Horis wrote:debuffs are cheap.
Permadeath is the feature this game hinges on. It is a way of reducing the competition to harmless. Let's build on that rather than water it down.
Death only comes from other players. Once you die, you have little or no chance of reducing the threat of the same killer return to grief your assets when your kin inherits them. This creates a hopeless situation for deaded players and there is likely a long period of time required for the player to "level" up and feel relief from the loss.
The way the tribe seems to play the game is by using their focus on pvp to create a form of justice that is biased to their whims. We also need to learn from their system of play since it is how the game is designed. It is unlikely that as the game is now, there is room for another "tribe". Players that want to play the tribe's way just join them rather than form a competitive alternative. It's not that players don't care about the pvp going on. It's more like they can't play the game as effectively because they are not interested in spending their game time with a canoe on their backs hunting players.
I remember playing Salem in 2012 and there were some people who were offering to take tasks hunting down murderers. I think it would be very interesting to have a bounty system with the reward amount set by the amount of crimes that have scents. The player will follow scents to the criminal and collect them (or just the first scent) and can trade the scent to any player who wants to collect the bounty. The bounty value is set by the game but is paid by the player who wants the deed done. A stall or billboard with wanted posters can be displayed in town. This would also feed the ego of the most proficient killers and criminals. This extends the play beyond just death and nothing after it.
Basing the reward merely off scents is easily abused. (Make alt, fill it with scents, collect bounty.)
A way to (securely) put out public bounties would be interesting. There is no reason players couldn't do that themselves though, I would probably feel comfortable offering a silver bounty if a reputable merchant offered the feature. (A trusted third party holding the funds.) It's tricky to properly identify the player to a third party though. (With the presentation name options etc.) This seems like something the community would naturally add if hunting and identifying perpetrators were possible. (Changing the balance so the oldest faction doesn't automatically become untouchable.)
