I've been trying to think of a system that would put a damper on senseless PKing (player killing) in a MMOG without using stat or skill loss. The bounty sytem I've devised seems like a good idea. I'ld like some feedback to see if there is anything I'm missing or if there are any gaping wholes that I missed. Bounty System: The bounty system is designed to discourage rampant pk-ing, thievery and property damage. It will also bring the player base together by giving law abiding players a chance to have PvP combat that can be very rewarding and give criminals a challenge. Implementation: When a Player(s)A performs a negative action upon PlayerB, PlayerB will be given the option to place a bounty on Player(s)A. PlayersC who have bought a Bounty Hunter Permit will be allowed access (for a small price) to lists of players online with a bounty on their head and will include a last known general location. Once a PlayerC kills another player with a bounty, the player must bring the head to a Bounty Station. PlayerC will then receive a portion of the bounty on PlayerA’s head (refer to Function1). Once the bounty is collected the amount collected is subtracted from PlayerA’s bounty amount, at this point PlayerA will incur a Gold Debt equal to the amount of the collected bounty. The Gold Debt will cut PlayerA’s gold intake (from loot, trades etc) in half until the Gold Debt is repaid. When PlayerA has a Gold Debt he can only trade items for gold and only trade gold for items.

UO tried something like that. It wasn't too effective.

UOs system was terrible. The criminal was in no way affected. I believe he could even have collected the bounty on his own head or at least have a friend to. The system I'm proposing (see Gold Debt in original post) would put a debt on the criminal.

I remember many complaints about UO's bounty system. It often seems like there's less incentive for tracking people or playing law enforcement, particularly when it comes to getting people together.

I'm curious about your justification for the gold debt. What is it that you're trying to prevent from happening?

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Original post by Wavinator I remember many complaints about UO's bounty system. It often seems like there's less incentive for tracking people or playing law enforcement, particularly when it comes to getting people together. I'm curious about your justification for the gold debt. What is it that you're trying to prevent from happening?

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RobotechII The bounty system is designed to discourage rampant pk-ing, thievery and property damage.

Most MMOGs these days stop you from doing evil completely. I don't think that should be the case. I believe the bounty system that I proposed would allow someone to murder, steal or destroy but doing so could possibly come at a great cost. On the other side of the spectrum in some MMOGs there are no penalties for PKing and they're full of players who do nothing but try to kill the first person in sight. I believe this type of system would help put a stop to that as well.

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Original post by Wavinator [...]I'm curious about your justification for the gold debt. What is it that you're trying to prevent from happening?

The gold debt allows you to put a bounty of any value you want on a person's head, even if you don't have that much money. You're basically taking a hard coded loan to pay for a bounty
Edit: I misread the OP =-/

[Edited by - Extrarius on September 3, 2005 6:54:55 PM]

Online games are about checks and balances. PlayerA can't kill PlayerB with an instant-cast instant-kill spell because that would be unfair.

The killer gives up town life and becomes an outcast. He manually tracks down and kills his prey unassisted and gets some loot to live off of. For this, he's rewarded by having his position broadcasted to every wanna-be bounty hunter in the land... oh, and a massive gold debt when he's (eventually) brought down.

What happens to the bounty hunter if he fails? Does he get the debt instead? Where's the balance? You're only punishing one side.

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Original post by RobotechII Quote: Original post by Wavinator I'm curious about your justification for the gold debt. What is it that you're trying to prevent from happening? Quote: RobotechII The bounty system is designed to discourage rampant pk-ing, thievery and property damage.

Sorry, I should have been more specific: Let's say that I kill you. I snatch up all of your cool items and your gold. You place a bounty on my head. I now have a gold debt.

I can, according to the system, now only trade items for gold and gold for items. If I do so, I'm taxed by the gold debt (provided someone has actually killed me to activate it). But does this tax happen every time I pickup gold?
What's to stop me, for instance, from killing yet another player, getting another bounty, and continuously living off my victims items? What's also to stop me from dropping gold on the ground and picking up items in non-secure trades with buddies?

It also seems that victims have punitive power without regard to their own rightness in the situation or resources. What, for example, is to stop me from creating a level 1 character and griefing my way throughout the land in order to make other characters attack me? I could trash talk, vulch loot and generally be a PITA, and as soon as someone attacked me, I'd place a bounty on their head at zero cost to me. It seems I could do this over and over again.

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Most MMOGs these days stop you from doing evil completely. I don't think that should be the case. I believe the bounty system that I proposed would allow someone to murder, steal or destroy but doing so could possibly come at a great cost. On the other side of the spectrum in some MMOGs there are no penalties for PKing and they're full of players who do nothing but try to kill the first person in sight. I believe this type of system would help put a stop to that as well.

Your system may work just fine, but it seems more elaborate than necessary. Wouldn't a flag work just as well? Wouldn't you automatically want to post a bounty on the person that just killed you? If so, any choice that you'd always want to make should be automatic.

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Original post by Extrarius Quote: Original post by Wavinator [...]I'm curious about your justification for the gold debt. What is it that you're trying to prevent from happening? The gold debt allows you to put a bounty of any value you want on a person's head, even if you don't have that much money. You're basically taking a hard coded loan to pay for a bounty

It would come out of the persons bank account. The person wouldn't be able to place a bounty over the amount of cash they have in the bank.

A slight problem would be people killing newbs. But there could always be an automatic bounty placed on anyone killing someone below so many levels beyond themselves.

Thanks for the constructive feedback :)

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Wavinator I can, according to the system, now only trade items for gold and gold for items. If I do so, I'm taxed by the gold debt (provided someone has actually killed me to activate it). But does this tax happen every time I pickup gold? What's to stop me, for instance, from killing yet another player, getting another bounty, and continuously living off my victims items? What's also to stop me from dropping gold on the ground and picking up items in non-secure trades with buddies?

The system should automatically cut all gold intake in half whether looted from a corpse or off the ground. The system could also be implemented that any gold dropped on the ground will be taxed even if it's the second time the gold is being taxed.

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Wavinator What, for example, is to stop me from creating a level 1 character and griefing my way throughout the land in order to make other characters attack me? I could trash talk, vulch loot and generally be a PITA, and as soon as someone attacked me, I'd place a bounty on their head at zero cost to me. It seems I could do this over and over again.

I guess I didn't make it clear in my first post. If you place a bounty on the persons head the gold will be deducted (or possibly held in escrow until it's collected) from your bank account. So it's doubtful a level 1 character would have enough gold to place a meaningful bounty on anyone. Although harassment should be taken care of by GMs.

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Wavinator Wouldn't a flag work just as well? Wouldn't you automatically want to post a bounty on the person that just killed you? If so, any choice that you'd always want to make should be automatic.

Not if you didn't want to part with any cash.