Player versus player

Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of combat in MMORPGs, MUDs and other computer role-playing games pitting a player's skill against another's, where the goal is ultimately the death of the opponent's player character. While this can include player killing or PKing, this term is usually used in a narrower sense. It is the antithesis of combating mobs, known as player versus monster (PvM) or player versus environment (PvE).

History and Background

PvP combat has its roots in various MUDs like Gemstone III. However, while the ability to kill another player existed in many MUDs, it was usually frowned upon because of general strict adherences and heavy influences from role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. The term PvP originated in Neverwinter Nights, a multi-player roleplaying game hosted by America Online in 1991. Originally intended to be PvM, a work-around was found that allowed players to cast spells to damage other players. After much discussion, PvP was sanctioned and certain areas were labeled "Player versus Player" and the term PvP was born.

Other early MMORPGs, including Meridian 59 (1996) and Ultima Online (1997), also had PvP combat as a feature. In Ultima Online, the goal was to allow players to police themselves in a "frontier justice" way. In Meridian 59, the game tried to focus PvP by having different political factions for players to join. However, these games tended to be unfriendly to more casual players. With the popularity of EverQuest in 1999, primarily consisting of PvM elements (with the exception of limited PvP on one specific server), PvP became a negative for MMORPG players and developers.

Despite a lack of popularity, PvP has remained in other games such as Asheron's Call in late 1999, Diablo II in 2000, Dark Age of Camelot in 2001, Asheron's Call 2 in 2002 amd Shadowbane in 2003. While these games included PvP, they still contained large portions of prerequisite PvM, mostly to build characters. Critics argued the comprehensiveness of this type of PvP lacked in comparison to Ultima Online's implementation before the release of the Age of Shadows expansion. The main concerns voiced by critics were lack of an individual's skill involved (primarily reaction time and hand-eye coordination), heavy dependence on items, and too much prerequisite PvM to build a character. Some MMORPGs currently in development are starting to use competitive PvP, such as dueling, as a main feature. In most MMORPGs, dying results in negative consequences. Therefore being the losing party in PvP combat is undesirable. For example, in Asheron's Call, you lose items upon death.

Though many MUDs have gone the route of roleplay intensive gameplay (RPI), or followed the hack 'n slash trends in popular graphical MMORPGs, some MUDs have focused strongly on the PvP gameplay. Many MUD designers claim that PvP in graphical MMORPGs is not player-skill oriented, and that the more versatile gameplay of text-based MUDs can allow for better PvP combat implementation.

In 1995, Richard Woolcock, often known as "KaVir", created the original God Wars MUD. The game proved popular, but eventually died out in March 1996 due to staff disputes and balance issues in the game. The code itself was released to the public as "GodWars", a codebase which is used by over a hundred MUDs today. The stock gameplay elements of GodWars and its successors, such as Dystopia and Utopia, have made it the most accessible codebase for PvP-oriented MUDs to date.

In most MUDs, players engaged in PvP are usually separated from the rest of the community, and are organized in clans, or other player-run groups as well. A few of the most popular MUDs who lay claim to advanced PvP combat systems are Godwars II, Achaea, MUME, Clandestine MUD, Realms of Despair, DragonRealms: The Fallen, Everwar, and Duris: Land of Bloodlust.

On August 4 2005, the Chinese government announced a ban on all "violent" MMORPG play for minors (under 18). Chinese officials defined "violent" as any game that involves player vs. player combat. This new policy is part of a crackdown on pornographic, violent, gambling and superstitious content on the internet and mobile phone networks in an effort to create a so-called "healthy online environment".^*

Classifications

Player killing

Player killing, or PKing, is nonconsensual and usually random. It is only possible in games that offer "open PvP", where one player can attack another without warning. An aggressor attacks an opponent without agreement to any set of rules of engagement or combat. This can include "stealing" spawns, camping corpses, blockading towns, and any other action which constitutes griefing another party. In Ultima Online, prior to the release of the Renaissance expansion which added a Trammel facet where PvP was not allowed, a rift formed of those who enjoyed PKing and the Anti-PK groups.

Players often find PK deaths to be unfair since the most effective tactics require surprise or attacking an opponent in a weakened state. In PvM, the goal is to learn the pattern of the monsters and often to exploit those patterns for fastest gains. Fighting challenging monsters in online games usually requires a period of recuperation before fighting another monster, and this downtime is the perfect chance for a PKer to strike. PvP, and more specifically PKing, goes against the predictability of the game. While some people enjoy this aspect of gameplay and won't play without it, some do not and will avoid any game with significant PvP options.

Character death in an online game usually comes with a penalty, so PKers are not well-liked. In some games a character will die many times and the player must often sacrifice some experience points (XP) or gold to restore that character to life. Permanent death (such that the player must create a new character) is relatively uncommon in online games in general and more specifically when PK is involved.

Dueling

Dueling is both consensual and competitive. Both parties agree to a certain set of rules before combat, which can include a specified area and restrictions on items and combat type. Dueling ladders and leagues setup by fans are common for most MMORPGs that have PvP. Final Fantasy XI was the first MMORPG to debut a formal dueling system ingame (Ballista); other MMORPGs such as City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Guild Wars feature PvP as competitive, consensual dueling in a group setting. This removes the unpredictable element from PvP, allowing players to challenge each other on "even" ground.

