Regarding the bounty system

[Hades]

I'm not sure I like EVE's system either, but it's a lot better than Ripper's idea... so there's that.

 

I'd still prefer they had a standard bounty system with severe restrictions preventing people from bounty hunting their friends.

[Lord_Void]

Personally, I think bounty systems are doomed to either be easy to exploit or be overly convoluted. 

 

I'm in fan of telling someone to go kill someone and bring me proof. Cash on delivery.

[Hades]

Personally, I think bounty systems are doomed to either be easy to exploit or be overly convoluted. 

 

I'm in fan of telling someone to go kill someone and bring me proof. Cash on delivery.

 

I don't think anyone is disillusioned towards the contrary belief.  Bounty systems are insanely complex, or easy to take advantage of.

 

If we were to take your preferred system literally there's no guarantee of payment for the bounty hunter.  You could just say the proof isn't good enough, sorry bucko.  Granted that would garner ill will and people wouldn't trust you.  Also, what is proof?  An in-game item of some kind?  A screenshot?

 

I believe there has to be a binding contract between buyer and bounty hunter.  Sure, a bounty hunter may lose the contract if someone else gets to it first... but it's a guarantee of business.

 

However, on a more intrinsic level... I agree with you.  Buyer should place a contract, bounty hunter fulfills... bounty hunter gets paid.  That's the end of it.

[Anaximander]

Thing is, the ONLY real punishment that can guarantee bounties are not done in a friendly circle, is skillpoints loss.

But god forbid we do that and make Bounty Hunters a legit profession.

[Hades]

Thing is, the ONLY real punishment that can guarantee bounties are not done in a friendly circle, is skillpoints loss.

 

But god forbid we do that and make Bounty Hunters a legit profession.

 

I disagree.  But at this point I'd just be singing the same song I have for most of the thread ;P

[Morand]

I think all of you missed a very important question: What will motivate people to use a bounty system?

 

IRL, bounties had purpose. When it was fulfill, you was sure that the hunted man will never hurt you again (because dead or prison).
But in DU, if someone bother you, maybe you can engage someone to kill him. But this man will respawn and come back. So, why should you pay for that?

 

To solve this dilema, we could imagine a system of "Player Signature". A Player Signature would be an object that you obtain when you defeat someone. This object is linked to the person you killed and can be used in an element "FindAName". When someone put a Player Signature in the FindAName element of his construct, it gives him an advantage on this player (deal more damage, lock faster, receive half damage... infinite ideas possible).

 

A Player Signature can be sold to the market. It would make the market alive. And the bounty system would just be to put a buy order on the market.
If a construct containing Player Signatures is destroyed, you have a chance to loot some of them. (not all of them or we will see infinite Player Signatures one day)

 

This system could be a central point of the game. PVP players would have a good reason to fight and non PVP players to buy it.
Organizations would have to take that in consideration to plan battles. Some groups could plan to destroy a target to free their Player Signatures, or pay someone to do it.

 

BTW: Prisons in DU is just a bad idea and will never happen, because you cannot prevent a player to play on a paid game, except for use bug or...

Or, you have to find something else they can do waiting in prison.

[Lethys]

1 hour ago, Elildar said:

I think all of you missed a very important question: What will motivate people to use a bounty system?

 

IRL, bounties had purpose. When it was fulfill, you was sure that the hunted man will never hurt you again (because dead or prison).
But in DU, if someone bother you, maybe you can engage someone to kill him. But this man will respawn and come back. So, why should you pay for that?

 

To solve this dilema, we could imagine a system of "Player Signature". A Player Signature would be an object that you obtain when you defeat someone. This object is linked to the person you killed and can be used in an element "FindAName". When someone put a Player Signature in the FindAName element of his construct, it gives him an advantage on this player (deal more damage, lock faster, receive half damage... infinite ideas possible).

 

A Player Signature can be sold to the market. It would make the market alive. And the bounty system would just be to put a buy order on the market.
If a construct containing Player Signatures is destroyed, you have a chance to loot some of them. (not all of them or we will see infinite Player Signatures one day)

 

This system could be a central point of the game. PVP players would have a good reason to fight and non PVP players to buy it.
Organizations would have to take that in consideration to plan battles. Some groups could plan to destroy a target to free their Player Signatures, or pay someone to do it.

 

BTW: Prisons in DU is just a bad idea and will never happen, because you cannot prevent a player to play on a paid game, except for use bug or...

Or, you have to find something else they can do waiting in prison.

