The \"abuse\" to which I was refering was those inevitable cases where someone PKs someone, and then changes their flag to avoid retaliation. If they had to go to a particular place, and perhaps pay a fee when they got there, that would all but eliminate it.
There is a certain roleplay logic to going to the temple to change certain character attributes. It could just as easily be a player-killer\'s hall, or some random stretch of empty desert, but the temple makes sense on many philosophical levels.
Yes, all this would be possible with a different system. Just sitting here and giving it some tiny amount of thought I can devise many, many different possible ways to implement and regulate player killing. Each one has different effects on the gameplay mechanics and roleplay atmosphere. My purpose here is to discuss the different aspects and see if there is a hybrid system that would be acceptable to people.
Now, unless I\'m misinterpreting what I\'m reading, many of the people who are putting forth ideas are suggesting some variation of a system where it is possible to commit crimes, but relatively difficult to get away with them without some hideous punishment. That could definitely work.
The other possibility I\'m seeing bouncing around is that we somehow differentiate between PKers and nonPKers. There are three basic methods for doing this. Separate servers, more PK areas on the maps so players can fight, or some kind of option for whether people are PKers or not. Any of these three could definitely work. Separate servers would require another server and would prevent any interaction between the groups. In my opinion, that is inferior to the other two which allow the two groups to talk and trade back and forth, but that could be argued either way.
Overall I would be more in favour of the crime and punishment idea, just because I like that kind of game more, and if it\'s done right, it would be acceptable to both PKers and nonPKers. However, having done some AI programming myself, I am well aware that doing it right will take a lot of time and a fairly sturdy server. If the programmers don\'t want to do that much work, (I wouldn\'t blame them), or can\'t make it run fast enough, then either the separate areas, or the PK flag would give almost the same result. The mechanics would be a little different, but the nonPK players would be just as safe, and the PK players could have 99% as much fun, without stressing the programmers or the system.