What a great selection of responses. And for those thinking I was out-and-out moaning - I wasn't.
I was just genuinely confused by what I saw as the wh00p-kill-play0rz mentality (and I guess still am). One-on-one fight in evenly matched ships, perhaps I can see that there might be an element of challenge there which would translate as fun. But I still don't grasp two ostensibly more powerful ships attempting to make one small ship go pop as quickly as possible simply because the game says there's a human behind the stick, for no benefit or reward (and no, I don't consider that particular engagement to be rewarding in a "fun" way for either party to be honest).
If I didn't run and had fought back there would have only been one outcome and it wouldn't have taken very long.
I am, however, friendly to the local system and allied with the Fed factions which knock around there. Would the green NPCs have rushed to my aid in the same way they do for PvE skirmishes? I wasn't nearby long enough to find out!
I think FalconFly nails it really (and I suspect his suggestion of a 50000 credit reward for player kills was sarcastic, at least in part, for those who missed the nuance).
What is the worst consequence for "murdering" a player, possibly causing them no-end of lost credits, exploration data, bounty-claim-reputation, and the more ethereal things like anger or frustration?
Having to visit a station.
Eh?
Even if the fines weren't set at the "pocket change" level as they are now, the money is irrelevant (higher fines simply become irrelevant later rather than sooner as credit balances don't really have anything to sink them into). The game should encourage thought about your actions and have consequences for your decisions. It should make you care about your reputation, your ship, your "home system". If those consequences don't appear soon, the "gank any player" crowd will flourish as they would in any other persistent game which had no real rules...
I was just genuinely confused by what I saw as the wh00p-kill-play0rz mentality (and I guess still am). One-on-one fight in evenly matched ships, perhaps I can see that there might be an element of challenge there which would translate as fun. But I still don't grasp two ostensibly more powerful ships attempting to make one small ship go pop as quickly as possible simply because the game says there's a human behind the stick, for no benefit or reward (and no, I don't consider that particular engagement to be rewarding in a "fun" way for either party to be honest).
If I didn't run and had fought back there would have only been one outcome and it wouldn't have taken very long.
I am, however, friendly to the local system and allied with the Fed factions which knock around there. Would the green NPCs have rushed to my aid in the same way they do for PvE skirmishes? I wasn't nearby long enough to find out!
I think FalconFly nails it really (and I suspect his suggestion of a 50000 credit reward for player kills was sarcastic, at least in part, for those who missed the nuance).
What is the worst consequence for "murdering" a player, possibly causing them no-end of lost credits, exploration data, bounty-claim-reputation, and the more ethereal things like anger or frustration?
Having to visit a station.
Eh?
Even if the fines weren't set at the "pocket change" level as they are now, the money is irrelevant (higher fines simply become irrelevant later rather than sooner as credit balances don't really have anything to sink them into). The game should encourage thought about your actions and have consequences for your decisions. It should make you care about your reputation, your ship, your "home system". If those consequences don't appear soon, the "gank any player" crowd will flourish as they would in any other persistent game which had no real rules...