 

This is basically the eve system (tags which allow you to hunt ppl) and it doesn't solve the problem of bounty hunting at all (giving ppl an incentive to hunt, make the bad guys suffer for it but not to an unfair degree, don't render BH useless as in other games (eve), don't make it prone to cheating (old system of eve) and make it a rewarding,immersive and good addition to the game)

[Zamarus]

1 hour ago, Elildar said:

I think all of you missed a very important question: What will motivate people to use a bounty system?

 

IRL, bounties had purpose. When it was fulfill, you was sure that the hunted man will never hurt you again (because dead or prison).
But in DU, if someone bother you, maybe you can engage someone to kill him. But this man will respawn and come back. So, why should you pay for that?

 

 

Honestly, i wouldn't put it that black and white. There may be respawns but remember how the ress nodes are supposedly gonna work and the fact that you lose the majority of your inventory on death. Putting a bounty could be a strategic means to cripple your opponents, making them lose valuable time and resources as well as forcing them to shift focus to their surroundings and go on the defensive for the time being. And if your bounty is anonymous then its gonna have real potential since your enemies couldn't be sure you were behind it or not. You could even use it to hurt neutral parties that you think are in the way for your own progress but you don't want to declare war upon because of their allies or your image and whatnot.

 

Its not just as simple as Permadeath = Worth, Respawn = Not Worth The Money

[The_War_Doctor]

1 hour ago, Zamarus said:

 

Honestly, i wouldn't put it that black and white. There may be respawns but remember how the ress nodes are supposedly gonna work and the fact that you lose the majority of your inventory on death. Putting a bounty could be a strategic means to cripple your opponents, making them lose valuable time and resources as well as forcing them to shift focus to their surroundings and go on the defensive for the time being. And if your bounty is anonymous then its gonna have real potential since your enemies couldn't be sure you were behind it or not. You could even use it to hurt neutral parties that you think are in the way for your own progress but you don't want to declare war upon because of their allies or your image and whatnot.

 

Its not just as simple as Permadeath = Worth, Respawn = Not Worth The Money

This, also if someone is away from their home system harassing you or your group then killing them will send them out of your system. it will at least take them time to get back and they will have lost a ship

[Lord_Void]

Death in a game is not about death, it's about resources. If I can destroy you ship and ability to fight, I have won regardless of whether your character has died or not. In this way, bounty hunting is going to be more about destroying resources rather than just killing someone. 

 

Or just laying the pain in people because you don't like them and have the money for a bounty 

[The_War_Doctor]

honestly the  bounty system can be used to make some ones life miserable in game. with enough money you could just keep putting on bounties till the person just learns to stay away. death isn't permanent. but to keep dying is a pain

[AlexCout]

Just now, The_War_Doctor said:

honestly the  bounty system can be used to make some ones life miserable in game. with enough money you could just keep putting on bounties till the person just learns to stay away. death isn't permanent. but to keep dying is a pain

well If someone need you to stay away, and they are ready to pay a lot for it, you might already be well known and you should have a big alliance to cover you up, you could declare war/ bring a fleet and destroy these guys... again it's a sandbox, there isn't one and only senario for bounty nor for any other aspect of the game... not allowing bounty hunting just for one way it could be abused to make one player's life hard isn't a good descision...

[The_War_Doctor]

Just now, Celivalg said:

well If someone need you to stay away, and they are ready to pay a lot for it, you might already be well known and you should have a big alliance to cover you up, you could declare war/ bring a fleet and destroy these guys... again it's a sandbox, there isn't one and only senario for bounty nor for any other aspect of the game... not allowing bounty hunting just for one way it could be abused to make one player's life hard isn't a good descision...

oh I wasn't saying don't put the system in. iv played games in the past where a troll was griefed off the server. It is a legitimate tactic. And I don't think there will be a correlation between Bounty price, fame, and org size. You could be a well known troll but not be in a big org, or you may just be a thorn in the side of one person who dislikes you enough to spend a small fortune.

[Kurock]

A bounty system is coming. Maybe not right now but eventually. The trick is to ensure that it feels like bounty hunting, it cannot be used as a tool for griefing, and cannot be abused.

 

A suggestion can still be found here.

 

Enjoy.

[Mazillus]

Quote

Thing is, DU can go one step beyond, with people putting Kill Contracts on Constructs, i.e. hiring a group of players to demolish a building.

 

I like Twerks idea of kill contract for constructs/ships.

 

Seems a far better option than a kill contract for an avatar that is just going to respawn anyway.