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On the subject of factions and reputation as it regards to.. well everything. (incredibly long post)

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Apr 25, 2005 The Noid link
I just got back from the pub and had a good idea (I should be pondering my PhD thesis, but what the hell ;))

There are 2 types of faction-system abuse possible at the moment. One is solved by the system I suggested above and one can be solved by that system by adding a game mechanic that would add a whole new level of PvP play alltogether.

The first is players that bot up to high enemy standing, then do something 'bad' in enemy teritory to lost that standing, and then bot their standing up again. They get high serco, kill a serco transport in serco teritory, and run. That problem is solved, because after doing that 2 times, they have so much bad serco point, getting their standing back up again would be to much trouble. (Bad standing points are remebered after all, and after doing something bad to serco, they won't trust you that easy anymore)

The second is players that bot up to high enemy standing, then do something bad in gray space and then escape into enemy space. Like an Itani, killing a serco transport in gray space and then escaping into serco space. Serco players can't just kill that Itani player there, because he has high serco standing!
To solve that, we could introduce a witness system. If any player witnesses someone doing something evil to a significant Serco object (like killing a ctc transport) they become a witness of that act. Both the "witness" as the "criminal" get notified of the fact that they where either witnessing the crime, or that their crime was witnessed. If the witness makes it to a (in this case Serco) station, the criminal gets a big standing decrease, and the witness a standing increase (in serco standing in this example). If the witness (for some reason, like being killed by the criminal) doesn't make it to a serco station... then nothing happens.
This would add the very cool aspect that it's not just a matter of comitting a "crime"... but you also have to "take care of" the witnesses. And if the "criminal" doesn't take care of the witnesses, he gets bad standing points, and bad staning points are not forgotten!

Offcourse not everything should be made "a significant object"
The current capships that travel to B8 should not cause standing losses in any way. After all, they are there just for fun and testing. But things like CtC transports are important. And if someone witnesses a CtC transport being destroyed by player X, they should be able to get something for "ratting out" that player!.

This would potentially introduce a whole new blackmail system, with people having information on other people and demanding money for it (well, you can thing of the possibilities yourself)

The important thing is that bad actions are not forgotten. Currently, it doesn't matter how many genocides you commit, a bit of botting and a bit of trading later and yer back to a PoS again and that is just plain wrong.

[edit: beer induced typo]
Apr 25, 2005 terjekv link
great idea, I would however suggest a timelimit for the crime to expire. like 20 minutes or so, and an option for the witness to willfully remove the witness "mission" the person has, without any loss.
Apr 25, 2005 Lord Q link
i think the time limit should be longer, at least a day. 20 minuts isn't enough time to properly blackmale somone. Plus with a longer time limit there is more risk of the witness actualy deciding to complete the witness mission.
Apr 25, 2005 Spellcast link
How would it be exploitable shape?

If I have +1000 corvus rep (its a nice round number), and I get killed, I loose 5% (50 reputation points)

Whomever killed me gets half of that (25 reputation points).

Noid, the witness system would really need about a 1 hour minimum time limit.
Apr 25, 2005 Shapenaji link
AH! they get 2.5% not 50%... haha ok
Apr 26, 2005 The Noid link
Yes, I think a timelimit of a few hours to a day would be a good idea.

The witness could automaticaly get a data-disk with the evidence added to his cargo hold (cargo size 0 so it allways fits) with as title a short discription of the event (EVIDENCE: $CRIMINAL destroyed transport $VICTEM at $TIME)
When docking, the witness should get to option to either present the evidence, destroy the evidence, or keep it (for blackmail purposes)

If the "criminal" goes with the blackmail, after receiving the money the witness can then jettison the data disk, so the criminal can destroy it (and be sure it's gone)

Offcourse the witness could also sell it to the highest bidder.
Apr 26, 2005 Beolach link
Heh, and Corvus should sell forged evidence datapads.
Jul 28, 2005 Spellcast link
bumped due to a discussion on channel 100 in-game today.