Reputation is something that would likely improve the virtual social environment of Planeshift. It is similar to what Morrowind and Freelancer have done so it can be improved upon and whatnot.
The idea is that depending on what you do in Planeshift (quests, who you kill, race you are, skills you pick,...), this affects your reputation with a guild, town, or even specific npc race. This reputation ranges from a scale of say -50 to 0 to +50.
A reputation of -50 with town would get the npc inhabiting it to automatically become hostile with you. Exceptions are important npcs like shop keeper. They will just simply not talk to you. However, a town guard will automatically attack you on sight, and not even consider prison. When a town guard dies, more will be generated so eventually, you will get worn down if you stay there.
A reputation of -40 to -20 will get guards to come to you and ask you to submit to them so they will drag you to prison. From here, you must pay the bail, or you can break out of prison if you\'re good at lockpicking.
A reputation of -10 to 0 allows you to buy basic items from shops, but other services are denied (you can\'t join a Thieves Guild for example).
A reputation from 0 and up will allow you access to better stuff. Certain weapons or equipment can only be obtained by having 50.
Here\'s the thing, you cannot have 50 in all reputations. If you join say the thieves guild and do their quests, your reputation will improve with them, but it will decrease your reputation with say the Royal Guards of Whatever.
Here\'s an example: (I took some of Morrowind\'s names since I\'m so unoriginal)
Guild reputation:
Thieves Guild:
--> Allies: no one.
--> Enemies: Assassin\'s Guild, Royal Imperial Guards
Royal Imperial guards:
--> Allies: Farmer\'s Alliance, Assasin\'s Guild, Royal Military
--> Enemies: Thieves\' Guild, Samurais, Wizard\'s Guild
Mining Guild: (neutral with everyone)
--> Allies: none
--> Enemies: none
.... and so on.......
If I start killing or stealing from npcs from the Assasin\'s Guild, I would also get the Royal Imperial Guards to hate me, but my reputation will improve with the Thieves Guild.
The thing about this proposal is that thieves will tend to stick with thieves rather than stroll about in town looking for their Imperial friends.... but this might be a good thing.
The human players can simply meet in a neutral place if they want to play together. Anyway, the idea is not straightforward as you can see, but I guess the best way to see an example is to play Morrowind and Freelancer.
