PVP IN EVERQUEST: SOME MODEST PROPOSALS [Author: Lum the Mad]

I am going to frame my conception of a functional PvP system in terms of Everquest, as it is the game with which I am most familiar. It also presents a certain challenge \’e2\’80\ldblquote the static EQ world is particularly unsuited to dramatic PvP conflict. For those not familiar with EQ, I hope that these examples remain intelligible.

Every NPC in EQ is associated with a \’e2\’80\’98faction\’e2\’80\’99. This faction determines their reactions to the players \’e2\’80\ldblquote hostility, indifference, or friendship \’e2\’80\ldblquote and is a static value. All of the dark elf guards belong to one faction, all the druids of Surefall Glade belong to one faction, all the farmers in the Karanas belong to one faction. Players can increase their standing with a given faction through killing the faction\’e2\’80\’99s enemies and completing tasks for the faction. They can decrease their standing through killing members of the faction, killing their friends, or accomplishing tasks for the faction\’e2\’80\’99s enemies. What is not generally considered, however, is that faction is a powerful tool for meaningful PvP.

Suppose that a group of PC dark elves decides, in a PvP environment, to attack the human town of Freeport \’e2\’80\ldblquote a reasonable supposition, as it happens relatively often on EQ\’e2\’80\’99s PvP servers. They mount a large force, advance to the town, and possibly meet defenders. They overcome those defenders, make their way to the city gates, and overwhelm the NPC guards, whose faction information is such that they attempt to kill dark elves. Once the gate is secure, the town taken, and the dark elves have won, what happens?

The guards reappear (\’e2\’80\’98respawn\’e2\’80\’99) with the same orders: kill dark elves. No matter how many times those guards are overcome, the supply will not diminish. The dark elves have lost before they begin \’e2\’80\ldblquote because they cannot take the town, they cannot truly declare victory. Instead they are forced to acclaim themselves victors if they keep control of the town for a short period of time \’e2\’80\ldblquote after which they leave, and the town reverts to human control.

Now imagine how this scenario should play out in a realistic world. The dark elves overcome the guards, execute the rulers of the city, and declare it a holding of their nation. Freeport becomes a new dark elf city, and humans are looked down upon \’e2\’80\ldblquote if not executed. High elves and wood elves, the traditional enemies of the dark elves, are slain on sight. The new guards hired by the ruling dark elves share their masters\’e2\’80\’99 faction views, and Freeport becomes a haven for those aligned with evil.

Let\’e2\’80\’99s deconstruct what\’e2\’80\’99s actually happening in that latter scenario: the dark elves attack, and overcome human and computer defenders. When they\’e2\’80\’99ve overcome enough of them, they make their way to some center of power, some seat of government, and take action to make themselves the new rulers of the city. While they cannot instantly sway the hearts and minds of the newly-conquered, they can take the important step of hiring new guards to replace the old \’e2\’80\ldblquote guards who are loyal to their empire, rather than to the city of Freeport. Those guards become the enforcement, in game terms, of the new regime, in the same sense that they were the enforcers of the anti-dark-elf regime that existed previously.

In other words, the major and significant game system change that occurs is an alteration of the faction of the guards.

Before continuing, let\’e2\’80\’99s ask what sorts of objections to this kind of scheme might arise \’e2\’80\ldblquote and, in fact, the objections that arise from any mandatory PvP scheme. The first, and most important, is: "I don\’e2\’80\’99t want to participate in PvP. Why should I be penalized for the success or failure of others?" The second is: "What if someone \’e2\’80\’98wins\’e2\’80\’99, conquering the whole world and leaving no opportunity for revolution and the retaking of territory?" The third is: "What about the people who want only to hide in the wilderness and kill passer-by?"

Also, as a basic premise, let\’e2\’80\’99s assume that on your character\’e2\’80\’99s death due to PvP, you suffer no loss of equipment, money, or experience. You are simply returned to your bind point, naked, and must recover your corpse, as current EQ death stands (less the experience loss). You can kill, or be killed, without any consequence to your character. I will argue that a game system can offer much more significant consequences to PvP, without the undesirable sacrifices of your time and effort inherent in any looting system.

