|
Hail all,
I'm sure nobody here remembers me... and one of the only people I remember
really closely is Khellendros.
Anyways, I've studied game theory at university, sociology, psychology, and
I've spent my entire gaming life thinking about PvP.
Not saying that I want to turn Aarchon into a PvP mud, but I definitely think
the logic for the amount of PvP that this mud has will work like this:
LOGIC )) The more devices, opportunities, avenues, achievements, benefits you
give to PKers, the more PKers you will have.
Devices means skills.
Opportunities means things that PK enables you to do (suchas entering a
specific zone, or being able to drink a special potion) whereas non-PKers
cannot do these specific things.
Avenues means roads of development.
Achievements meaning achievement points. Many players like these which is why
games like WoW have added so many achievements. You can get cool titles and
such for getting PK achievements.
Benefits being anything from an xp bonus to a qp bonus to a private channel
that only PKers can see.
So... it sounds just by saying that... that I want to give all the things in
the world to PKers and nothing to the non-pk community.
This isn't the case. In fact I'm not saying we should necessarily do any more
than 1 of those things (suchas just benefits).
The only thing I'm saying is that by increasing benefits for PvPers, you get
more PvP. It's the same as giving businesses a tax break for reducing
pollution.
They don't want to reduce pollution because it's cheaper to pollute... but if
the taxbreak outweighs the pollution savings, they cut pollution.
First of all, it's scary. Dying sucks enough when an NPC does it. Dying to a
player is vicious and often unexpected... right when you were trying to do
something important! (like questing)
Second, PvP creates animosity amongst members of the mud. Some people will
prey on others. Some people will be good pkers, some will not. Some will
learn, some will not.
When you create these rivalries, people will end up hating eachother for no
real good reason... and everyone HATES to hate.
Finally, as we've already stated... this is not a PvP mud. You created
characters here on that premise, you'd like it to stay that way!
So, those 3 reasons make a compelling argument against bringing PvP into the
game.
The other side is though... PvP can be fun, and if implemented correctly can be
really rewarding.
You can learn more about the game, more about other classes, see things you
like, and have more fun.
By making PvP optional, you're really not forcing anyone to do it, and you're
only rewarding those that do PvP slightly.
So why am I saying all this? Why did you read this big long disgusting note?
Well, I love PvP. I love the idea of it. But lemme tell you what I don't
necessarily love. I don't love the rage that it enables people to deliver unto
others.
So, before we start to boost PvP conduct, we should make sure there are
measures in place that add fun to the entire community.
People that participate and failin PvP should still be gaining more of a bonus
than those that refuse to PvP at all.
This way, it is still optional (if you just absolutely hate the idea of killing
a player), and it's beneficial to everyone who participates as well.
So what am I suggesting? Let's get to the main argument after laying all the
premises out!
1) Quest Point bonuses that scale the same as xp bonuses. 10% for pk flag, 10%
for hardcore. This means 20% more qps for hardcore pvpers.
For every new character that just wants to gain quest equiment, this offers
huge incentive bonuses.
2) Scaling kill chain rewards. What does this mean? This means if you kill 8
people in a row, there is a 40 quest point bounty on your head (8 times 5 = 40)
But after you reach 10 people in a row, the qp value per kill is doubled! So
let's say you've killed 19 people without a death, you get a bounty of 10x5qps
+ 9x10qps.
After you reach 20 people, it could be doubled again to 20qps per kill. So
that if some individual actually did end up killing 28 people in a row, he
would be worth 10x5 + 10x10 + 8x20 = 310qps.
310 qps REALLY isn't that much... and 28 kills in a row is an absolute ton.
But you can bet people will want that sweet sweet bounty.
This type of internal pvp measurement makes sure that even those who achieve
great success in PvP don't achieve TOO much success.
You never want people to be undefeated for life. This makes it less fun for
everyone.
3) Preventative PvP Raging measures.
My suggestion is to allow every player who has a pvp flag to kill any player 1
time per hour. 2 times per 3 hours and 3 times per 24 hours.
After 24 hours, the tick is reset to the 3 hour window. If there hasn't been 2
kills in 3 hours, you may kill the player 2 more times.
And so on and so forth. But the 24 hour window is very important. You see...
it hurts everyone if player X can just kill player Y
100 times in 1 day without player Y being able to fight back. It's not fair,
it's not fun and player Y would really hate his life.
So these types of pvp preventative measures are really important.
4) PvP only rewards
So there should be something (perhaps cosmetic like a who title... or perhaps a
spell that makes life easier
or SOMETHING of that sort) that only PVPers get. It doesn't have to be a
serious ability, but let's say
after you kill 20 players, you get the spell 'create light.' Very harmless,
very cool, very fun. I'm sure
many people will want to kill 20 people just for that silly little spell. And
why? No reason, they just
want the convenience of always having a light.
Now, that's important to see. PvP will only increase as there are rewards
(even just very SLIGHT rewards)
that are given to PvPers.
Anyways... sorry for the long note... lemme try to give a quick summary of what
I said.
Cliffs: Want more pvp? Gotta offer something first. What do you offer?
Benefits for PvPers.
The problem is that PvP can be abused, so we have to prevent ppl from raging
other people.
We also can't defeat the spirit of Aarchon, it's a non-pk mud.
But if you would like to increase PvP, you definitely have to offer rewards.
Thanks.
Kyriel
|
