System for Bounty Hunters to Return Stolen Goods

I've suggested a system similar to this a few months back. Make the BH system more appealing to take up and make PK victims feel better about the situation by returning them their items. Not sure if I'd reward non-BH players for returning those items, but would definitely like to see smth like this added to the BH system.

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Except that Mr Goodly doesn't know whether the items came from Mr. Green or Mr. Lime. He just followed the "Corrupted Player" map marker he got as a Bounty Hunter from a nearby military node.

Sure Mr. Green can tell him they're his. But so can Mr. Lime. More than that? They could both be right. Mr. Red has many victims.

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Some people are just Lawful Good or Lawful Blue.

I don't know how much I'll bounty hunt yet, but I'm certainly the sort of person who would. I'm not there to make money. I'm there to have fights with serious players. The money's a nice benefit, but I'm still often (but not always) closer to being "there to bring justice".

Besides, returning the items is a great way to get called when there are reds about, which is a pure benefit to me. And returning the items to the wrong person because I've been lied to is a great way to not get called again. I'm a hunter, don't make me play judge.

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With no prejudice to anything else you've written, here's a concept for "how people think that":

Punishment is never "reparations". Those are separate concepts in legal systems for a reason. The punishment you inflict by turning them corrupt is the vindictive payback of "Fuck you. You wanna kill me? I may not be able to beat you, but I can get your ass killed by some professional red hunters." Reparations are not offered by the system, for better or for worse, and that's intended. Steven wants you to have to fight for your resources back.

The other important thing to consider though, is that Corruption is not intended as a punishment for PKing at all. It is intended as a deterrent. The difference is subtle but these too are separate concepts. The goal of corruption is specifically not to stop PK ganking. It's to stop PK ganking streaks . If someone comes and beats you up and takes your stuff, that's supposed to happen. If someone harasses you and constantly tries to take your stuff, you're supposed to be able to call them an asshole and put a bounty on their head. That bounty is Corruption, and the payout is "the mats they took from you". (Or, you know, didn't, if you're baiting a particular gank-happy pest with a relatively empty inventory.) Someone has to pay out bounties even IRL right?

The reason corruption penalties increase progressively is so that they specifically do not prevent ganking, but so that they instead make it harder to gank a lot, against people who can't stand up to you.

Will this work as a whole? That's a separate question. But "having your mats stolen by a stronger player from time to time, if you can't manage to fight back" is the intended gameplay of Ashes of Creation, and the intended "satisfying outcome" is killing the attacker yourself, and your mats they're now holding are your payment to a bounty hunter to do it for you. Corruption is a Slow, not a Stun.