When you create a human character in Freeport, and select as your deity one of the \’e2\’80\’98established\’e2\’80\’99 temples there, you are assumed from that point to have a certain amount of loyalty to the city of Freeport. You can, for the most part, come and go as you please, and the merchants and commoners in the city are generally friendly to you. (I am simplifying the faction situation in Freeport considerably for this example; I am well aware that it is more complex than that.) That assumption of loyalty would then make you subject to the vagaries of any PvP system which could alter the basic rules of Freeport\’e2\’80\’99s factions. Uninvolved, you might find yourself hunted, and hated, in the city where you grew up.

The obvious solution, then, is to not assume that loyalty. Rather than making one\’e2\’80\’99s loyalty to a given faction or set of factions automatic, as part of the character creation process, make this loyalty something which must be actively given. One is not a \’e2\’80\’98Defender of Freeport\’e2\’80\’99 until one chooses to be.

Let us suppose, in the center of Freeport, there is a stone. This stone, when activated, gives the player a dialogue box: "Do you wish to swear allegiance to this city?" If the player agrees, they are then flagged \’e2\’80\’98Defender of Freeport\’e2\’80\’99 \’e2\’80\ldblquote and their factions are altered to reflect this change. This system could be further refined to allow for variations in individual factions \’e2\’80\ldblquote for instance, if the player is loved by the enemies of Freeport, and hated by its defenders, through their own actions, this adjustment-through-allegiance might only make them tolerable to the defenders \’e2\’80\ldblquote and might make a character who had demonstrated loyalty through deeds loved. If we imagine faction as a 5 point scale:

then allegiance to Freeport might carry with it the alteration: \’e2\’80\’98+2 to Defenders, -2 to Enemies, +1 to Allies, -1 to Enemies\’e2\’80\’99 Allies\’e2\’80\’99. Expressed in explicit EQ terms, this might be: "+2 to Freeport Militia, Mithaniel Marr, Freeport Citizens; -2 to all Neriak factions; +1 to Qeynos factions, Faydwer factions; -1 to Troll and Ogre factions." If I began as \’e2\’80\’98disliked\’e2\’80\’99 to the Militia (not a hard thing to accomplish, given how hostile that faction is) I might become \’e2\’80\’98liked\’e2\’80\’99; if I began as \’e2\’80\’98loved\’e2\’80\’99 to the Neriak Dragoons (which seems unlikely), I might drop to \’e2\’80\’98Indifferent\’e2\’80\’99.

More importantly, I would now carry the \’e2\’80\’98I participate in PvP\’e2\’80\’99 flag, which would single me out for special attentions by the city\’e2\’80\’99s defenders \’e2\’80\ldblquote whether those be friendly or hostile \’e2\’80\ldblquote and the defenders of all the other cities.

The advantages of being a defender could be made very concrete \’e2\’80\ldblquote cheaper prices on goods within the city, access to special merchants, and possibly the opportunity to govern the city (which I\’e2\’80\’99ll get to in a few moments). The advantages of being unaligned would be immunity from the PvP conflicts and their effects on the city\’e2\’80\’99s faction.

Now we can return to our original deconstruction: what happens when the dark elves take Freeport? Presumably, they reach the stone in the center. Then, after a period of time in which only members of their group, the Defenders of Neriak, have access to the stone, there is a \’e2\’80\’98conversion\’e2\’80\’99. New faction rules are sent out to the guards. To any participant in the PvP game, these guards now exhibit the inclinations of the Neriak factions, and respond accordingly. All the benefits once available to the Defenders of Freeport are now available to the dark elf conquerors \’e2\’80\ldblquote and Freeport just became a very inimical place for the former Defenders, who will be slain by the guards if they attempt to enter.

This objection has led designers of the current crop of games to create artificial limitations on \’e2\’80\’98how far\’e2\’80\’99 PvP can go \’e2\’80\ldblquote a hard, unrealistic limitation on just how much success is permitted any one group. This is true, at least, for Dark Ages of Camelot, where the \’e2\’80\’98homelands\’e2\’80\’99 of the three competing groups will be immune from permanent conquest. This kind of limitation brings the game back to square one, though \’e2\’80\ldblquote PvP can never be genuinely meaningful if actual victory is not possible.

