Have to ask the question because an ex guild member contacted me and explained he wanted to set up a hardcore PvP guild with hard core RP.  Hardcore PvP I have no problem with, but he continued to explain that they will most likely go out killing people randomly.  Personally I hate ganking and killing for killing sake as I always need a reason.

So what does everone think?  Can ganking be justified if heavy RP is mixed in? 

Sorry the survey is supposed to say,

"Can Ganking be justified with heavy RP?"

Sure it can. Me and a buddy used to go gank newbies all the time in an effort to piss someone off enough that they would rally other high levels to come fight us, simply because BG's/Arenas were boring and we wanted world PvP, and this was the most realistic way.

EDIT: Just realized you said with RP, which I don't know because I don't RP.

which game are you playing in, death penalty is important here.

It's a dangerous world out there...

you better be prepared for it.

their are cut throats and highway men...

Don't come whining to me if you weren't cautious enough to avoid them.

Like the OP, I don't care to gank w/o a decent reason, like a guild enemy or a reasonably fair fight.  One sided slaughters don't appeal to me, however it for some folks this is their preferred mode of play.

As long as gankers aren't rewarded for this behavior I see no big deal. 

I'm currently playing ROM, and if a player more than 10 levels (?) above me ganks me, then none of my items drop.

But anything closer, and its fair game, and I have no issue with it.

Originally posted by chryses

Have to ask the question because an ex guild member contacted me and explained he wanted to set up a hardcore PvP guild with hard core RP.  Hardcore PvP I have no problem with, but he continued to explain that they will most likely go out killing people randomly.  Personally I hate ganking and killing for killing sake as I always need a reason.

So what does everone think?  Can ganking be justified if heavy RP is mixed in? 

 

In any open pvp environment ganking is always justified.

Originally posted by chs5138

Originally posted by chryses

Have to ask the question because an ex guild member contacted me and explained he wanted to set up a hardcore PvP guild with hard core RP.  Hardcore PvP I have no problem with, but he continued to explain that they will most likely go out killing people randomly.  Personally I hate ganking and killing for killing sake as I always need a reason.

So what does everone think?  Can ganking be justified if heavy RP is mixed in? 

 

 

In any open pvp environment ganking is always justified.

I actually agree with this, if the game is ffa the newbies should know what they're getting themselves into.

I disagree and agree at the same time I think that if you are ganking people that are the same level as you and you are role playing it is acceptable but if you are ganking somone who is much lower then you it is not. 

Justify ganking with RP? That's insanely easy, you really need to ask?

You like to murder, or are a band of brigands.

You hate the members of the other faction for whatever atrocities they committed in the past.

You're insane.

You're soldiers, they're the enemy, killing them is your job.

I'm guessing you're new to RP.

Even if they want to roleplay a villain, even villains have their motives for murder. Most villains only commit murder to achieve their goals and not randomly go out and commit senseless murder. But gankers simply gank for fun and the feeling of "power" it gives them that stimulates their brain's pleasure senses. They thinks their actions is "fine" just because it is an online game and it doesn't hurt anybody. They are not afraid of the consequences of their actions. Imagine an mmo in which you can only have 1 life and if your character dies, it is gone as you cannot resurrect and immediate gets deleted. People would argue then that this game won't be fun. But for those who plays it, they would be very careful with their actions because it has consequences. If they simply go out and randomly kill players, sooner or later someone is gonna come kill them and all their "hard work" on their character will be gone.

Conclusion: PK gankers/griefers are just like alchoholics drinking Non-Alchoholic beer.

Interesting arugement. I agree.

The time period of the game is important.

Say your playing in a medeival setting, back then all you had to do was look at some one wrong and you could lose your head.

Is it's a savage time in a kill or be killed world?

With that said there is a huge diffrence between, stealth killing some distracted newbie, and walking up to someone and saying "I don't like the way you look" and killing him. If you realy are going to Rpvp I think you need to let your victims know other wise it's just un fun for one side.

If the rules state you can be attacked anywhere, be ready for it.  Its that simple really.  You cant go crying after it happens bcuz you werent ready for it.

This is even more justified under heavy RP.  In RL youre not going to let the enemy finish what theyre doing, heal, buff, and then attack them.  You're going to use the biggest advantage you can get.

Absolutely.  It's a game and as long as you follow all the rule dictated by it, I see no problem harrassing a lowbie hours and hours on end.

