Very nice thread.
Just my 2 cents.
I'm not a great fan of PvP (yet). But i can see it's potential to a game and PlaneShift in particular.
Reading all the posts, i would like to add/confirm the following.
Volki:
so I propose this: allow stealing from other players, but only conditionally, and if the victim chooses. Assume that a player has been beaten or has yielded. The attacker can either kill the victim, let them go, or steal. The victim has a choice to offer something for their life. You'd need a longer wait period between losing and release, but I think this should only apply to PVP zones and be five minutes maximum.
PvP as stated by others as well, should have a reward. Looting the tria might be the easiest and best way. Of course, as others also noted. A player should be informed entering a PvP area. Indeed a dead body should take longer to enter the Death Realm, so it can be looted. This extra time, might also come handy for another change i have in my head, but is not related to this thread. We can put our tria in the bank, so that can protect our rich merchants from dropping all their hard worked tria.
PvP could create RP as well, if played right. Like every action in PS can create RP if played right. So saying PvP-ers don't RP isn't a reason to stop PvP in PS. And many of us agree we need more dark/evil playing characters for RP?
PvP could very well, be a excellent way to create this.
Another way to create reward in PvP, is the following.
Create a 'guildhouse-alike' thing in the wilderniss. Maybe a tower or something. Make the area around the 'house' a PvP area. Guilds can own the house by controlling the area for a certain time. They can keep it for themselves or share it within their alliance. (And so making the alliance your in more important). It's not a reward like a mine, that declines other players to it's use, but it does give your guild a little extra / some fame. Of course the idea need to be worked out, since a guild doesn't have 24/7 online presence to keep the 'house'. Maybe some NPC's that fight along the owner that need to be killed as well. (I wish players could hire NPC's in the future for certain tasks like guarding)
One question as newbie to dual/pvp: Do you get experience points for killing other players?