The following was posted on the Age of Conan forums by a user named Synthetic. The original post and thread can be found here and is quoted in its entirety.  I thought it did a good job of explaining some of the differences between blue and red (pve and pvp) players and why games need to provide a support structure for the non-pvpers, even when the game is “a pvp game.”

Why PvP must be regulated in modern MMO’s

With all the controversy in the player community over the new PvP Fugitive system, I’d like to add the input of a 10 year veteran to the MMO/PVP community.

In every MMO I’ve played, I’ve played on a PvP server because I am that type of player. From UO to EQ, DAoC, SB, Eve (I like 0.0 space :))..and yes even WoW. I’ve pvped in nearly every major MMO to date.

From years of experience, I can tell you that PVP Must be moderated by game mechanisms to keep the pvp system alive.

Now, although I’m opposed to PVP regulation of any kind, I do see its use in today’s MMO community.

The majority of players who makeup the community for games such as AoC are NOT PvP’ers by nature. In my research, I’ve found that hardcore PvPers make up a small percentage of player-base.

The majority of players are there to advance their character, get gear/cash and socialize. They like to PvP when they want to, or sometimes like World PVP for the danger.

These people keep the MMO alive. When these non-PvP centered players leave a game en-mass, it fails. Shadowbane and the DAoC PvP servers are a prime example of what happens when un-mitigated PvP is the game’s policy.

The majority of MMO players do not like being griefed, they don’t like being interrupted in the middle of a quest or raid, etc. Me, personally, I get pissed when I die in PVP, but I chalk it up to the fact I live on a PvP server, and I turn my anger into determination to exact revenge on the person. Not everyone is like this.

So you may ask yourself, how can I tell a PvPer from a non PvPer on a PVP server? Simple.. If you kill this person, and they send you hate mail/flames via /tell, you have killed a non-PvPer. People who play on PvP servers because they enjoy it will rarely bitch at you for killing them, even if you grief them. We know it just comes with the territory, and we make adjustments for that.

To validate my point, I’ll give you an example of the first instance of MMO PvP mitigation. Ultima Online was an awesome game for many years, and most of the people who played the game were computer geeks. Face it, UO started in the 90’s and was in its prime then. The people who played it were all D&D, or TextMUD veterans who liked the realistic environment of a world where you could kill anyone, anywhere. Just like real medieval life.

Fast forward a few years, what happened to UO once it became main stream? Normal people, i.e. people who had never been into the TextMUD or D&D seen start taking interest in this game.. and there are ALOT of them. They dislike the fact that they can be killed at anytime while mining, or hunting Wyrms or Lichs. So, Origin enacts the Facet system to please both sides of the community. UO had a PVP consequence system from the start.. kill someone and you get flagged grey for x amount of time, NPCs wont talk to you, and guards can be called on you. Also players can attack you in cities. Eventually, you become a murderer (flagged Red). You are KoS everywhere and people like to hunt you down.

Facets came into play, and now all the Red players are forced into the Felucca Facet, and all non-PvP people stay in Trammel. UO actually gained alot of strength after this system was enacted, because more normal players played the game.

Fast forward to Dark Ages of Camelot. Great game, and I believe the first MMO to utilize instanced dungeons and PvP battleground areas combined with elements of large-scale pvp battle. PvP server population was extremely high until the game got mainstream winds and when new MMO players were confronted with the reality of 24/7 un-mitigated PVP, they moved to blue servers. The PvP server population went so low they merged the servers together.

Move on to Shadowbane. Huge hype, alot of anticipation in the MMO community and it was very popular at first. Although Shadowbane failed due to more issues than just the PvP system, I believe the PvP had a large part to due with people’s intolerance for bugs and server issues. People realized they didn’t want to be ganked or robbed at any given time while camping a mob for a Discipline Rune, or while completing quests.

Come to modern day World of Warcraft. Love it or hate it, WoW is an extremely successful game. It combines alot of elements of modern MMO’s in a very good way. The WoW Battleground system is extremely popular in the game, as it allows players to PvP at their convenience. Also, the PvP servers in WoW are a bit.. lame for my tastes, but they run well with high populations. The system of Horde vs. Alliance helps to mitigate griefing and rampant PvP on these servers because it provides a system of checks and balances. And once again, even if you hate WoW you must admit it works.. 7million+ monthly subscribers world wide, last time I looked.. thats saying something.

This brings me to another point. World of Warcraft has brought the MMO to front of the media. It is because of WoW that the MMO industry is booming again and allows games like AoC to be developed and marketed effectively.

Also, you must remember that alot of people playing AoC are probably WoW veterans, and WoW may have been their first MMO experience.

Now we come to Age of Conan. So far, seems like a great game with a ton of potential for the future if it is tweaked right. Its doing a great job of providing all the fun elements of an MMO, even on the PvP servers. I think a fugitive system is the right direction for the PvP servers because it provides a safety net for those players who may play on a PvP server, but may not be totally committed PvP’ers. Having this system in place, if done correctly, will not ruin the game, but I think provide the PvP servers with more strength.

You PvP’ers may hate Carebears, I know I do, but face the facts.. they’re growing and they’re here to stay, and unless we can bring these players into the PvP realm and have them realize that it is enjoyable to be in World-PvP, us Hardcore-PVPers will eventually be extinct in the MMO realm. The only way to accomplish this is by providing them a gentle pillow to fall on in a game based on PvP combat.. that Pillow is the fugitive system (hopefully).