Who will cry, when you die?

[Incognito]

Ever thought about the area of influence of your PC? How his/her death might affect the other PCs in-game? What legacy has s/he left behind? How will her/his passing be mourned?

I was mulling over this idea when a thought struck me -- why not have an in-game Karma system, which is granted by the players, to other players!

Here's the gist:

Every year that a PC lives in-game, the code gives them a single Fame point, which they can award to any other (other than themselves of course) in the game.

For example:
Your Stat score might show:
You currently have 2 Fame points that you can use.
Or
You currently have no Fame points that you can use.


Now, you could use your Fame points on anyone, provided that it's atleast reasonably thought-out and awarded by your PC. For example, if you hear of a PC named Thrain Ironsword who is famous in the northlands, even being an Allanaki you could remotely award your Fame point to Thrain (provided such a PC existed of course).

So.....you might ask, whats all this leading to?

Well, famous personalities always have their advantages.
Be it higher discounts at shops and merchants, or, extra security from the militia, or even higher respect from your peers.

For starters, a typical Fame score could range from:
You are unknown (0-5 fame points awarded to your PC)
You are relatively well-known (5-10 fame points awarded to your PC)
You are very well-known (10-15 fame points awarded to your PC)
You are a familiar face in the households (15-20 fame points awarded to your PC)
You are a Hero (30 points +)
You are a living legend (50 points +)


A well-known personality might hold weightage in decisions over others of similar or even slightly higher social standing. Shopkeepers and merchants might see themselves offering them huge discounts, to shop in their establishments, and taverns likewise. A templar in Tuluk might be convinced to believe a familiar bard's words over those of a small-time noble. And best of all, the public, or masses might offer their support to a well-known personality, if he/she were attacked in a public place. Depending on their fame ranking, PCs could also attract an NPC following, behind themselves, should they decide to walk around the common areas of the City-States with their hoods down (i.e. identities openly revealed).

Of course, there would be downsides to being famous too, in particular, if youre a rinthi scumbag, you probably might not wanna be famous!

The idea is simple -- a Player controlled reward system -- in-game -- which will allow the PCs to make their own heroes and legends.

Comments? Suggestions?

PS: Before anyone suggests that this idea might possibly be abused to find out if a current PC exists or not, or is alive or not, there are ways to work around that :)

PPS: For all those players who've always dreamed of mudsex but never found a virtual partner, this might be your ticket!

[Cale_Knight]

I like everything about this except the part about players being the ones to reward things.

A "fame" stat that the imms can go in and tweak? Awesome.

[bloodfromstone]

A very interesting idea. I like it. I think it would be best given a joint effort between PCs and Imms to decide distribution of fame points. Perhaps PCs granting other PCs fame points would only be able to boost one's fame so high. Being liked and recognized by the PC population might be able to boost someone up to relatively well-known, while NPCs and vNPCs would be needed to get the big bucks.

I think it's a neat idea, if nothing else.

[Cegar]

I think hard-coding a fame system is kind of silly. I mean, if someone's famous, you know about them anyway, and you'de be inclined to do all of this for them anyway... so, it doesn't really add much.

[Larrath]

I think this will turn into a pissing contest and fame will be accumulated mostly by isolated clans.  I also don't think it will really contribute to the game in any serious manner - we want a deeper atmosphere, and this Fame system is most likely to harm the immersiveness, especially if it has an IC effect.
If you see a character I liked extremely well, you can always send a compliment for them to the staff, and they'll forward it.  It's great, and I think that's all we need.

[UnderSeven]

I'm with Larrath and on top of that, I'm sorry to say I don't actually see a whole lot of point to this.  Fame isn't the point of characters, it's role play and having fun.  I don't actually think we should do something like this because it would encorage playing more toward a certain style, a certain goal and these things just arn't the point of the game.

[Aldiel]

I'm with Larrath and Underseven.  The idea is cool, but I think it focuses too much on fame and too much on players deciding on things they shouldn't.

[Yang]

Can we have 'secret' points too, like, if you find something super secret, or someone uber mysterious, can you tack on a secret point to them?



In all honesty, I don't see the point. And as my above jest my reveal, I am much more impressed by secrets or infamy, rather than fame.

[Morfeus]

As Larrath said.

I honestly don't like such things. It too reminds me levels, % of experience etc.

[Cenghiz]

We have online Kudos system.. I used it a few times - works really really fast.

[Pantoufle]

How famous your character is has nothing to do (nor should it) with your level of karma.

[Anonymous]

As always, I agree with Larrath.

[Marauder Moe]

*thumbs down*

This seems like an OOC mechanic designed to heavily influence IC interactions.  A fame point check command on other players?  Arguments then being resolved by who has more fame points?  Respect and discounts based on fame points?

No way.

If you want someone to respect you, it needs to be done ICly, not through some OOC number.  If you really do something that would make you "famous", then people will hear about it through the rumor boards or through PC gossip.  If you want to win an argument mediated by the authorities you do it with your coinpurse, not with psionic fame points (unless you're actually a psionicist  :wink: ).

[Cenghiz]

First I answered, I didn't read the part that fame will affect IC events.

I should say, 'NO WAY!'.

[jhunter]

Meh...no...

[Maybe42or54]

Sounds great, but it doesn't sound good for Arm.

[amoeba]

If we were in a position where no one knew who the player was behind each of the characters, and if each person that played was equal and objective with their praise, the idea would have merit.  Sadly however niether is the case.  In the long run it would turn into a popularity contest.  

It would be nice to have some sort of measure as to how well your playing was recieved, but I don't think this is it.

[jmordetsky]

It sounds like fun, but:

a) I don't think we need to dedicate resources to it. Other stuff that is probably more important.

b) It's sort of covered by the "your favorite char" posts

[Incognito]

Obviously the idea was not to introduce something which'd promptly turn into a pissing contest.

More to reflect in-game popularity, in the game itself.

Frankly, I dont think our playerbase would really turn *anything* into a pissing contest, but then thats just my opinion of arm, from my experience.

[Vanth]

If you'd like to cry when someone's character dies, I suggest using the player kudos function on the request webtool.  Then we'll pass along your comments (cutting out anything too IC) and the other player will get a warm fuzzy feeling to help take the edge off having what was probably their favorite character EVAR die.