This sub-thread, seems to be centered around the same ideas.
Open PK, or... Limited PK...
So I think it\'s safe to assume that everyone wants PVP options available. But some people don\'t want the added *realism* that open PKing provides.
I think the best example of open PKing is UO. Where those who are powerful are happy, those who start out, stop.
Open PKing cannot exist in an MMORPG successfully. I can\'t stress this enough.
The so called realism of open PKing is all bogus. Every person that I have seen speak of open PKing, has neglected to added interesting checks and balances and harsh reprocautions that would follow after killing a citizen, or even a visitor of certain town. Last I checked murder _was_ a pretty serious offense. The fact that it can happen all the time (like more than 60% of the time a la UO) is wrong. That means the law is not obayed in such a town or city will become full of people who only PK, if you distribute this to the entire world, then you have a game full of PKers and no one else, because no one else is interested in getting killed, or killing fellow players for their 1337 1eW7.
So, with that said, what to do about open PKing, the only way that it could be enforced is with an NPC guard system, that works almost supernaturally good. For example after you have PKed a poor noob, and lewted their body, within minutes you see several guards converge in your general direction. If you resist arrest and fail to kill _all_ the guards within that city (close to say 300) you get killed, and all your phat lewt taken and whatever other penalites ensue. If you do kill _all_ of them you get to live, and exit that city and never come back to it again. In the case you surrender you get to sit in jail for some amount of time (essentially your account gets banned) and you loose all your phat lewt.
In the real world, the above senerio is what happens to murderers and other fellow law breakers. That is why in our north american, or I should say first world society the law is obayed, and you are still healthy and alive. In game, essentially that means you can\'t PK, which is why it is usually easier to approximate the real world, by disallowing PKing. Though I would be alright with open PKing if those were the reprocautions for being seen while killing someone. So that even if you kill someone in the wilderness, and someone else happens to see, then report you to the guard. The next time you enter most cities you would be hunted and arrested, or killed.
How\'s that? I think that would be the only way open PKing could exist.