social status/non combat related activities

I am trying to come up with a player social rating system that would encorporate peoples hostility, but possibly there could be a way to also add a player trading feedback system that ties in with this.

For example give each player a “alignment score” of 0 to 1000 which would start at 500.0 being neutral. This score would be displayed on your character screen but not be viewable by anyone else. This score would be used to measure a players alignment by the server, as well as for the creation of a a few lists that players would be able to view in NPC towns.

Each time a player completes a trade outside of faction, either for goods or money the players would be able to offer the option of clicking the +ve feedback box during the trade. This would affect the players alignment score by +1 or by +0.5 for each trade, and only once per player per day. This would minimise the option of abuse, as you could only use +ve feedback button once per day AND for players not in faction, possibly this could be extended to allied players too.

Over time traders would be gaining score to their alignment with the obvious cap of 1000.0+ alignment. This woudld take 1000 voted from other players to achieve at a rate of 0.5 per trade, so setting the level could be the hardest part. Players would also be able to not score OR offer a -ve score if they feel the price was unreasonable or the player was not polite during negotiations, with similar rules for positive feedback.

Now for PK activity I would like to tie in a similar system but with a stricter penalty for each PK, as obviously any gained materials could be used in trade to negate the -ve penalty for a PK. If each trade offers the possibility of gaining reputation, the negative score would be more likely to be -10 points for each PK, or possible even greater so before too long the player would be approaching 0 on the alignment scale.

This system means that players have a way to recoup negative score by possibly starting to craft and earn back reputation, but if the score got too low NPC’s would refuse to interact. Perhaps once below 250 in reputation the NPC’s would charge more for basic goods and the crown market would charge slightly higher rates. If a players alignment drops below 100 NPC’s would not speak and guards become attack on sight.

Attacking NPC’s or guards would also offer a -ve score to alignment possibly as high as -50 to make it a real issue for player, not including any faction penalties already in game.

By having this system players can then be rated server wide for their “reputation or alignment” which is obviously valuable for a trader and for bragging rights for a PK. To make this visable to others without actually showing a score I would recommend the player portrait that has a border on a colour scheme.

Players would start with an alignment of yellow/orange and could work towards whichever end they choose or ballance it at that level by their activities, or choose to ignore it altogether if they wish. If a player is always trading they can be forgiven the odd PK, perhaps in defence or just out of fun as their positive feedback will allow them some margin to play with. A very heavy trader would soon reach a GREEN status from good feedback, whereas a PK would rapidly achieve a RED status due to lots of negative score from killing innocents. Add to that the possibilty of 2 unique portrait colours of GOLD and BLACK. GOLD would mean achieved 1000.0 in positive alignment and NEVER having any negative feedback or losing any score for any reason. The BLACK colour is reserved for PK’s that have 0.0 alignment score and have NEVER gained any +ve feedback through sales.

Obviously this gives all players an option to view by targeting, and without any other method, how likely they are to be attacked, or to get a good trade. This means if you see someone approaching you in the wilds you can see by their portrait if you need to run for the hills. It offers crafters and gatherers a little idea of whether they are about to be attacked if they see the opposition coming.

On top of these systems for measuring there “could” be noticeboards in NPC towns, or even guidl halls that display a number of specific information for players to search, or aspire to achieve:-

Crafting/Trading Boards – Would be able to search the boards for a list of the top 10 alignment rated crafters of each proffesion, and also their faction. Possible even add to this system a method of placing purchase orders. This means that most “MASTER CRAFTERS” will be have to worry about getting and maintaining a “gold” rating. You could even add a “total number of sales” value to this, so that players can also see who is the most active, and maybe look for someone ranked lower to get a better price. Competition is good in crafting, and I see adding this to the alignment system as a valuable way to let crafters compete.

The WANTED list – Would display a list of the LOWEST alignment players, the highest ranking players would all be alignment 0 very quickly so as a further method of ranking there would be a weekly kill score recorded. Kills would only account for unique kills outside of factional wars. This would deter PK’s from hunting the same player over and over to gain points as after teh first kill in a week it would not count. It would also allow anyone access to who is a PK and how deadly they are, and for the PK community a way of ranking ability and a position of aspiration to be the BEST, which is what all pvp players realy want to know.

I have also toyed with a few other systems and ideas relating to alignment such as PVE content but I am not sure if it should be included, things like killing world bosses, and completing PVE quest chains.

