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Okay, this is a long document, so please read the whole thing
before commenting. I've borrowed a lot of the ideas from other
peoples posts on both UO Vault and the UO Chat Zone.
As most people realize, the notoriety system has done nothing
to curb player killing and other anti-social behavior. The reason
is simple, a completely automated system cannot deal with the
complexities of human behavior. If we ever perfect AI to the
point where the Turing Test can be run for weeks at a time,
maybe. In fact, the notoriety system has done a lot to cause MORE
player killing. How many of you accidentally clicked on a friend
in combat and then were hunted down by every noble and great lord
in the game?
I believe the reason the notoriety system fails is that it
tries to prevent people from being "bad" without giving
them any real incentives to be "good". The very slight
discount and NPC's bowing down to you don't cut it. Especially
not when slaughtering your fellow Sosarian can net you more gold,
reagents, and equipment than any other creature in the land. Then
add in the use of dummy characters, loopholes, and people like me
who openly exploit the system to our advantage, and you have a
situation where no one can trust anyone.
The way to prevent player killing and other anti-social
behavior is not to restrict player behavior or force some rigid
set of values down their throat. Instead, there need to be some
very good reasons to be "good". My plan is admittedly,
a bit complicated, but it provides incentives to being a
"good" character and incorporates a lot of the virtues
that have played a significant role in every Ultima since U4.
First off, character titles need to be heavily changed. Right
now, they take away from the role-playing aspect of UO. Why
should a complete stranger walk up to Xavori and now his best
skill is tactics, it's at least 70 (or 100 depending on which war
fork I'm using), and that he is honorable (he's definitely not
honorable)? I don't mind the idea of titles, especially since it
gives powergamers a goal to shoot for. However, I think players
should have to do something, no matter how basic, to earn their
title. In addition, the idea of calling someone noble, honorable,
or evil lord based on a automatic tracking system of player
actions is pointless. Xavori is walking proof of that. He cons,
steals, mugs, and kills people more often than he does anything
else. Yet, he is never below neutral notoriety. My ideas for
titles are based on a very simple layout:
*Virtue Title* *Player Name* *Professional Title*
The Virtue Title is obtained by completing quests for each
virtue, and your title is the last virtue quest you complete.
Player Name is obviously the name you chose for your character,
and your Professional Title is one that you picked up by joining
a professional guild. In addition, the Professional Title has at
least one higher rank that a player reaches by either completing
guild tasks or virtue quests.
For example, a player named Joe decides he wants to be a
blacksmith. He is allowed to join the blacksmith guild once his
skill reaches 55 in smithing and he pays 500 gold guild dues. At
that point he is known as Joe the Blacksmith (yes, just like the
NPC smiths). The next rank in the Blacksmith guild is Master
Smith. To reach that Joe has to pay 1000 gold, reach 80 in his
smithing skill, and manufacturer a full suit of plate armor. Once
he meets those goals, he become Joe the Master Blacksmith. Joe
also wants people to trust him so he wanders out to Moonglow to
perform the quest of Honesty. After he completes that quest, he
will be known as Honest Joe the Master Blacksmith.
Here is a breakdown on the possible titles and requirements to
reach them:
| Title |
Requires |
Title |
Requires |
Title |
Requires |
Blacksmith
Tailor
Bowyer
Fisherman
Carpenter |
skill 55, 500 gold |
Master Smith
Master Tailor
Master Bowyer
Master Fisherman
Master Carpenter |
skill 80,1000 gp,make full
plate
skill 80,2000 gp,make all clothing
skill 80,1500 gp,make all bows
skill 80,750 gp,donate 100 fish
skill 80, 1250 gold, make 15 different items |
- |
- |
| Warrior |
fighting skill 55, tactics 40 |
Knight |
kill 10 different creatures,
complete Honor quest |
Paladin |
Complete Valor and Spirituality quests |
| Archer |
archery 55, tactics 40 |
Ranger |
Tame 1 creature, complete
Spirituality quest |
Druid |
Complete Humility and Justice |
| Mage |
Magery 60, 1000 gold |
Sage |
Cast every spell in first
four circles, complete Honesty |
Archmage |
Cast every spell, complete Honor and
Justice |
| Alchemist |
Alchemy 60, 1000 gold |
Sage |
Create every non-greater
potion, complete Honesty |
Master Alchemist |
Create every potion, complete Honor and
Justice |
| Healer |
Healing 50, magery 20 |
Doctor |
Bandage 25 players, healing
75, complete Compassion |
Cleric |
Complete Sacrafice and Spirituality |
| Rogue* |
Stealing 40, 1000 gold |
Master Rogue* |
Stealing 60, Hiding 30,2500 |
- |
- |
| *Title only visible to other
rogues, to others it appears as Fisherman or Warrior
(depending on tactics skill) |
The Professional Titles are purely for recognition. They don't
provide any real advantages to the player other than respect and
admiration of other players. On the other hand, the Virtue Titles
provide serious benifits, along with some serious restrictions to
maintain that title. Each title is earned by completing the quest
of that virtue and your title reflects the last completed quest.
