Player-run Mark organization

Shecks

I'm contemplating the creation of a completely player-run Mark organization comparable to Ivory / Quisalis but without the myriad of problems built into the existing Mark "system". I'm wondering how the community would feel about this, given a few assumptions:

• It would be operated based on a charter with very clear rules - rules which should be reviewed by the game admin, and approved provided they are consistently enforced.

• Essentially, we would accept contracts exactly the way the old mark system used to work, and members (who must be Quisalis, Mark, or Dauntless) may accept them from an org-managed Board.

• PK Cause (or whatever synonym we're using this year) is forfeited by the person who hires, and the Mark represents the person who hired.

• If the Mark succeeds, they must inform the target of who hired you, along with a short summary of the reason, provided by the hiring player.

• If the Mark dies to the target, the contract is nullified, and the Mark informs the target (same as above).

• Organizations could also hire for organizational crimes, provided you're not doubling up with Bounties or Ivory/Quisalis contracts (this must be strictly forbidden)

Operations of this organization should be sanctioned by the game admin, however membership would be revoked if you are caught breaking the rules, unless it can be arbitrated IG and in-character.

Essentially this organization would function exactly like a real assassin organization would work. You pay us to kill people. Simple. The hiring player doesn't get Exp for the kill, but you get satisfaction and vengeance, which is usually what people are after.

There are three main reasons I think this would be a good thing for the game, overall:

1) The current mark system is horrible (I won't go into it here because every Mark is already aware of the many issues, and it's been hashed out in other threads many times over)

2) There's no indication that it's ever going to improve, as the complaints are old and there's nothing on the roadmap to improve it

3) Doing this IC is way better than doing it OOC through a "system" anyways

4) Under the new PK rules, this is completely legitimate, as "Person X payed me to kill you" is a completely rational and valid IC reason to kill someone, as long as steps are taken to prevent abuse and harassment.

As another note, I would not personally head this organization - it should be someone who the community trusts to be an objective enforcer of the rules of the organization that enforces fairness to targets and hiring players alike. I'm simply raising this as an idea, and would be happy to help with the legwork to get the organization started.

Probably this would not be allowed on the assumption that it wouldn't work, but I believe it could work and would add a lot to the game if done well, and I think it's worth giving the idea a chance. It can always be shut down at a later time if concerns about abuse become a reality.

note: Every person who has ever been an MoS since the bounty system has already been entrusted with this power (which includes me by the way). We know it can work when done properly.

Shirszae

How exactly would this solve anything, assuming the admins were for it?

Tahquil

This kinda sounds like being a Mark already. What is the defining differences other than Mark Horrible? What about the current system is OOC?

Thaisen

Looks like the current mark system with extra steps.

Shecks

@Shirszae

Well, let me flip this, assuming you are familiar with how the existing system functions.

1) You are pretty good at combat. Would you want to be a Mark under the current system?

2) If you've been a Mark, would you say that the system is either fun, fair, or enjoyable at all (for you)?

3) If someone attacks you illegally, do you have any confidence at all that hiring a Mark has a good chance of retribution?

4) If you've been hired on recently, have you noticed any scenarios where it's fair, unclear, or simply enfuriating (not related to the reason the person hired etc just related to the mark system).

For me personally, I perceive this as a 3-party interaction, and I believe the existing system completely sucks for all 3 of those parties. This is why few people hire. This is why few people go Mark. This is why existing Marks rarely complete contracts successfully. This is why nobody puts up actual worthwhile offers on contracts, instead opting for like 2000 gold or whatever, which rarely if ever even covers the cost of herbs in an actual fight.

A player-run Mark organization should solve these problems by trying to balance out Marks to the right level of target, while also demanding fair price for a competent mark against difficult targets. Basically what I'm saying here is let the "free market" fix this problem instead of trying to hard code something that is very, very difficult to hard code.

Sobriquet

My first experience of Mark 10+ yrs ago was great, I loved the RP of it. Being Mark now feels very boring and seems nothing more then a simple PK flag with a few targets thrown in.

That said, giving anything surrounding PK to player run organisation is an absolutly terrible idea.

Iaxus

Honestly can not see a way this doesn't just turn into a grief fest and issue-factory. I like the well thought out post and appreciate the effort put into it, but I don't see a positive outcome for something like this.

Gallida

Oh good, the time honored jumping and griefing can happen to applicants as opposed to waiting until they actually join. You'll be saving people a step.

Eurice

I can't see why you couldn't try to do this within the current set of rules. If there's a clear championing happening in that members of this organization are fulfilling contracts with proper notification given to the people being pursued, this all seems like a very reasonable thing to try and gun for if you don't mind taking on the organizational overhead and can get people involved.

If you can wrangle a theme that might impress people more than the Ivory/Quisalis does and don't mind potentially weathering either group IC viewing you as competition (and thus trying to kill you off), I'd say totally go for it and see what comes of it.

Shecks

@Eurice Appreciate that! Such a thing could only work with community support otherwise it'd sink under the weight of slander / mob hatred (nobody appreciates marks when they're being killed by them regardless of RP or whether or not its deserved).

I'll keep the idea on the burner for sure, but as mentioned above I would not run this, I'd just be interested in helping start it up. I'll think on candidates for who could run it without too much perception of bias.