I had a thought yesterday. I was goofing around in Skyrim, attacking guards in a city.
I realized that Skyrim has a C&P situation similar to ED.
* You get bounties for crimes, and they are jurisdictional (only the 'faction' you commited the crime against, cares).
* You can become 'kill on sight' for those crimes, and the authorities will go after you
* You can leave the area and be 'clean' again, elsewhere.
* If you get caught and defeated, you go to jail for a timeout.
Now I'm not saying that C&P in Skyrim is great. It's simple and rudimentary.
But it does something ED doesn't. It *tries* to make the punishment part fun by presenting you with decisions all along the way.
* For a small bounty, the guards just stop you. You can pay it off right there, or resist and escalate
* For a larger bounty, they attack on sight. You can submit and pay it off, or fight and win/escape.
* Once you are caught, you still have decisions. You can stay and do the jail time, which keeps you from playing for a bit, and also reduces your skill progression. Or you can attempt to sneak out of jail, and steal all your stuff back.
I think that when the ED designers were putting C&P together, they forgot that ALL parts of it should be fun to engage. Even the punishment part should be FUN. The time you have to spend to atone for your crimes should be engaging and interesting.
Instead, we have a very one-dimensional system. Even a small crime can result in a bunch of time-sinks, none of which are fun, and some of which are awkward and/or confusing. They just force you to do something you don't want to do, with no options.
You're not really presented with any interesting decisions, or fun things to do, once the crime is committed.
This is a game. Even the punishment should be fun and engaging. It should not actually punish players to the point that they are frustrated and annoyed.
Just a few morning thoughts, and just my opinion.
I realized that Skyrim has a C&P situation similar to ED.
* You get bounties for crimes, and they are jurisdictional (only the 'faction' you commited the crime against, cares).
* You can become 'kill on sight' for those crimes, and the authorities will go after you
* You can leave the area and be 'clean' again, elsewhere.
* If you get caught and defeated, you go to jail for a timeout.
Now I'm not saying that C&P in Skyrim is great. It's simple and rudimentary.
But it does something ED doesn't. It *tries* to make the punishment part fun by presenting you with decisions all along the way.
* For a small bounty, the guards just stop you. You can pay it off right there, or resist and escalate
* For a larger bounty, they attack on sight. You can submit and pay it off, or fight and win/escape.
* Once you are caught, you still have decisions. You can stay and do the jail time, which keeps you from playing for a bit, and also reduces your skill progression. Or you can attempt to sneak out of jail, and steal all your stuff back.
I think that when the ED designers were putting C&P together, they forgot that ALL parts of it should be fun to engage. Even the punishment part should be FUN. The time you have to spend to atone for your crimes should be engaging and interesting.
Instead, we have a very one-dimensional system. Even a small crime can result in a bunch of time-sinks, none of which are fun, and some of which are awkward and/or confusing. They just force you to do something you don't want to do, with no options.
You're not really presented with any interesting decisions, or fun things to do, once the crime is committed.
This is a game. Even the punishment should be fun and engaging. It should not actually punish players to the point that they are frustrated and annoyed.
Just a few morning thoughts, and just my opinion.