Dario wrote:
@Gerrik, I'm not sure what that has to do with my post. Someone was suggesting that incarceration would somehow be acceptible if people could instead choose to fight to the death. I am asking in what situation people would voluntarily choose to give up their ability to play the game rather than take the death penalty. If there is no such case, or it's sufficiently rare, then there is no gain to creating a game mechanic for it. If people just want it for RP, there doesn't need to be a mechanic.
perhaps it was the wording that made me think you were trying to convey something else; however, in regards to the current argument, I don't believe it would be up to the antagonist of a bounty to die or be taken prisoner.. it would be up to the protagonist or in this case the bounty hunter as to whether or not the situation would allow for him to take the victom alive..
Being wrote:
Yet if the rationale is that they would prefer to be captured than killed, do they need a mechanic to force them into captivity rather than simply volunteering to RP that way?
Granted, it could be as much griefing to imprison someone as to murder them, but isn't that a reason to forbid such a mechanic rather than build it?
@ Being: I believe you may have some concepts confused.. according to wikipedia the definition of a "Griefer" is as follows:
A griefer is a player in a multiplayer video game who deliberately irritates and harasses other players within the game, using aspects of the game in unintended ways.[1] A griefer derives pleasure primarily or exclusively from the act of annoying other users, and as such is a particular nuisance in online gaming communities, since griefers often cannot be deterred by penalties related to in-game goals.
what we are talking about here with the implementation of an imprisonment feature is not considered a griefing mechanic for several reasons:
1) It provides an in game mechanic for dealing with characters that operate outside of the law (outlaws, Bandits, highwaymen, etc...) In truth, this is a very realistic concept BECAUSE it works in our own societies today... although it has it's flaws.. incarceration is a valid deterant for almost any crime.. which brings me to why I think this is a good idea in the first place.. Is character death a large enough in game penalty for dealing with criminal PCs? Really that is what this post boils down to.
2) Adding this kind of a mechanic to this game also adds a great dynamic to the political structure of the game and allows for crimes to be scaled appropriately.. is it really realistic to have the in game penalty for every crime be death????!! seriously "I only stole a candy bar and youre gonna kill me?!!" ... "yep"... how the hell is that fair play?
3) Incarceration as it is proposed is not going to be a "time-out" it would be a dynamic all it's own with its own social structures and mechanics to keep "prisoners" occupied and enticed. like the OP mentioned before, perhaps some people will HAVE to get into a prison in order to complete some sort of contract.. get information from a particular person and then break them out.
All I am trying to say is that the proposed idea may not be perfect but it has elements and dynamics that could be applied very well to this type of setting. And it isnt your duty as a crowdforger to shoot down ideas like this specifically because you dont like them or because you dont thing they will work but instead work with the idea, consider it seriously.. and make a descision that isnt based on personal opinion but rather on reasoning. Leave GW to decide whether its a good idea or not but let's try and polish this idea so it can get to that point.