Ganking means something different to everyone, so we'll just go with the most encompassing definition - fighting someone who has little to no chance of defending against the attack.

If that's the case, the next question is what MMO is it? If it's an MMO with territory control or an MMO where that weaker opponent has the ability to influence the tides of war, then you have plenty of reason in-character and out to kill them, so I say have at it.

In an MMO like WOW, or even UO, where player ability to affec tthe game world is low or non-existent, then I would say the big thing to keep in mind is what your victim will think once the attack is over. Here's some examples:

Ultima Online: I played an enviromentalist killer that slaughtered anyone that entered a certain area of the map. Two things that I tried to make very clear, in an incharacter manner on the boards and in talking to players ingame, were why I was doing it and that I was only looting what my character needed (arrows, bandages, leather armor). After each kill, I told the ghost to resurrect, get their things and get out of my forest. I also hunted on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.

• Players knew when I'd be in the woods
• Players knew why I was attacking
• Players knew that if they died they weren't going to be looted dry
• It made for an interactive experience WITH the other players instead of a one-sided PKfest at the expense of other players.
•  

Asheron's Call: There used to be a player on the PvP server named Halloween-DT. If she spotted you and you were low level, she often times would emote a howl or something to give you fair warning. The howl itself was enough to get the adrenaline rushing, and you were at least given a chance - albeit a very small one :) - to try to run like hell and save your own ass.

In games like PotBS and EVE, pirates will sometimes ask for a 'toll' or 'ransom'.

If your goal is to RP, which usually is also a goal to amuse yourself and the others around you, and you've got a situation where you undeniably have the upperhand, it's the perfect opportunity to add a bit of depth to that roleplay. It goes a long way toward gaining a positive rep for your actions instead of being considered 'gankers hiding behind rp'.

I'd say try it. Have fun with it. If you're lucky, players will mobilize against you, do patrols, and incorporate your nasty band of evildoers into their regular gameplay as a welcomed adversary instead of griefers.

Ganking is cool if it's against same levels or maybe higher ones, but marching round what is more often or not a starting zone and slaughtering newbies is a. Cowardly b. Boring and c. Pointless. Anyone who feels there is justification in hyperthetically ruining a new players game experience, purely for the sake of it should cast their minds way way back to when they started the game and consider whether they would apreciate such mean spirited behaviour levied at themselves.

Originally posted by Capernicus

Ganking is cool if it's against same levels or maybe higher ones, but marching round what is more often or not a starting zone and slaughtering newbies is a. Cowardly b. Boring and c. Pointless. Anyone who feels there is justification in hyperthetically ruining a new players game experience, purely for the sake of it should cast their minds way way back to when they started the game and consider whether they would apreciate such mean spirited behaviour levied at themselves.

Ganking is supposed to be unfair. The way I look at it I been ganked plenty of times I dont care who it was, Im goin to get my revenge even if its not the person who ganked me, Ill take it out on someone from the same race or faction even if its lower levels. Plus I think it can be pretty fun pissing someone off to the point they log off, while Im laughing as I scamper off to find another victim. IF ITS RED ITS DEAD!!!

Southparks "Make LOVE not WARCRAFT" best sums up GANKING. All a GANKER is a NO Lifer who has nothing better to do then RUIN the game with thier CHILD like antics to try to prove to themself that they may of been bullied in RL but NO one is going to BULLIE them in a VIRTUAL world.

I've played plenty of open-pvp MMOs, and I have never been into the ganking scene.

I don't think I've ever once randomly attacked newbies unless I was raiding a village and they were in my way or a member of the opposite faction was taking my spawns or annoying me in some way. I've NEVER gone out 'just to kill'. I'm actually usually the high-levelled guy that hides around in newbie areas of my own faction and ganks gankers.

I'm not a carebear, and I'm not friendly to opposing factions. I will kill at the drop of the dime if I have a reason, but I just feel like too much of a dick killing newbies that are trying to level up or complete a quest and are keeping to themselves.

That's for lower-levelled characters, though. A friend and I used to randomly gank higher-level characters when we played Vanilla WoW back in the day. We were both Gnomish Engineers with Death Rays, and we would pop out of sneak (both Rogues) and zap some level 50-60 simultaneously. They were always one hit kills if they weren't Warriors. I wish I could've seen the anger of a level 50-60, epicced Warlock getting blown to smitherines in seconds by two level 27 Rogues.