TL;DR: Solving the "Friend-Kill" Corruption Exploit
- The Problem: Corrupted players currently bypass the "outcast" experience by having friends kill them in controlled environments to safely recover dropped gear.
- The Solution: Implement Regional Work Camps (Jails) where killed Corrupted players must earn their release through active labor commissions instead of simply respawning at an Emberspring.
- Key Mechanic: Release is based on effort, not time, requiring players to earn "Repentance Points" that scale with their Corruption score.
- Node Impact: Completed labor provides raw materials to the local Node's treasury, turning criminal punishment into a community benefit.
- The Goal: To close the social loophole and ensure Corruption carries a mandatory "Time Risk" that cannot be bypassed by a coordinated group.
Background: Currently, the corruption system is designed to provide heavy risk to those who grief or PK. However, a known social exploit exists: a corrupted player can have a friend or guildmate kill them in a controlled environment. The friend then loots the dropped gear/materials and returns them to the player once they respawn. This "controlled death" bypasses the social weight and the intended "outcast" experience of being a criminal.
The Proposal: Regional Work Camps (Jail) To ensure corruption has a non-bypassable consequence, I suggest that Corrupted players who are killed should not respawn at their Emberspring. Instead, they should be "sentenced" to a Regional Work Camp (Jail) associated with the Node where the crime occurred. This is in addition to the existing consequences that are already in place.
Key Mechanics:
- Effort-Based Sentences (The Anti-AFK): Unlike systems that use a simple timer (which can be waited out while offline), the player must earn "Repentance Points" by completing labor commissions inside the camp.
- Scaling Difficulty: The labor required to earn freedom should scale exponentially with the player’s Corruption score. A "one-off" mistake results in a quick task; a serial griefer faces a significant time and effort investment.
- Node Contribution: The labor performed by prisoners should provide a marginal benefit to the local Node (e.g., adding a small amount of raw materials to the Node’s treasury). This creates a "Debt to Society" mechanic where the criminal’s punishment actually aids the community they harmed.
- Bounty Hunter Integration: This system gives Bounty Hunters more satisfaction, knowing that the target they caught is actually "off the streets" and performing labor, rather than just resetting at a nearby Emberspring.
Why This Improves the Game:
- Closes the "Friend-Kill" Loophole: While friends can still hold onto a player’s gear, they cannot "do the time" for them. The corrupted player is forced out of the world's economy and combat loop for a duration dictated by their actions.
- Reinforces Risk vs. Reward: It adds a "Time Risk" to the already existing "Gear Risk."
- Immersive Narrative: It moves the punishment to an in-world activity that fits the high-fantasy, gritty setting of Verra.
Conclusion: By implementing an effort-based jail system, we ensure that being an outlaw is a lifestyle choice with inescapable consequences, rather than a temporary inconvenience that can be managed by a coordinated group.
