Well, if the merchant gets killed, then the killer should get (I think this may be in SWG) a flag or condition of some sort where he may be attacked for the next 5-10 minutes by anyone in the vicinity. That way a skilled player, like an assassin of some type, could use a skill of some sort to escape, while people who are bullies and don\'t have that kind of skill get mobbed by angry shoppers and are killed. And I think GM\'s should be notified when these guys are killed, that way GM\'s can ban/warn/exact punishment upon/etc. people who constantly do such things. And maybe there could be a record somewhere about who killed what NPC. That way people could be hired to kill certain NPC\'s. Quest NPC\'s shouldn\'t be killable (is that a word?) in my opinion though.