control which they are outlaws in, which is a drastic decrease in power. They will eventually find themselves in a position where they will have to risk ALL they have to enter certain areas, or stay out completely.
Suicide bombers of course will reach this quite quickly. And players will be offered a chance to cash in when they get their revenge.
Each town can have it's own rules, allowing much flexibility to experiment with rules, as well as adding character to towns.
PVP zones can be unrestricted, so can areas far from towns.
Bounty Hunting, killing, stealing, Justice: fucking awesome.