Flagging

EverQuest uses a system that involves a PK flag, where a character has their PK flag set to off by default. However, by completing a small quest a player can permanently turn on their PK flag. Once activated, there is no way to turn the flag off, and the player is an open target for other players who have their flags similarly activated. Other games have a similar bounty system where players that kill or heal other players open themselves up to being killed in return. This is sometimes called the "revenge flag" or RF. Use of this 'bounty' system is not standardized among MMORPGs, and there are debates raging about how to 'police' the system to avoid abuse.

Player versus monster

Player versus monster or PvM is the traditional system used in most MUDs (as opposed to player versus player, which focuses primarily on combat between human players). In some games (notably Lineage II) it is called Player versus Enemy/Environment or PVE.

Player versus Environment

Many new MMORPGs advertise themselves as being Player versus Environment or PvE meaning there is more depth to the interaction between the player and the game than merely killing monsters. Some aspects of PvE include scripted events and special 'world' encounters that require a large group of capable players to defeat safely.

Examples of Different PvP Systems

Meridian 59

In Meridian 59, one of the first modern 3D MMORPGs, characters have flags to indicate their status. A new character is protected by a "guardian angel", which prevents the player from participating in PvP combat until they gain a small amount of power. This system allows players to get familiar with the game without being attacked immediately. However, this system has been abused in the past to protect characters that were used to cast spells to influence a battle, such as healing a combatant. Most of these abuses have been fixed.

There are also flags indicating status. All players start as innocents (with names over their head printed in white text), but attacking another innocent will flag the attacker as an outlaw (with an orange name). If an attacker kills another player, they gain murderer (with a red name) status. There are no penalties for attacking or killing outlaws. Once an outlaw dies, they go back to being an innocent. A murderer cannot lose that status unless pardoned by a player-elected justicar.

The game has also implemented systems to encourage PvP between consenting players. The game allows two clans/guilds to mutually declare war on each other and fight without penalty. There is no penalty for attacking a member of a guild that has declared mutual war. Either guild can sue for peace, but this places a financial burden on the guild to do this. Another PvP system involves the political factions in the game. After gaining a certain amount of power, a faction member can receive a shield and become a soldier for the faction. There is no penalty for attacking a soldier with a shield from another faction. If a soldier kills a rival faction soldier, they gain status and increased powers from the faction.

Lineage II

Currently one of the most active PvP games is Lineage II. Most of the goals of the game directly revolve around the PvP aspect. In this particular MMORPG, almost all clans/guilds are PvP-oriented, and the siege feature of the game is exclusively a massive PvP event involving up to 300 or more people centering around the capture and defense of a clan's castle (there are five or more castles in the game that can be conquered by clans). The opportunities for both solo and party PvP are numerous outside the towns, which are marked as peace zones. Lineage II incorporates a "flagging" system whereby players have to make a conscious effort to attack another PC (in this case pressing the ctrl and attack hotkey simultaneously). When a player "flags" or attacks another player, his name changes color from neutral white to purple, and other players can choose to flag him or her as well. If one successfully kills a flagged player, he receives a PvP point on his PvP counter.

PK on the other hand in Lineage II is defined as killing a "white" or neutral player, one who has not attacked or flagged back. When a player PKs another, his name changes to red and he receives a certain amount of "karma" points based on the number of people he has just pked, as well as his current PK count, which is separate from his PvP counter (the higher it is, the more karma he has to burn). In red or PK status the chances of a player dropping equipment increase to almost 90%, and thus red players are heavily targeted by those outside his or her own clan or alliance, hence rendering getting rid of karma an absolute necessity. The only way a player can be rid of karma is by a) killing a number of mobs, b) losing karma points by dying. It often takes several deaths to lose karma on a character that pvps frequently, which serves as an effective PK deterrent to those wary of losing XP (experience points). Lineage II has no hard and fast rules regarding PK or PvP, nor servers to separate PvE (Player versus mob) and PvP gameplay (as compared to World of Warcraft).

World of Warcraft

In World of Warcraft, PvP is an optional feature and heavily regulated. Characters come from one of two factions, and apart from duels and the "arena", PvP is limited to combat between the factions. World of Warcraft includes both normal, or PvE (player vs environment), and PvP servers. On a normal server, characters cannot be attacked by other characters except in designated 'battlegrounds' locations, unless they have "flagged" for PvP through a command or attacking a flagged enemy. On a PvP server, characters adventuring in areas outside of the initial starting areas are automatically flagged and players of the opposite faction in these regions, which make up the bulk of the game-world, may attack one another without restriction. Players may also "raid" cities and towns belonging to the other faction, attacking the NPCs there. On a PvP server, many of the guidelines for appropriate behavior are relaxed-- players are expected to enforce these guidelines themselves.

In World of Warcraft, victories in PvP contribute points of honor to that character. Every week, characters are awarded ranks based on their honor relative to other players. These ranks permit players access to high-level items. Similarly, players fighting in battlegrounds gain reputation with their faction's army in that location, in addition to any honor they accumulate for their PvP. Sufficient reputation allows players to purchase high-level gear that is otherwise inaccessible, and is more appropriate to PvP play. Thus, in World of Warcraft, PvP is presented as an alternative to traditional PvE gameplay.

Flyff

In Flyff, PvP is optional, there is a specially marked PK server, where PvP is free-for-all. However, it is impossible for the starting class, the Vagrant, to be attacked or attack although they can still access the server. There is also a special arena in the PvM servers, where players can ask other players to duel.

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