Let us again ask what would realistically happen if Freeport were to be conquered by dark elves. A military force takes the city, storms its seats of governance, and asserts control. A new government is appointed by the officials in Neriak, and empowered to run the city in their stead. This makes Freeport a colony of Neriak only insofar as the new government is loyal to Neriak. What happens if they get ambitions of their own? They do, after all, rule one of the largest cities in the world. What if they decide Freeport\’e2\’80\’99s best interests lie in making peace with the dwarves and halflings?

This brings us to the next requirement: the factions of a city must be ruled by the players, not the code. That means exactly what it implies: a player-run system of government, which decides through its actions what relationships the city will have with other cities.

How the government is chosen is irrelevant, although I will present a few options. Freeport is a mercantile city, and the rich likely rule; membership in the government might thus be chosen through money. He who contributes the most platinum, rules the city. Oggok, the ogre city, is a violent place, and the leaders might be chosen through battle. Neriak is a city of machinations and power struggles, and an election thus seems appropriate. Or, for simplicity, all rulers could be chosen through election \’e2\’80\ldblquote or any of the other methods, or any method at all. In the end, what matters is that there is a player, or a small group of players, who are empowered to represent their city.

Imagine an embassy from Freeport to Neriak, to establish a peace treaty. The members of the two governments meet, and sign the treaty (which could be handled, in game system terms, through a dialogue-box interface). The factions of both cities are subsequently altered to reflect this new peace \’e2\’80\ldblquote now dark elves who are participants in the PvP system can move freely in Freeport, and humans can do likewise in Neriak. Perhaps there will not be actual good will per se, but on our faction scale above, we might be moving +1 for each faction \’e2\’80\ldblquote rather than being loathed by the dark elves, a human might now be only disliked. Conversely, imagine an ambassador from the elven city of Felwithe coming to Freeport to protest this decision. He declares that unless the treaty is rejected, his people will no longer welcome those of Freeport in their lands. Freeport responds with a declaration of hostility; now elves are no longer welcome in Freeport, dropping by \’e2\’80\ldblquote 1 or \’e2\’80\ldblquote 2 on the faction scale.

In this way, the factions become representative of the player-controlled interactions at the governance level. Lest you think this would lead to sudden peace among all cities, remember that there is no reason currently for the dark elves to attack Freeport on the existing EQ PvP servers \’e2\’80\ldblquote and yet they do it anyway. Hostility and alliance come naturally with the PvP environment, and player controlled factions will only amplify this effect, not suppress it.

We can add detail to this as much as we like; trade treaties, alliances, declarations of war, declarations of mutual assistance, diplomatic incidents where a dark elf is slain by humans deep in the wilderness. For the purposes of this example, the current level of detail is enough to illustrate the next point.

What happens when the dark elves take Freeport?

They become the government of Freeport. Those conquerors are now the rulers of an independent city. When this new government is created, it shares all the treaties and factions of the current rulers of Neriak. After that point, however, they are independent. If these new rulers choose to make alliances with Qeynos and declare war on the trolls, they can do so \’e2\’80\ldblquote and if Neriak\’e2\’80\’99s government dislikes this decision, they will have to enforce their wishes militarily. In the meantime, though, doubtless scores of dark elves are moving to Freeport, switching allegiances to the new city, and through their actions becoming the new Defenders of Freeport.

What about the old government? Perhaps the former Defenders can retake the city, restore their rule. To this end, they retain their \’e2\’80\’98Old Freeport\’e2\’80\’99 defender status. If they are able to retake the city, the factions would be restored to their original state. After a period of time, though (for this example, let\’e2\’80\’99s say a week) they lose this status, and become unaligned. Perhaps they can join with the elves, or with the halflings, or Qeynos, and from there stage an assault which will give them control once more, as a colony of that empire. Their original glory, though, is lost. Or, perhaps, they would make their way to the new Freeport, and there swear allegiance to the new government, choosing to continue to serve their city even under foreign masters.

