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playerkilling

Discworld Concepts Help

playerkilling

Overview

The level of interaction between players on Discworld is controlled by membership in "leagues". By default, players are not a member of any league, which means that other players cannot kill them, steal from them, or place a contract on them at the assassins guild.

Players who wish to do these things can join a league. Once they do so, they will be able to do these things to (and have these things done to them by) other members of the same league.

It is possible to be a member of multiple leagues; up to 10 at the same time.

Once you join a league, you can decide to leave again. However, depending on the kind of league, this does come with some restrictions (see below).

Kinds of leagues

At the moment there are 4 types of leagues: the Playerkillers league, temporary leagues, special leagues for game events and "by request" permanent leagues with special rules.

The Playerkillers league

The Playerkillers league is a permanent league open to all players who are at least 2 days of age and have not previously been blacklisted. Members of this league have access to the Playerkillers board and talker channel. It is possible to leave the Playerkillers league, but to prevent abuse this is only allowed after having been a member for a full day of playtime. Moreover, doing this will cause you to be blacklisted so you cannot join the Playerkillers league without an invitation in the future. Hence, membership in this league should be considered as a long-term decision.

The Playerkillers league has an elected marshal, who can appoint officers to assist the marshal. Both the league marshal and officers can disbar players from the league, blacklist players, remove players from the blacklist and invite players who would otherwise be barred from joining, for example because they are not yet 2 days old.

The marshal is in principle elected for life, but any member of the league may call for a Vote Of No Confidence. A VONC must be seconded by another league member before being posted to the board. If the VONC is supported by a 2/3 majority of voting league members, and at least 7 people vote No Confidence, then the marshal is removed and a new election is started. If the marshal becomes inactive or resigns, an election is also started automatically. If an election is started while a Vote Of No Confidence is in progress, the VONC procedure is automatically canceled. Players who have been disbarred from the league within the last 3 weeks can also vote in VONC procedures and elections.

The marshal is the only member who may not leave the Playerkillers league. If they wish to do so, they should resign first, which will prompt a new election to be started.

It *is* possible for the league members to elect a marshal who is not a member of the league; however, if the marshal then joins the league after being elected, they cannot leave again without resigning.

Similarly, the marshal may appoint officers outside the league. However, if an officer who is in the league leaves, they will lose their officer position.

Temporary leagues

For less long-term commitment, any player can create a league of their own, which makes them the only member and marshal. As the marshal, they can then invite other players into it. This league will be automatically disbanded 10 days after being created, or when the marshal chooses to disband it.

Joining temporary leagues can only be done by invitation, and the members cannot elect a different leader. It is also allowed to leave a temporary league at any time, and this will not complicate rejoining later. Temporary leagues do not come with a board or talker channel.

Much like the Playerkillers league, the marshal of a temporary league can also appoint officers to assist with inviting and disbarring players. If the marshal resigns their role, one of the officers is appointed in their place.

Special leagues

Certain in-game features — such as the Capture The Flag game — require player killer abilities to function. For these features, a special league is created. These leagues can not be joined or left through the "league" command, but only through specific rooms in the game.

By request

If a large enough group of players asks, creators may choose to set up an additional long-term league with different rules from the Playerkillers league, such as permitting corpse looting or not permitting theft. If such a league becomes inactive, it may be removed again.

Membership of multiple leagues

It is possible to be a member of multiple leagues. Two players can attack or contract each other if they share at least one league. For example, if Anna is in league A, Bert is in league B and Carol is in both leagues A and B, then Anna and Bert cannot attack each other, but both can attack Carol.

Some leagues have different hard-coded rules; for example, temporary leagues can be set with or without the possibility of theft between its members, and special or by-request leagues might allow corpse looting. If a league has different rules from the default, this is indicated in "league info <name>". One player can steal from or loot another player if they share at least one league that permits that particular action.

A Warning

Joining a league indicates your willingness to engage in this level of player interaction. However, it is not an indication by others that they are prepared to be harassed. Discworld player killing is not an "anything goes" system; you are expected to continue to behave in a reasonable manner, and others are expected to behave that way towards you.

What is considered reasonable depends on the league. Particularly in temporary and special leagues, it is generally not considered acceptable to permanently deprive players of their items or cause them to lose real lives. Please make sure you are aware of the expectations of any league you join.

Death Is Relative

Playerkilling involves various ways to die. Most of the time, these deaths will not reduce the number of lives that you have left. However, there are some exceptions.

The primary exception is inhumation. If your timely demise is ordered by someone willing to pay enough money to have your death rather pointedly nailed into you, you may lose a life. This is only possible if both the requester and the target are in a permanent (non-temporary) league such as Playerkillers.

Furthermore, because wimpy stops combat, it's generally a good idea to set it to zero when engaged in a fight against another player. If you wimpy during such a fight, and then some lingering effect of the combat kills you, you will lose a life because you will no longer be in combat with a player.

Beyond this, it may be possible to cause someone to lose a life for instance by causing them to fall or die to NPCs. This may happen deliberately, but also by accident. Doing this deliberately is not considered acceptable behaviour for temporary or special leagues, but is not against the rules in the Playerkillers league (although the marshal may still choose to disallow it).

See Also

league, killers, harassment, pkrules, rules