Dealing with Pkillers
Posted: 15 Oct 2012 18:43
In modern times, Pkilling has become a rare event. Just a few years back, though, there was a time when it still created controversy from time to time. My goal was always that there should be a way in the design of the game itself for pkillers to be accountable somehow, without requiring wizards to do anything in all the the most extreme abusive situations.
This was one idea I came up with. It's been gathering dust in my files for a while, and perhaps does not bear much on a game without much pkilling in it anymore, but I thought I'd share it and see what people thought of it in the case that future populations warrant some type of system being implemented:
There is a bit of wizardy-mumbo-jumbo in there, but since it didn't deal with anything I'd call sensitive info, I didn't bother to obscure it.
G.
This was one idea I came up with. It's been gathering dust in my files for a while, and perhaps does not bear much on a game without much pkilling in it anymore, but I thought I'd share it and see what people thought of it in the case that future populations warrant some type of system being implemented:
Code: Select all
The act of killing another player, when the victim has done nothing
to deserve it, taints the soul of the slayer. However, killing those
who deserve it does nothing to taint the soul. Thus:
- If the victim of a pkill has a tainted soul, the slayer's soul
remains untainted.
- If the victim of a pkill has an untainted soul, the slayer's soul,
and the soul of every member of the slayer's team becomes tainted.
- Tainting stacks, such that each additional slaying of an
untainted soul increases the taint of the slayer and his
team's souls by one level for each taint-worthy kill.
- When an untainted player is pkilled, a master object makes
entries in 3 datafiles:
1. A file named after the victim:
- The timestamp is the name of the index.
- The index records exp lost at death.
- The index records the names of each member
of the slayer's team.
2. A file named after the slayer (happens for each member
of the slaying team):
- The name of the victim is the name of the index.
- The index records exp lost at death.
- The index records a timestamp for the death.
3. A file named after the timestamp for the time of death:
- The name of the victim is the name of the index.
- The index records the names of each member of
the slayer's team.
Tainted souls, when slain, produce a tainted soulstone. Soulstones
contain the life energy and experience that were drained from the
untainted victim when the taint was acquired by the slayer. Thus:
- When a player with a tainted soul is pkilled, a tainted soulstone
from the victim is automatically moved to the inventory of the
slayer.
- If a player with an untainted soul receives a tainted soulstone
from a player who received a taint from killing them, they may
<harvest> the soulstone to recover their lost experience.
- If a player has already recovered from the death prior to
harvesting the soulstone, this does not diminish the amount of
experience they gain from the harvest.
- When a player with a tainted soul is pkilled, one level of taint
is removed from their soul. If there was only one level of taint
on their soul, then they become untainted following the kill. At
this point, they can no longer be killed for soulstones.
In Sparkle, A Voodoo Doctor (or something) sets up a business. This
fellow has a long-standing relationship with Death himself, and access
to the world of souls. For high prices (100 plats a shot?) the Doctor
will peer into the world of Souls to reveal information on the taint
he sees there. It might look something like this:
The Voodoo Doctor says: What'cha wanna see, mon? You want de Doctor
ta peek at your soul? Maybe you wan' de Doctor ta peek at de soul 'o
someone been buggin' ya? Maybe you even wanna ask de Doctor ta peek
under da pillow 'o Old Daddy Death himself? Read de sign, mon! Pick
what'cha want de Doctor ta do!
> read sign
.--------------------------------------------------------------.
| PEEKIN' AT DE SOULS! |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| |
| <soulpeek myself> - The Doctor will look into your soul to |
| reveal the names of any souls who have |
| been tainted by killing you while your |
| own soul was pure. |
| |
| Cost: 100 platinum coins |
| |
| <soulpeek [name]> - The Doctor will look into the soul of |
| anyone you wish, to see the names of any |
| pure souls they have killed to receive |
| a taint. (cannot be performed on a soul |
| that is pure.) |
| |
| Cost: 100 platinum coins |
| |
| <soulpeek death> - The Doctor will commune with Death |
| himself to bring up a list of the |
| twenty most recent kills of pure souls. |
| |
| Cost: 200 platinum coins |
`--------------------------------------------------------------'
> soulpeek myself
The Voodoo Doctor says: Let's do some peekin' at ya, mon!
Your mind blurs, and you feel the following knowledge pouring into
you:
March 5, 2010 - Kendra, Ranx, and Mumon
January 25, 2010 - Kitriana
These are the souls that have been tainted by slaying you while your
soul was pure.
> soulpeek rhynox
The Voodoo Doctor says: Let's do some peekin' at de dwarf, mon!
Your mind blurs, and you feel the following knowledge pouring into
you:
February 13 - Bromen
February 25 - Bofur
These pure souls were the deaths that have contributed to the taint of
Rhynox own soul when he killed them.
> soulpeek death
The Voodoo Doctor says: So, you want de Doctor to go peekin' at Old
Daddy Death, mon? Dis de bad Voodoo, mon! You gotta pay de big ticket
for dis one!
Your mind blurs, and you feel the following knowledge pouring into
you:
March 2 - Knuffel was slain by Wyork, Denbarra, and Vygiz
March 1 - Kitriana was slain by Logg
February 20 - Kithkanan was slain by Monika and Derek
.. etc ..
WHAT DOES THIS ALL ACCOMPLISH?
1. Players are held accountable by the design of the game.
2. Players are given tools to police their own borders.
3. Players are given an added incentive to hunt down those who
have earned a tainted soul - to harvest their tainted
soulstones.
4. Tainted soulstones become an exciting new commodity to be
eagerly sought and traded at the auction house, and elsewhere.
G.
