Crushing Kills

[Deathseer]

My question is this. . .

Let's say you down an enemy Mech and the pilot ejects, lands, and begins running away.  Will those evil people, truly evil mind you, out there (like me) be able to crush them beneath their 100 Ton Mech? Just take their foot and go STOMP, (obviously rendering the corpse un-salvageable) Just food for thought.

[Hamilton]

Yes that will be possible; however, killing non-threatening personnel or non-combatants is considered murder.  This results in a negative mark towards Karma (see Karma System thread) and likelihood of a bounty. 

Examples:
- Killing a pilot with a shot that penetrates into the cockpit.  That is considered as an acceptable form of killing.
- Killing a pilot who has ejected and is not in combat-mode or is running away would be considered as murder.
- Killing a pilot who has ejected and is moving towards you and/or equipped with a demo-charge, then that is acceptable.
- Killing a pilot who surrendered or captured (which both provides a ransom) would be considered as murder.

Will there be some gray-lines, yes.  And we'll go through them as those situations come along.

What should happen is when a pilot ejects and is within the vicinity of an enemy forces, there may be an automatic capture.  If not, the pilot can try to escape unless captured by pursuing enemy forces.  Upon capture, the capturing player is given a choice to accept the ransom, to let go or to kill.  If looking for profit, the ransom is the way to go.  If wanting to be an e-vil villain, then killing is option to take.  Just that e-vil villains will not live for long (having that Bad Karma Score).

[Deathseer]

Ok, so how long would this Karma last? Would it be passed on to the clones? The children? The great great great grandchildren? I think that after every generation you should lose a portion of the Karma, say for example 5.  Everyone is always wary of "that evil guy's son" but not to the same extent as "that evil guy".  This also gives people the option of having a change of heart.  Look at Luke, he turned out nothing like his father. . .

[Hamilton]

The Karma is not permanent, it does fluctuate based on the actions (or enabled actions that is) of the player.  So it is possible for a player to go about griefing others and then work it off, to go back griefing once again.

Maybe a permanent mark should be applied for such behavior and then removed over time.  Depends on how many players are abusing the system, game and others.


An example I can think of is from the TV series Firefly where the main characters have two tied up prisoners.  The lead character (Mal) tells the main man of the Boss to take the money back to Boss and then be on their own ways.  But the thug says he'll hunt them down and kill them all.  This is one of those ethical situations of where "do you want to sink down to their level or take the high road?"  Well Mal says, "Ok" and kicks the thug, who then gets sucked into a running turbine engine.  He them says the same thing to the other prisoner, who says, "Ok, no problem."

So in this case, Mal would take a Karma hit for murdering a prisoner (even though the thug said he would come back and kill them, but hey, we will not be monitoring people's chat or messages, so the system won't know).  But considering Mal is a good character (for the most part), the Karma hit will be worked off.

[Deathseer]

Ok, thanks. Wonderful example, that was my favorite part of the entire series... except maybe for Jayne's hat.

[Agamemnon]

I love that hat!!!!   

[Thraxius]

I always hated karma systems.  They get abused so much. 

Abusive behavior Index:
1.  I will abuse people until I get everything I need.  Then work off the karma or hide until it goes away and now nobody can bother me.

2.  I will have one character that I can use to abuse people and cause them untold trouble.  Then I will pass all the goods off to my good character that nobody knows.

I do play in those karma systems but I actually dislike the way people hide behind the system.

[Kellzz]

I will have one character that I can use to abuse people and cause them untold trouble.  Then I will pass all the goods off to my good character that nobody knows.

And good character turns bad for aiding and abetting/providing comfort/harboring/accessory after the fact/conspiracy/criminal intent/etc.

[Hamilton]

I always hated karma systems.  They get abused so much. 

I do agree of the abuse.  Even with good rules in place there is always a means to skew them.  For example, someone who has time or bots on his/her hands can quickly spend the time or effort to work off the bad karma as oppose to someone who does not have the time or effort to do so.

That is something which would have to be monitored (game mastered).

[dude1744]

 

Examples:
- Killing a pilot with a shot that penetrates into the cockpit.  That is considered as an acceptable form of killing.

OHhh GAWDS Nooo!!! For any of you who play ARMA, you know how annoying this is. Bullets are magnitized to cockpits. No matter how small the window or how heavy the armor, a bullet will always find it's way into your cockpit.