From version 1.11.0 the old Curse system will be replaced with the Banish system. Parts of it were introduced in version 1.10.0, but now the full system is implemented.
Purpose
Some players make a habit of griefing, i.e. play the game in a way that sabotages it for others. The most obvious thing they do is to kill other players for no good reason, but there are many more ways you can sabotage for others.
The major benefit legitimate players have over these trolls, is their numbers. If several legitimate players identify a griefer, they should have a way to “ban” that person from playing with them.
Wording
We have adopted new language to make it more clear also to new players and players who don’t read forums what this button really does:
“Hope you get banished!” perhaps has less role play qualities than “Curse you!”, but it should be easier to understand with no pre-knowledge of the game, and the number of new players who try it out on innocent players should be less. Also, a curse could potentially have any effect, but the effect of a banishment is clearly one: the player gets exiled.
How it works
- Two hours of play time will generate a Banish Token for a player. You can only have one at a time.
- The player can use this token to give a Banish Point (BP) to a player they want to banish. You can think of this as one vote.
- Observers can also use their banish token, if they have one. Time spent observing does not generate new banish tokens though.
- Children under the age of 4 can’t use banishment tokens, and can’t be the target of one either.
- A player who accumulates too many BPs too quickly, will be punished with Banishment for a certain time. This will instantly kill the banished player’s character, and when they start a new game they will spawn in the wilderness, far away from all non-banished players. The only way to be released from banishment is to play alone in the wilderness until the banishment time has been served.
- A player who receives 3 BP in the same life, will die and get banned from their family, even if they don’t have enough BP to get banished to the wilderness. In this case they can start a new normal life, but should be very careful to not accumulate any more BPs for a long time.
- Acquiring a few BPs over long play time is not a problem, but getting many in short play time will trigger a banishment.
- If a player has recently come back from banishment, they are on probation, and fewer BPs are needed to trigger a new and longer banishment. Several recent banishments will lower the limit further. For an unpunished player, roughly one BP per play hour is ok, but more than that is dangerous.
Balancing the system
We have built the new system in a way were we can easily change the weights without having to update the app or game servers. If there are signs showing that the parameters are too loose or tight, we can fix that quickly. Feel free to send feedback that can help us achieve a good balance.