From this set of examples it becomes clear that no one city could \’e2\’80\’98win\’e2\’80\’99 by controlling the rest of the world. No matter how many cities are taken, each one remains independent, and it is only through actual player interactions that an \’e2\’80\’98empire\’e2\’80\’99 can be built. If you, the ruler of Neriak, have ten lieutenants you can trust, and you can install them as rulers of ten cities (a probably impossible task) you may have made the world safe for dark elves \’e2\’80\ldblquote but only for so long as your lieutenants remain loyal to you, and to each other. Old \’e2\’80\’98teams\’e2\’80\’99 are replaced with new, and the new \’e2\’80\’98teams\’e2\’80\’99 are the same as the old, except for the people \’e2\’80\ldblquote which is exactly as realism tells us it should be. For those displaced PvP participants who have fled their cities in defeat, there is the option of joining one of your conquered cities \’e2\’80\ldblquote or perhaps operating independently in the wilderness, acting as bandits and renegades, a resistance building its forces for a reconquest.

Which leads neatly into the next point.

In addition to the city-based teams, there should be the opportunity to participate in PvP as a part of the \’e2\’80\’98no-team team\’e2\’80\’99, which is disliked by all, which has no alliances, no diplomacy. In any ancient empire, there are always discontents and the lawless at the edges of civilization \’e2\’80\ldblquote or even in its heart. In Gaul, in the Basque region of Spain, throughout the Levant, the Roman Empire faced resistance from everywhere. Its rule was never certain, and these bandits preyed on the Romans and became powerful. When Rome fell, it was not due to natural forces \’e2\’80\ldblquote it was pressure from these very malcontents, who carved the Empire up among themselves in the wake of the collapse.

In this system, a player could set themselves as a PvP participant, but not choose a city to defend. This could also happen if the player\’e2\’80\’99s city is conquered \’e2\’80\ldblquote they\’e2\’80\’99re left to wander the wilderness, either joining another city or joining the bandits. These bandits would operate in places like High Keep and the Karanas, and could strike at any member of any city\’e2\’80\’99s defenders.

The check upon this (apparently attractive, given UO as an example) option would be simply that, in addition to receiving none of the benefits of membership in a city, the bandits would receive all the penalties of being every city\’e2\’80\’99s enemy. Denied access to the resources and safety of the cities, they would never have the security of a safe place to rest, resupply, and sell their loot. For the truly antisocial killers, the people who claim that, when killing new players in Ultima Online, they\’e2\’80\’99re \’e2\’80\’98roleplaying a sociopath\’e2\’80\’99 \’e2\’80\ldblquote they would get their wish. The true sociopath would be an outcast, and that\’e2\’80\’99s exactly what these bandits would be. Inevitably, I believe these bandits would seek to seize a city for themselves, and the displaced former rulers would themselves become the new bandits.

A modification to this system would be necessary to allow a renegade to \’e2\’80\’98come into the fold\’e2\’80\’99 and join a city \’e2\’80\ldblquote perhaps the opportunity to set a \’e2\’80\’98truce flag\’e2\’80\’99 which would allow them limited entry to a city for the purposes of conversation and allegiance-forming, although not for selling, buying, or making use of the city\’e2\’80\’99s resources. This same \’e2\’80\’98truce flag\’e2\’80\’99 system would also permit the previously mentioned ambassadors from Freeport to visit Neriak for peace talks.

In Everquest terms, I\’e2\’80\’99m really proposing a kind of \’e2\’80\’98super-faction.\’e2\’80\’99 When active \’e2\’80\ldblquote and it would only be active by any given player\’e2\’80\’99s choice \’e2\’80\ldblquote it would supercede the normal faction system for the cities and the guards and citizens of the cities. Every NPC associated with a city would be given a new parameter: the \’e2\’80\’98super-faction\’e2\’80\’99 information, which would tell it how to interact with players who also had this parameter set. By imposing a super-faction across the world, PvP could be made to have real, lasting effects, while leaving those who wished only to \’e2\’80\’98play the game in peace\’e2\’80\’99 \’e2\’80\ldblquote a common sentiment on AC\’e2\’80\’99s PvP server \’e2\’80\ldblquote totally unaffected by the wars.

It seems to me, though, that given the opportunity to participate in something of this scale, few players would want to be left out. The added benefits of participation \’e2\’80\ldblquote whatever those are defined as, although I suggest they be aimed at merchant pricing \’e2\’80\ldblquote would convince all but the most dedicated of the powergamers to join.

The result? A system which creates a worldwide conflict, which gives players reasons to participate, which has meaningful and lasting effects, and which does not affect the characters themselves, but rather their access to resources.

And, I hope I\’e2\’80\’99ve argued, a Simulation-based plot which no gamemaster-coded static quest could ever approach.

