Shattered Kingdoms

That's probably why it's the most realistic and "likely to work" idea, right?

I like it.

I suppose my point was that players can already do that. We don't need code to allow it. I couldn't tell if your original post was tongue-in-cheek or sincerely saying there should be code in place for such a thing that while simplistic in concept would be very convoluted in code and therefore never get implemented.

lol, true

Aside from the customary OMG ELF, DIE, or OMG NECRO, DIE!

Syn's point is what comes to mind. There is the occasional bat [REDACTED] crazy darkie that kills EVERYTHING no matter what. With the code in place, those that don't want it are safe. And you say it's convoluted, but how could you know? I figure it'd be similar to the auto newbie thing.

Can they? Yes. Do they? Not necessarily.

The most common reasons for pk are loot/faction/vengeance based. However, there's also the "I don't know who you are, but I don't like the cut of your jib/way you talk/act/associate with/aura" pk. That happens without regard to weeks of playing/level of gear/faction. Kill-on-sight practices can last for quite a while, too. If there wasn't, there wouldn't be the terminology of "griefing".

EDIT: Nah, I'm sure griefing would find some other way to exist and is not quite related to the topic at hand. Sorry.

This.

This is what I've been trying to convey with the idea of beefing up city security and creating incentives to attack other locations. You don't need an OOC solution like a toggle. People expect, quite reasonably I think, the centers of civilization to benefit from high security and this is where people, especially new players, who are disinclined to fight naturally congregate. It is counter-intuitive that the safest place in the world is some rundown cottage in the middle of nowhere. Real-life experience and plenty of other games have taught us that cities are reasonably safe.

Not attack-proof. Just extremely difficult to attack.

Go attack something else. If the defenders don't meet you there... How is that different than the current situation where defenders don't meet you in the city? Not everyone who PKs wants to do it every single time they log in. Also, if you put something of value in those other locations you create more of a reason for them to come fight you because not defending the location has a penalty.

I once player a game where you could only toggle PK once. Once you selected that you wanted to PK, you put a target on your self. Therefore you could live a life of safety until you were ready to join the fray.

That would never, ever work here.

This place, like it or not, was built on the idea that you could RP and PK at the same time. Having the inability to PK someone because they are protected by the gods would suck. Those who refused to leave the safety and toggle over to PK would have to be restricted away from serving in cabals for sure and most likely from being able to serve in tribunals.

I can only imagine what would happen if someone safe from PK was in a group.

[cabal/tribunal] Our enemies killed me. George go get my corpse.

Enter George to the battle scene who collects all the loot.

Enemies try to hit George.

George laughs in their face, "I'm protected by the Gods!"

I think beyond the two types (PKer/nonPKer) there is a third type. The RPer who doesn't mind PK but isn't good enough at the "game" aspect to roleplay their characters as they imagine. For example, an excellent roleplayer that lacks secret SK knowledge will never be able to play a successful crusader knight, for example, until they gain that knowledge.

I think once again this comes back to the attempt to limit player education to IC-only. Rather than punishing people for spreading OOC knowledge about the game, punish people for using that knowledge in game in a disruptive manner. I don't see anyone being punished for creating characters that know where all the items and areas are, so I don't see any reason that this cannot be shared so that anyone who chooses to look up the information can do the same.

It's not 1996, it's 2011. We need an imm-endorsed sk-wiki with actual information about SK. There has always been a "secret" ooc-info-sharing community, and all the most successful pkers have always participated in the information sharing. That is not a coincidence.

I disagree. Get enchants, get consumables, use your class features correctly. The biggest difference in being good or bad in PK is not scripted phat loot, it's understanding trib/cabal abilities and class features, which is something that is best handled in-game anyway so the person can see for themselves. Baldric was a great PKer with Aldric who was his first character, and did even better with Dago and Joseph afterwards. Vaalim was a spam-killing sorc, and he didn't use anything that you couldn't buy from major cities. Some people just have it, and some don't. The problem is in how hard it is for us to see how someone can be good at RP, yet bad at PK. We want to assume that it's because the pros are all being secretive and hiding all their sekrats, when that really doesn't make that big of a difference.