Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
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No automated regulation.
Anyone can attack anyone, and administrators or
social mechanisms (vigilante justice) deal with rogue players. Koster estimates that
as much as 40 percent of the potential audience will avoid this type of game
because they don't like PvP.
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Flagging of criminals.
Player killing is considered a criminal act within the
game's rules: not prevented by the system, but wrong. The server automatically
detects criminal behavior and flags the criminals, who become fair game for others
to attack. The system can also reduce the attributes of criminals, in effect penaliz-
ing them for their behavior. This can be used for thievery and other crimes as well
as murder, matching the reduction to the severity of the crime. Single-player RPGs
use a version of this system too: players may behave in good or bad ways, but those
who behave badly frequently suffer penalties—NPCs will not talk to them or trade
with them, for example.
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Reputation systems.
This is similar to flagging, except that players decide when
to report someone for criminal behavior and can choose not to do so. In practice,
they almost always do, however.
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PvP switch.
Players indicate their willingness to fight other players by setting a
switch (a binary attribute) in their profile, becoming either a PvP player, who can
attack and be attacked, or a non-PvP player, who cannot attack or be attacked by
others. You can use this switch to give temporary consent for duels and arena-
based combat. Unfortunately, this mechanism creates suspension-of-disbelief
problems when players use area-effect weapons such as a magic fireball spell: Three
PvP players get roasted by a fireball that leaves a non-PvP player in the same vicin-
ity untouched because he cannot be attacked.
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Safe games; no PvP allowed.
This is the least troublesome solution, but even
this approach has its hazards. Players will still find ways of abusing one another—
for example, by luring an unsuspecting newcomer into an area where he will be
attacked by a monster. Koster estimates that this approach will cost you up to 20
percent of your potential audience, that 20 percent being those players who like PvP.
You can also divide the world into safe and dangerous geographic zones, but in
practice people tend to either stay in the safe zones or play near the edges, hoping
to lure a potential victim over the line without his realizing it.
FACT ION-BASED PVP
A number of persistent worlds allow players to belong to factions. These can be as
small as gangs or as large as entire nations at war. The rules enable players to attack
members of enemy factions but not members of their own faction—in effect, it's
team play. Different factions control different regions, so players can generally tell
safe areas from unsafe areas. For the most part, this arrangement solves the random
violence problem that initially plagued
Ultima Online
.