Lord Dazin Drakenblade, level 59 Necromancer and ruler of Neriak, decides it is time to take Freeport, and wipe out the human plague to the south. He gathers his lieutenants, and announces that the attack will happen in two days\’e2\’80\’99 time, on the weekend (so that the maximum numbers of dark elves can participate). They all begin their preparations; Dazin then opens his \’e2\’80\’98City Leader\’e2\’80\’99 control window, and sees that he has 2 \’e2\’80\’98war declarations\’e2\’80\’99 left in his supply for this month. He uses one of them now, knowing that he has to declare war at least 24 hours before the actual conflict can begin \’e2\’80\ldblquote the declaration sets the Freeport Control Stone to \’e2\’80\’98vulnerable\’e2\’80\’99, meaning it will respond to his team\’e2\’80\’99s efforts. This gives the Freeport Defenders a chance to prepare for the attack. In the past, Dazin has sent declarations of war and not attacked, and he hopes the Freeport Defenders will think this is another feint, and not take it seriously. His declaration sends out a message automatically to all the Neriak Defenders: "We are attacking Freeport in 2 days."

Nyktos Spindleshriek, level 60 Cleric of Innoruk, sees the message flashing on his interface, and reads the announcement. He then sends a /tell to Dazin: "Am I leading this attack, as you promised?" Dazin replies a few minutes later: "I was hoping you would, if you\’e2\’80\’99re going to be free." Nyktos grins and tells his group he has to go /afk for a few minutes, and then starts planning strategy with Dazin and the other lieutenants over the /govern channel.

Lord Valryn Darkhammer, level 60 Warrior and ruler of Freeport, is on a Hate raid when he sees a \’e2\’80\’98message\’e2\’80\’99 icon appear on his interface. He checks with the pulling team and finds out he has a few minutes to spare, so he opens it and reads it. Probably another peace offering from the Gnomes, he thinks; he\’e2\’80\’99s been trying to get the elves to go to war with them for a month, and it hasn\’e2\’80\’99t been working. In his \’e2\’80\’98City Leader\’e2\’80\’99 control window, he sees that Freeport will be at war with Neriak in 2 days. Great, another false alarm. Well, I guess I\’e2\’80\’99d better tell people back home. He announces the war over the /govern channel, and also sends a /tell to Invidious Putrifex, a member of the Neriak Defenders, and a traitor for the Freeport cause. "Is this for real?" The answer comes back immediately. "Looks like it; Dazin just sent out the announcement, and everybody\’e2\’80\’99s talking about it like it\’e2\’80\’99s going to be a real attack this time." Damn, Valryn thinks. But he probably thinks we\’e2\’80\’99re going to ignore it again. I should keep this quiet. He sends out another announcement on the /govern channel: "Keep this quiet; let\’e2\’80\’99s surprise them." He then sends a /tell to Dazin: "Not again. Are you actually going to show up this time, or should I just let the newbies fight off your nonexistent army?" Dazin replies: "I don\’e2\’80\’99t talk to human scum. =)"

Two days later, Nyktos and 45 dark elves are in Neriak Third Gate, organizing into the teams for the raid. When they\’e2\’80\’99re ready, he gives the word, and they move out. Buffs are cast, binders are prepared, and everyone runs across East Commons to West Freeport. As soon as they zone in, the binders start binding everyone to the edge of the zone, for quick death recovery. The zone is dead silent, though, except for the occasional non-aligned person looking for a SoW or a bind. It\’e2\’80\’99s too quiet, he thinks, knowing that\’e2\’80\’99s a cliché.

Inside the gates, Valryn and the 40 Defenders he\’e2\’80\’99s picked out are observing strict silence. They hear the dark elves enter, as they all start /shouting in the Dark Speech. Good thing I had that troll teach it to me, he thinks. As the dark elves spread out and advance on the gate, Valryn gives the word, and the battle is joined.

