Been playing GTA5 recently. Not open online, just mainly PvE except when my daughter thinks its funny to shoot a flare gun into the back of my head. To be fair, i had just deliberately rammed into her bike at full speed.
Anyway, I notice they had a mechanic whereby the more people you kill (including NPCs i think), the more your "mental" state goes up, and the more visible you become on the city map, allowing people to track you down. And of course, wanted level whereby you get the cops chasing you.
But leaving aside the wanted level thing for the moment (which is cool and fun to run from the cops), perhaps ED could do something similar to the map visibility thing.
Here's a proposal.
Menace: If you kill a player, your gain in notoriety starts. Pilot's Federation doesn't like its pilots killing each other when the target is not wanted, so in the system where it happens, its noted. Renegade PF member kills another member - bounty on head. See mission board for details. (Go to mission board, mission to kill that player appears with reward added). At this stage, all that is known is the killer was in the system.
Wanted: If they kill a second (non-wanted) player, they become locked to playing in Open until it wears off (second so people who accidentally kill another player are not locked to open, stuff can happen). Additionally all system stations where the player has omitted crimes (Minor factions) now post the news and offer the missions, even if those are systems where they player has not been - the news starts to spread. Anyone carrying the mission gets a comms notification every time the target is spotted by a player or system authority in areas where they are wanted.
Murderer: Third time - things get hairy. The target's information and missions are now posted in all systems where the major faction has as presence (if alliance, fed, or empire - not so if indep). Worse though is an icon appears on the galactic map to anyone with the mission showing what system they are currently in. The PF transponder on their ship is activated!!!! (what is this PF transponder? Just some lore i made up
). Still, only happens if in areas where the missions are posted, they can run to systems where they are not wanted still. Anarchies regardless do not report position.
Mass Murderer: Fourth time - mission payouts increase (probably increasing with each level anyway). System map now shows a map marker highlighting which object the target is closest to, whether it be star, planet, or station. If docked, then naturally the station is highlighted. Still restricted to only regions/systems/stations where there is law enforcement for any of the crimes committed.
Fugitive: Fifth time, the hunt is on. Anyone with the mission (now available from any station that isn't anarchy), the players location is broadcast to anyone with the mission as detailed as possible in real time. Galactic map shows where they are, system map shows their approximate location, and comms updates are sent every time they change location/system. The only places where their doesn't happen is anarchies. They set their foot outside of an anarchy and every BH with the mission will know it instantly (or, a slightly less brutal version - once they are spotted by any player with report crimes turned on or by any system authority vessels).
Of course, there is some sort of cooldown on this, 1 week perhaps like the current bounty system. Go a week without killing a player, the effects wear off (slowly or instantly), missions expire, etc. Perhaps lose 1 rank of wanted status per day or week.
Still most likely wouldn't get me back in Open, but it might provide fun for the criminals, the bounty hunters, and at least some victims might appreciate it, and hell, maybe their victims will go grab that bounty mission from the BB and join in the hunt.
Only one possible exploit that comes to mind immediately is the max mission payout can't be much higher than the rebuy cost of the target ship - otherwise i could see people cooperating to turn this into a way of getting credits unfairly - and it would have to adjust based on what they are flying at the time of death, possibly taking the bounty money directly from the target as part of their rebuy cost. Would need some thought.
