This article collects information regarding the conceptualisation of the gameplay of The Mana World

This article is currently only a proposal

The features or design guidelines described in this article are only a proposal made by one or some persons. It has not been evaluated or accepted by the core development team yet. Feel free to add your personal opinion about them or make counter proposals.

People who approve this proposal	People who oppose this proposal
Dr Wahl

Player versus Player combat, our model

Players can fight each other at any time. Killing players outside of specific zones, however, results in a criminal status penalty. Enough criminal penalties cause the player to get a bounty put up in the local bounty office, and eventually even all bounty offices, if his infamy grows. Players can choose an option that prevents them from attacking other players who have not attacked them first, in order to keep them from accidentally fighting one another.

Also, when the player dies, and his bounties are collected, his criminal status is reduced to a lower level, and eventually disappears. There is no criminal status penalty for killing players with criminal bounties.

Sactioned PvP combat (where criminal penalties don't apply), occurs in several places:

1. In scheduled Kingdom raids. Players of one kingdom are allowed to freely attack players currently in the other kingdom (and vice-versa) without incurring any penalty. Certain rewards apply for killing a number of the kingdom's enemies.
2. In public arenas. Players wager items and money upon the outcomes of these matches. The loss or gain of material possessions is the only penalty or reward in these matches.
3. In guild sponsored events. The guilds determine the benefits or penalties of these matches. Criminal penalties don't apply here.

PvP for Fun and Profit

When you defeat another player in combat, you obtain an item called "Soul of {player defeated}". This item is useful as a trophy, for some crafting, or for trading as a bounty. Players with criminal status, or which have bounties placed on them may have a price waiting for the one who holds their souls.

In an arena setting, players also get whatever items have been wagered over the fight.

In a kingdom-led battle, the rewards are a bit less tangible. The rate of exchange for the player's nation's currency goes up if a raid is successful. Generic items of the raided country's specialty type are also suddenly cheaper in the winning country. These rewards benefit the country as a whole.

Some other Models

PVP or Player versus Player systems allow two player characters to fight under certain conditions. There are several models for these systems below, and we will be selecting one or more in the future.

Open PvP - Combat can take place anywhere, anytime. Killing players may have certain penalties, including criminal status, loss of fame, etc. Zones like towns are declared 'safe' from player attacks. However, unless otherwise stated, an area is available for combat.

Restricted PvP - Combat can only take place in specific zones known as "Arenas" or "Battlefields". Attacking other players is not penalized in this mode (in fact, it is usually rewarded), since a player entering hostile terrain is supposed to either know the risks or actually be interested in fighting.

Selective PvP - Players can challenge on another anywhere, anytime. However, if the challanged player declines the invitation, he cannot be attacked. Only players in a challege may fight with one another.

Kingdom PvP - Players may fight with each other anywhere, as long as the opposing players have different political affiliations. This is a variation on Open PvP rules.

Some notes

Bjørn: A note on fighting in Arenas. I think a special death penalty could count here. A fight in an Arena could have predetermined reward for winning and penalty for losing. Getting killed in an Arena would penalize you with this, instead of getting killed regularly, probably having to respawn in town with 1 health and loosing some xp/gold (don't think this has been decided yet). After either suffering the Arena penalty or the reward, you would exit the Arena from the front door. This would make it much more inviting to enter a challenge with somebody or against another team.

Also, to prevent people from gaining too much from Arena fights, the reward for winning should not come out of thin air. Probably this can be a way for betting items or gold between players.

Finally, because this would effectively make the Arena a rather safe place to fight in, the amount of experience that is gained while fighting in an Arena should then be none or severely reduced.