A half hour of constant fighting later, and the defenders are starting to show fatigue. Some of the members were still bound elsewhere, and one unfortunate guy was bound all the way in Firiona Vie \’e2\’80\ldblquote he was looking for a port back, but Valryn couldn\’e2\’80\’99t spare any of the Defenders to do it for him. They\’e2\’80\’99d been pushed back to the gate, and with the guards down, Valryn knew he couldn\’e2\’80\’99t expect any more NPC help until the dark elves made it to the militia house. During official wars, the guards didn\’e2\’80\’99t respawn. A couple of newbies were standing nearby, and as he ran past them looking for a target, he hoped this would get them over to the Stone to swear in. Even folks in their teens could still distract the attackers for a few moments.

Just then Nyktos burst through the lines with one of his teams, and sprinted for the militia house. At the same time, one of the newbies sent a /tell: "Hey, my friend says they\’e2\’80\’99re coming in through the sewers in EFP, too."

Damn.

Valryn sent a /govern: "Fall back to the stone; they\’e2\’80\’99re in the sewers!"

Ten minutes later, the last of the defenders were standing shoulder to shoulder in the hall outside the Stone Room in the militia house. All the NPCs were dead, and only 6 of his men were left \’e2\’80\ldblquote the rest were looting their corpses, trying to get some mana back, or running back to the fight. Once the dark elves pushed through here, it would be a tough struggle to get them out; they\’e2\’80\’99d start binding everyone to the room.

Nyktos knew he was within a few moments of victory, and personally led the final push. He knew he was no warrior, but sometimes when he got this close, he\’e2\’80\’99d pretend he was a wizard, unloading his mana in direct damage spells that weren\’e2\’80\’99t efficient, but were a lot of fun. His lieutenant, a necromancer, was summoning a new pet behind him, and on the other side, his Shadow Knight aide was getting ready to try a Harm Touch. It won\’e2\’80\’99t work, Nyktos grumbled to himself \’e2\’80\ldblquote Harm Touch almost never worked.

Valryn, barely able to type in the fighting, sent a message to his group: "need heal!"

And then the harm touch hit, and he died.

The Defenders went down a few moments later, and while the rear-guard held the hall against reinforcements, Nyktos bound himself to the room, and then clicked on the Stone in the middle. "Do you wish to declare this Stone captured?" He clicked Yes, and knew that a message was going out then to all the Defenders of Freeport: "Your stone has been captured by Neriak! You have two hours to retake it!"

As his group all clicked on the stone to register themselves as captors as well, Nyktos thought about his defenses. They could let up to 5 of the Freeport scum in \’e2\’80\ldblquote once 6 Freeport Defenders had clicked on the stone, the capture attempt would fail, and the war would end. He sent tells to his raiders to keep the entrances to the Militia Building courtyard blocked, and use direct damage on anyone trying to use Levitate or Dead Man Floating to run over their heads.

Valryn saw the message and started swearing, sending /tells to everyone he could think of. The leader of Qeynos wasn\’e2\’80\’99t logged on, but the leader of Felwithe was. He promised to tell his people to get over to Freeport, and start porting defenders over as soon as he could. Valryn thought it wouldn\’e2\’80\’99t be enough. He was surprised, then, and filled with hope, when the group of 12 gnomes arrived in West Freeport, where he was waiting for a corpse recovery from a friendly Necromancer. "Hail," he said, and when the first of the gnomes started casting, he thought it was an incoming buff. And when he died, he saw a /tell from the Gnome leader, Smollet: "Guess you wish you signed that trade agreement, huh?"

Two hours later, the city belonged to Neriak. Or, more specifically, the city belonged to Nyktos and his 5 group members. Valryn and the other Defenders all got the message: "Your stone has been lost! Your team has been unseated, and you have one week to mount an attack and retake the city!"

In the Stone Room, Nyktos directed the recovery efforts and sent a message to Dazin: "Now I rule in Freeport. Let\’e2\’80\’99s talk trade agreements." On his interface window, he saw a new panel: "City Leader." When he opened it, he saw the title, "Lord of Freeport," and grinned.

In the sewers under West Freeport, Valryn sent a /govern message calling off the assaults. "We need to regroup and plan \’e2\’80\ldblquote and get some allies to help us retake the city. We\’e2\’80\’99ve got a week; let\’e2\’80\’99s make use of it." His City Leader interface window now read: "Lord of Freeport \’e2\’80\ldblquote In Exile." He knew that in a week, it would change to read "Unaligned," and his ties to Freeport would be gone. And I\’e2\’80\’99m not going to let that happen; I worked too damn hard for that city.