The reward items are similiar to mage spellbooks in that they are
unstealable and resurrect with the player. It is also possible to
earn all eight items by completing all eight quests. However, if
you break the restrictions for a virtue, you lose that item and
its benifits and cannot redo that quest for one month of game
time. Finally, for every virtue quest completed, the player
should be given a 5% discount in the NPC shops up to 40% for
completing all of them. (see, lots of benifits of being a good
guy *grin*)
The quests for the virtues should be related to the virtue
itself. The Valor quest should require killing extrememly
powerful enemies. The Sacrafice quest should require giving up
all possessions and perhaps even the players life to aid another.
| VIRTUE |
CITY |
TITLE |
ITEM |
BENIFITS |
RESTRICTIONS |
| Compassion |
Britain |
Kind |
Mytic Lute |
Peacemaking and Musicianship set to 100% |
must always give to NPC beggars |
| Honesty |
Moonglow |
Honest |
Mystic Helm |
Item ID, Arms Lore, Anatomy,
and Evaluate Intell set to 100% |
Cannot snoop or steal |
| Honor |
Trinsic |
Noble |
Mystic Shield |
Parrying +25%
AR 30/ Weight 3 stone |
cannot attack
humans except branded criminals |
| Humility |
Magincia |
- |
Mystic Armor |
Doubles magic resistance
AR 30/ Weight 8 stones
STR +3 / DEX +3 |
cannot attack
humans except branded criminals
cannot have more than 1K gold |
| Justice |
Yew |
Judge |
Mystic Brand |
brand criminals - 1/hr.
unlimited cure poison |
cannot attack anyone
cannot snoop or steal |
| Sacrafice |
Minoc |
Giving |
Mystic Gauntlets |
transfer your hp to others
AR 30 / Weight 1
STR +3 |
cannot have more than 1K
gold |
| Spirituality |
Skara Brae |
Blessed |
Mystic Necklace |
unlimited bless
unlimited night sight
AR 30 / Weight 1 |
must visit a shrine at least
one a week game time |
| Valor |
Jhelom |
Brave |
Mystic Weapon |
Tactics set to 100%
STR +5 / DEX +5 |
if attacked, must fight
until target cancels combat or dies |
Some quick notes on these:
First and foremost, a player who is branded a criminal LOSES
ALL VIRTUE TITLES AND ITEMS. The idea of a branded thief and
avatar, while humorous, doesn't really fit into the proper mold.
Valor requires you to fight to the death or your opponent
cancels combat. If your opponent enters a guarded area, that
counts as cancelling combat.
Spirituality requries visiting shrines weekly. The necklace
would need to warn the players if five game days have passed and
they haven't been to a shrine to reset the clock.
Justice allows people to brand criminals at a rate of one
criminal every hour. This time restriction is to prevent a single
judge who is a member of a PK guild from branding all the members
of an opposing guild. The Judge must see the crime being
committed to brand someone using the current crime flag. Rogues
would be very ill-advised to commit a crime that a Judge could
see. If multiple Judges see a crime, only one of them can brand
the criminal, but a branded crimnal can be branded multiple
times, and the penalties are cumulative. Judges also are
restricted from attacking anyone ever. After all, they hand out
the judgement of virtue. Being both judge and executioner is too
much power that could corrupt the virtuous too easily.
Humiltiy and Sacrifice limit a player to 1000 gold. That
includes both on them and in the bank. A player can have 1500
gold, but would get warnings that they are becoming to wealthy
and need to give gold away.
Honor and Humiltiy require a player not to attack other
unbranded players. There are no restrictions from attacking
creatures or killing players who attack you.
The overall goal of completing virtue quests is to reach the
title of the Avatar. It would require completeting all eight
quests as well as a final incredibly difficult quest. The Avatar
would have +10% to all skills and +5 to all stats as well as a
50% discount in shops. Like each individual virtue, if a Avatar
breaks the restrictions for ANY virtue, they lose their status as
Avatar.
The flip side of the benifits for being good are the
punishments for being bad. This is done by "branding"
criminals.
If a player or NPC Judge sees a crime committed, they can
"brand" the criminal. To do this, they simply double
click their Mystic Brand and then target the criminal. Crimes are
snooping, stealing, and attacking unbranded characters. Both
players and NPC's should be able to get branded.
If a character is branded, that brand appears as their only
title overriding any other titles. They also suffer a penalty to
the skill that relates to their crime:
Branded for snooping: -3 to snooping and title of *Player
Name* *branded Snoop*
Branded for stealing: -3 to stealing and title of *Player Name*
*branded Theif*
Branded for attacking: -3 to tactics and title of *Player Name*
*branded Thug*
If the player you were branded for attacking dies within five
minutes of your being branded you suffer an additional -2 to
tactics and the title of *Player Name* *branded murderer*
The penalty is permanent, but a player can earn the skill back
normally. Branded Murderers are killed on site by guards.
The branding system incorporates the reality of witnesses to
crimes as well as providing real penalties for anti-social
behavior. It also warns other players about potential criminals
by giving them an obvious bad title. Finally, because a player is
in control of branding criminals (except for NPC Judges in the
cities), accidentally clicking on a friend in combat is no longer
guaranteed to affect a player. A Judge does not have to brand
someone if they feel the crime was committed accidentally or the
two people are voluntarily sparring (I doubt too many judges will
let rogues practice stealing on each other).
To remove a brand, a player must wear the brand for five game
days and then complete a redemption quest for each brand they
have. The quest is related to their crime and tests their desire
to return to the straight and narrow.
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Stratics Central
