http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/12/20/some-assembly-required-yet-another-ffa-pvp-sandbox/Interesting article.
I for one enjoy roaming around killing absolutely anyone I want to without consequence, but at the same time, I also believe that for games to be successful they need to attract enough "sheep" for the "wolves" to feed on. I believe this is Darkfall's downfall. There's not enough PVE/Roleplay/Crafting, etc. to attract the PVE sandbox sheep and we are left with a game full of wolves that fight each other for no apparent reason other than the sake of fighting. It’s also the reason the community is absolutely toxic. Not enough carebears in the community to dilute out all of the killers.
An alignment system like Darkfall 1 is okay, but is able to be abused. I remember early Darkfall trying to jump in the way of someone's mana missle so they would grey flag so I could kill them without consequence. I realize later on basically everyone was red but then what's the point of having the system in the first place? Now we have DFUW that completely removed the system in favor of safe zones. Both are flawed, I think DFUW's is worse with safe zones though. Sandboxes shouldn't have RESTRICTIONS, but as the article said, some rules are a good idea.
I think EVE probably has the best safezone mechanics in that you aren't restricted from attacking someone in high security space, but the "guards" are most likely going to fuck you up if you decide to try it. Low security space is like the wild west, no guards to save you, but it's also where all of the valuables are. It's an ingenious system really. Crafters can hang out in high security space and do their thing and people willing to take the risk can go into low sec space to gather the high value materials and sell them to the guys in high security space that want to just craft all day. Pirates can hang out in low security space and jack the PVE folks with enough stones to venture into low security space. It's PERFECT.
So why can't we get a system like that in a game that doesn't have the shitty combat that EVE has?
I can't stand games where you get a stat penalty for being a red. If I'm red then I shouldn't be able to go where the law is without them coming after me. I gotta hang out where the law won't dare to come. But a stat penalty? C'mon. A lot of the Korean/Asian MMO’s like the blue/red system while giving red’s stat penalties. I believe Albion also has this system. Mortal Online has a similar red system. Is it not bad enough I’m branded as a murderer and will be attacked while outnumbered (because that’s what sheep do, gang up on a few wolves) but you have to put me at a stat advantage too?!?!
Since UO was a few years before I started playing MMORPG's, the best FFA PVP where you had both sheep and wolves was EQ Rallos Zek. +90% of the server were "anti-pk" and would rather craft and PVE. I was in the minority who were branded "PK's" and would be attacked on sight by "anti-pk's". Well, our political stance was KOS, but few had the balls to oppose us without a significant numbers advantage. EQ Rallos Zek is the only game I remember that had FFA PVP with Item Loot that had significantly more sheep than wolves, and it was because of all of the other things the game had to offer in the PVE/Crafting realm. I think another major factor is there weren’t so many choices of games back in 1999 like we have now so it is increasingly harder to attract sheep to a game that may contain wolves.
So while many think that Darkfall (or other FFA PVP Sandbox Games like it) needs to fix a slew of other issues I think its real problem is not appealing to a wide enough audience. It could do so with some rules (NOT restrictions) put into place to protect the PVE/CRAFTERS a bit, but it really needs content to attract the PVE/CRAFTER types in the first place.
I'll continue to keep an eye out for another game besides Eve that may be able to accomplish this, but I won't hold my breath.
