CyanStargazer

Long Dead
Mallius Odium
Players Playing Bloodbath Demo
Immemorial
Cat Adopter
Ageless
Malleus Monday
OG 2020
Dog Adopter
Vampire Scholar
Old World
Harbinger
Dec 11, 2018
167
190
93
iantroll.wixsite.com
So an idea I had for explaining ingame bans is through one of the classic staples of starting a game, a contract. Not one that the player themselves agree too, but one their character agrees to. (Think Persona 3, Bloodborne, games where the contract are part of character creation). This contract allows the player to freely interact out in the field of the game, such as permission to fight enemies and being given missions and side quests. Should the player hack or end up being very abusive in chat, you can say that the player character broke their contract and have their liberties to fight enemies taken away. The player's equipment is confiscated and the player character is forced to atone for their wrongdoings. This atonement take as long as the ban lasts, and if it's a permanent ban the player character cannot renew their contract. Thus the player can no longer play the game.
 
I'm all for hurting people who use hacks in games, go to town on them; but when it comes to abusive language, I'd rather there just be a mute option. Making the character agree to conditions at the start of a game instead of the player before hand kind of hurts the immersion.

"I have risen and shall now do as I please to the living, BUT FIRST . . . I must fill out the proper paper work."

We're gonna be playing as the undead and hunt the living. I know being evil doesn't mean acting like an A-hole; but the option to be an A-hole should still be available for everyone, we just also need the option to tune out those who go too far with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Golden Xan
Well a contract doesn't always have to be paperwork. There are blood and verbal agreements. Signing contracts in blood for power is a very old faustian baragin. This kind of contract, one for power, would work in Deadhaus, but exploiting the game could still be a type of condition that the powers from which you draw your power from would frown upon.
 
That's an interesting idea. There might be already rules that the dead have to adhere to when they rise again... there might be efficient ways of linking their behavior in the game world to their behavior as real-life players through the lore. I support this being implemented in the game, even if mildly through references only.
 
The general idea is interesting, to provide basically an "in character" reasoning for bans. I don't know if I like the contract thing. We're trying to find replacements for legalese, these don't have to be more legalese. It could just be that tapping into dark forces is really dangerous, and you might die. If you get banned for using wall hacks, you might get a message saying, "The forbidden art that <your character> used for... unconventional travel caused a rift in the space-time continuum. <your character> tried to resist its pull, but ultimately was sucked into it. Nobody ever saw them again. It's as though they were banished from this realm completely."
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Golden Xan
Yes, the contract point is just one possible way. That sort of "You tinkered with something you didn't understand and payed the price" thing would make a lot of sense. But even more ways could appear from brainstorming.
 
I'm also excited for how other characters would see the ban. Like, if there's an in-game explanation, the players who have met this character could see a similar notice.

For example, all people who reported the now-banned character would get an in-game message informing about the character's disappearance. And it could spread by word of mouth to other players who were also affected by the hacker. This would also be an incentive for reporting hackers.

On the other hand, if a character is just mass reported as a means of protest against them, but it turns out that the player didn't break any rules, the people who reported them could get a similarly in-character message saying that the character survived the allegations.

I'm imagining the reporting and the reply kind of like a lawsuit and a judicial opinion, just like the Gothic horror counterpart to that.

It might seem like writing these flavor texts for every ban could be too much work. However, it could be outsourced to us - since Apocalypse want to embrace community content anyway :) Still not sure if this is practical, but it sounds really cool to me.
 
I worry about giving players too much power. Regular players can get easily mistaken and unite for the wrong reasons. If an influencer believes someone has done wrong, his or her followers can take mass action against someone who's innocent simply because someone doesn't like them. That said, I believe it's important that players feel that cheaters are punished and that good and hospitable behaviour is encouraged and appreciated. If there is a nice and simple way to do that within the lore and game world, that should be done. :)
 
Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean players should decide who gets banned. They can report (this doesn't even need to be an easy-to-access in-game function... maybe just by contacting a mod or whatever directly), and they may be able to come up with the "ban lore" - but not the ban decision.