I'm assuming it will be possible to take control of npcs with the enchanter and/or bard. Will their be an exploit prevention system or will it be on an honor/ban system? The reason I'm asking is because while I'm not proud of this by any means, I was just a dumb kid at the time. So back in the day my friends and I would take control of mobs in largely populated areas, buff the bejesus out of them, outfit them with a wurmslayer and then set them free near groups of players. If someone high level managed to get it low on hp(which was not an easy task) we would just recharm and heal it and set it free again or come back with a large army of crazy powerful low lvl mobs.
At the time we thought it was hilarious, but then we all a 1 month ban with no warning because we did this multiple times, essentially ruining people's fun for our own entertainment. This is somthing I would never do again, but just curious about if this is possible and if so how will it be handled or is this something that will be prevented.
I'm sure this is something that isn't really thought of, especially since the community in these type of games are generally good, helpful players.
Also, how will scammers be dealt with? Generally we rely on other people to transfer items or trust people with our equipment. How will thievery be handled? To me, it is a very serious offense that often goes unpunished. These are the worst type of people, especially when it ends up being a guild leader/officer with access to a guild bank that robs the guild blind. I know some games don't care, but other games do care.
So far they have mostly talked about a largely hands off approach. Nothing has been set in stone for griefing as there is no game to police any time soon.
Banning griefers for a month I would say is fair, but most current MMOs ban people for like 2 hours and ignore their horrible actions they go right back into. I doubt a month long ban will be seen ever these days.
I think Exarch's "confession" was quite funny. Perhaps you will disagree, but I think that kind of action should be possible but not encouraged --> possibly punished if abused (as it happened to Exarch!).
Keeping the technical possibility of doing bad things with charm and/or buffs on mobs (remember See Invisible on Permafrost entrance ice giants ?) adds some flavor and flexibility to the game. It has the potential of creating memories and stories you tell your friends. However, punishing the abuse makes sure it doesn't become a turn off for the "victims" and a game breaking mechanism.
To be honnest, that is the kind of balance I'd like to see ingame.
It should probably be mentioned that the pet system was still being worked on last time it was mentioned. It is possible that the system its self would include "fail-safes" to prevent exploits or abusive behavior.
I will say that your confession had me laughing though, I'm glad that most games have tried to phase this behavior out because it does suck especially in a game that has death penalties, but it's one of those memory-making experiences that players on both sides never forget.
I suppose the easy solution would be to make buffs drop off on charm break, but that would present a whole nother world of problems that is very unfavorable to classes that can charm npcs. I feel like it is more/less a necessary evil for it to be possible for an npc to wreck your own group if charm breaks at the wrong time, which is kind of why I was thinking about a punishment for it.
Watching a low level orc drop 50+ people in the common lands tunnel was funny, but completely wrong on multiple levels. I guess that they will have to decide if/when that time comes, since I'm assuming mobs just don't run back to their starting point(I think I heard the devs say(I'm paraphrasing here) eq1 style trains will be possible. Like with me and my friends we were not expecting an outright ban, but we know we deserved it and it was what it was. We thought it was a bit harsh, but none of us quit the game because of it and we all learned our lesson.
Whilst I wouldn't want mechanics to be overly restrictive to avoid things like that, I also think relying on 'community policing' is horribly naive and can easily ruin a game for much of it's possible audience.
VR need to spend some time getting their many hours of MMORPG experience down on paper to provide a Play Nice Policy or at least a guidance document so people know the kind of things that are ok and are not ok. So that they at least can know what the issues are.
Most people want to be 'good' and will be good. Some people won't realise they are being 'bad', but when pointed at the PNP will knuckle under. When there are disagreements, at least people will have a good idea of what is acceptible and what is not, so will know whether or not they should get Customer Services involved (resulting in *less* CS calls). If people get banned, they will at least have a better idea of why and that they should have known better and so you will have less disgruntled players.
The guidance wouldn't have to be a draconian or complex 'law' type thing. Just enough to make people aware. VR will still need CS reps and GMs in game, but not as many as if they just let it go "Wild West" style...
disposalist said:Whilst I wouldn't want mechanics to be overly restrictive to avoid things like that, I also think relying on 'community policing' is horribly naive and can easily ruin a game for much of it's possible audience.
VR need to spend some time getting their many hours of MMORPG experience down on paper to provide a Play Nice Policy or at least a guidance document so people know the kind of things that are ok and are not ok. So that they at least can know what the issues are.
^This.
Community policing can only go so far if the only tool for policing is glaring at the bad guy (and maybe reporting them). I agree that there should be a PNP, and there should be enough GMs to enforce it if neccessary.