I see this sort of “Lifetime” system far better than a temporary flagging system. It makes players accountable for their actions, as well as offing factions some idea of players before recruiting them. Some factions may decide to have an open alignment policy, and others may be more strict such as mercenaries demanding a neutral to 0 rating or PK hunters demanding 1000.0 rating before joining.

This is all about finding a system that is valuable, flexible (ie you can alter it by your actions) and measures the LIFE of a character, Obviously the boards in towns would alter weekly or monthly but a player alignment would measure the lifetime record.

I also considered a score system that was endless with the starting point of 0 and allowing players to work into the + or – direction as they please with no limits, I went away from this system as people would actively start to compete to see how far they would push in one direction. This would be fine if the game was not an MMORPG but some players may start out completely combat orientated and a year down the line train to be a crafter. Only recent activity relating to skill build is relevant so felt this system may be more accurate.

I have also mentioned some form of insurance system in other threads, and feel that this can be tied in with the above systems without directly impacting on it, but implimentation of insurance is a little more complex due to fluctuating resource prices.

VERY IMPORTANT, THIS IS A THEORY AND IS NOT A FACT> I am working on this as a minor project during the downtime phase with the hopes that the dev team pay it some attention. Many players are concerned regarding full loot pvp rules and I am trying to use these systems as a method to soften the hardcore appearance of this rulseset. I would like all players to have the ability to make a “judgement” of others if they can see them and target them, allowing them to make a decision to attack or run. The alignment idea has been expanded from that original concept.

Just some additional things I have considered regarding alignment shifts and possible content for players, please remember this is all theory and just me “thinking out loud” for the sake of possibly getting some feedback or further suggestions.

PVE quests offer some form of alignment shift in addition to NPC faction reputation.

Being added to a players ignore list would add a negative alignment shift. (out of faction and alliance)

Being added to a players friends list would add positive alignment shift. (out of faction and alliance)

World boss mobs would have a positive alignment shift for all players in group.

Donations of goods to the crown, quests for reputation and alignment shift.(planks bricks mortar and cloth)

Selling a boat to a non faction/alliance member gives positive alignment shift. Also possibly a way for players to offer +ve feedback for ferry services.

Faction leader set objectives for any player to complete, costing factional gold to set and chosen from a preset list, the faction receives the produce. Lumber Production, Leather Production, Plank Production, Brick Production, House Building, Ship Builing. These would cost MORE THAN HE PURCHASE VALUE OF THE GOODS to set up and would be completed and rewarded by depositting goods in a designated faction building.

Thief type activities (pickpocket, lockpicking, stealth attack on player) would offer additional negative alignment shift, and doubled when in any town location with laws in place. (subject to these systems being in game)

Possibly add looting of a corpse a further negative alignment shift above and beyond a PK shift.

Lots of these ideas are subject to mechanics in game being available such as pick pocket or selling a boat but these could always be added through patching post launch. Personally I would encourage the dev’s to consider GM run events or serverwide activties that could also be rewarded for participation for player, things such as a charity week, or a local plague or a city under seige from npc mobs. While these type of events are time consuming to organise, and would have to be staggered over time for avrying timezones this sort of activity can spark long term player run content.

It is my opinion that an alignment system can offer a new kind of end-game beyond the factional pvp which will be one form of content. If the scoring system is broad enough there could be plenty of scope for players to find plenty to do beyond achieving the skill cap. This could allow the devs to make the skill cap releatively simple to achieve and yet make alignments a VERY slow and long “grind” if players want to follow it as a path. This could offer many months of content if the alignment score was perhaps based on a 1000 point swing either side of 0. Also add in a decimalised system, so that players can earn in 0.1 intervals. With this system being completely voluntary in terms of participation there is no requirement for players to actively participate. The more depth that is added however the more complex it becomes to offer visual indictors via portrait colouration. I would rather keep any visualised scale as simple as possible.

I appreciate some people like rewards for achieving things, and there is potential scope for things such as tabbards or capes based on alignment, personally I dont approve of this sort of reward as it implies people should be working towards them. However I am not the majority, and at the end of the day it would not do any harm if they were items with no associated stats. This sort of thing can also be added at a later date through patching if it was a unique item such as a badge, tabbard or even a deed for a standard to be placed inside a home.

• This reply was modified 124 days ago by  GMPathy.