The Zone

Player Vs Player

PvP is the game action of eliminating another player's character from the game, either through death, having a contract put out them or otherwise forcing them to give up freelancing. PvP is a valid action in the game, but it is discouraged. It should be considered a last resort in dealing with a character you disagree with and there are consequences for doing so. At its heart, PvP for its own sake is a deeply anti-social action in a hobby that is supposed to be about social interaction. The referee team would rather PvP was kept to a minimum and used for valid purposes. People who randomly murder others because they think it's funny will find they are not welcome back to future events.

Forms of PvP

Death

You can kill another character by using the Coup De Grace call on them when they are on the floor with other injuries. This is the only way to guarantee someone is dead. Simply shooting them gives them a chance to survive.

Not Healing Someone

If someone does not have the first aid materials to pick themselves up after a fight then choosing to leave them to die is a valid option. This does still count as a PvP action but it does not attract the same level of consequences.

Taking Out A Contract

Anyone can post a bounty on anyone at any time. The money for the contract will leave your account immediately, along with a 10-20% markup as the Bar's fee. If you rescind the bounty then the cash for the bounty is repaid to you, the fee for the Bar is not. Contracts can be posted anonymously or openly, the default is anonymously.

As far as consequences go, posting a bounty can both improve and ruin your reputation. Posting a bounty for trivial reasons can ruin your reputation entirely, but where there is a genuine grievance or someone is seen to have betrayed the freelancer community on some level, putting your own money up to resolve the issue often earns respect.

Making Enemies

You can sell someone out to one of the factions within the Zone and let them exact whatever revenge they see fit. Whilst this will keep your hands clean and prevent reputation loss it is quite easy to be discovered in the act and suffer for it.

Consequences

PvP is not a simple matter, and the consequences are many and varied. Each case is judged on its own merits before the referee team decides on a course of action. Killing a known liability does not attract the same consequences as killing a rival, and killing someone with a long history of screw-ups is not the same as killing a first offender.

Reputation Change

The referee team will be tracking every character's Reputation throughout play. If you kill someone, your reputation will very likely suffer, and suffer quite badly. A low reputation bars you from some work and can reduce your pay on other jobs. You may also find other freelancers refuse to work with you.

Exile

A proven murderer is often exiled from the bar. If this happens whatever money is held in their account with that bar is seized and they are no longer welcome there. To all intents and purposes the character is no longer playable.

Contracts

If the victim had friends or allies they may well take out on a contract on the killer. Just as above this contract can also attract consequences. Where a tit for tat contract war has broken out the smuggling gangs have generally stamped down on it by exiling all parties. They do not like actions that unduly damage the free flow of commerce.

In the one incident of PvP we have had so far the victim had recently joined the High Rollers faction, so the High Rollers put up a bounty of several thousand credits for the perpetrator's head. Other players who witnessed the killing very quickly made the faction aware who the murderer was. The player made an effort to intimidate his way out of the situation whereupon the bounty was increased substantially. The player has not been back to an event since.