That’s a great point. If it were a slider setting, like ‘Player Hostage Duration’, then players on private servers could turn it off, if they preferred. You’re right, they’ve previously had to make some hard decisions, like restricting raid times, and implemented them as options for server admins to decide.
It’s amazing how fast this thread has grown. Just over a day and already has third place for most posts in the General Discussion.
To fuel the discussion further, I’d love to have some options, like nailing a player to a cross. Eventually they would bleed to death. But they can be freed, thus bringing the gameplay full-circle, as a player liberates another. Perhaps alliances are formed. “Who put you there, and why?” A five-minute time-out before death. Enough to take a piss, and reconsider your life choices.
I don’t think we need to avoid certain gameplay features because of the possibility for griefing. Maybe some people haven’t played PvP servers as much as others of us have, but griefing is a fact of life. Players will find ways to grief one another, no matter the mechanic. Building ‘cells’ around a player who falls unconscious out in the open. Spamming global chat or local chat with sexist / racist / downright revolting remarks. Repeatedly killing and raiding players until they quit the server. Being ‘captured’ by another player should be the least of your worries, if you’re scared about being griefed. If a player can and will capture you repeatedly to grief you, they will also resort to other tactics…