These are all meant to dissuade particular actions of the player rather than the character. Which is why you have something completely meta like combat logging sitting with something like attacking massively weak ships. So stations are going to prevent you docking because you logged out during battle a lot? What do the stations think you did? Your magical karma stat just reached a point and triggered the state. Like I said, it's about presentation. They are presenting it as a blanket list of player actions and seems to be only about actions towards other players. That's what I have the problem with.
Thanks for the reply. I actually agree with you that combat logging doesn't sit very well with the other offences. I think the reason it was included was because PvP players have been demanding action on combat logging and Sandro wanted to sweeten the pill and appease them somewhat. I'd much rather have a separate system for dealing with combat logging. Sandro is just tossing ideas out at the moment. Nothing is set as stone.
You complain that the Karma system is only about actions involving other players. Yet that is exactly the purpose of the proposal. The desired outcome is to alter player behaviours such that the worst and least desirable interactions, as defined by FD, are reduced in frequency. Now, if you feel that their should be no special rules that apply only to players that's fair enough. But FD and a lot of the player base think players should be held to special rules.
The idea that there are special rules for players is already well established in the game. It's why only players carry the Commander tag, are members of the Pilot's Federation and appear as hollow squares on the scanners.
Sandro has proposed that the Karma system be represented in game as being a Pilot's Federation reputation rating. This is a neat catch all explanation of why special rules for players exist in terms game fiction. In fact it is the primary purpose of the Pilot's Federation in terms of game design.
You can certainly ask questions like: how can the PF prevent me from docking at certain ports? The short answer (if such a proposal survives) is because they can. The game is full of mechanisms which are hard to explain. I don't understand the insurance system: We pay no premiums and only a measly 5% excess if our ship gets destroyed. Someone is spending mind boggling amounts of credits to keep us flying. Who? Why? How? It's never been clearly stated. The best answers I can come up with are: Pilot's Federation, reasons, because they can. And what about material storage - how the hell does that work?
This is a Fantasy Sc-Fi space ship flying MMO, with occasional nods towards simulation. It requires suspension of disbelief. We accept loads of inconsistencies and poorly explained stuff, often without pausing to think about it. Gameplay is king.
This system says some crime is good, some crime is bad. la dee da because it's a game. All crime should be "bad." And all crime should have harsh punishments. But some crimes come with additional gameplay that can be rewarding for as long as you stave off your punishment, while others just make things harder for the player regardless and add nothing but more pain (so hey, if they want to continue through the pain, have fun). But of course this would mean adding gameplay for pirates. And it should all be in game and each consequence should be a reaction to the particular crime, not some blanket "karma" stat.
I think this confusion is exactly the reason the Karma and C&P should be kept separate. Yes, a crime should be treated the same whether the target is NPC or player. The Pilot's Federation doesn't care if you are a pirate, or a smuggler, or a crazed killer, or if you like to shoot up system defence forces. C&P rules apply to Commanders and NPCs equally. The Pilot's Federation only pays any interest if involves a fellow Commander. If the Commander you kill has broken the law and become Wanted then the PF doesn't care; they took the risk they paid the price. If you kill a clean Commander then the Pilot's Federation will take a closer look at you. The PF accepts a certain level of violence against even clean Commanders (Why? Reasons). But if you regularly kill much weaker Commanders (or do other stuff they don't like) the PF can become unhappy with you and start to impose sanctions in order to discourage your behaviour.
The Pilot's Federation are really great guys. They give us special technology like the hyper-space enabled escape pod technology that can transfer us (and our haul of hundreds of rocks and bits of tech junk) safely back to a port form the other side of the galaxy in a matter seconds. They subsidise our reckless activities with one of the most incredibly generous and charitable insurance deals imaginable. They let us do pretty much anything we want without any interference. But we pay a price for our amazing benefits: We are held to the special rules of the Pilot's Federation.
The fiction of Commanders and The Pilot's Federation is deliberately vague. The fiction is in game in order to: Explain away rules and mechanics that only apply to players, and, present those rules and mechanics to them. By keeping things simple and lumping these rules under one banner it helps players to better understand which rules apply only to them.
TL
R Special rules for players need to be kept clearly separate. The Pilot's Federation is there to present those rules in terms of the games fiction.
P.S. Combat logging needs action, even though I'm not fully persuaded that it fits in Karma. If the only way it get's addressed is by shoehorning it awkwardly into a Karma system, then so be it. Better we get something done about it than do nothing because it seems inelegant.
