quote: Original post by pUnkOuter

that is a sick, twisted idea, Wavinator... i love it

quote: Original post by Ironblayde

Me too... any ideas as to how you would implement such a thing

Implementing a player conscience?? Hmm... Let''s see...

I''d make your ability to kill based on your character''s upbringing and culture. Each person would get a "Conscience" stat. The less you''ve been in civilization (raised by wolves), the more horribly mistreated, or the more warlike your culture, the lower this rating would be.

If your conscience is at max, you''re Saint Francis of Assis, and can''t even kill vermin. But if it''s 0, then you''re capable of all manner of torture, murder, and evil. Things that happen in the game could raise or lower this stat (uhh... like the quest in Asheron''s Call to bring back the head of a pregnant elf... blech!)

NPC''s should respond to the stat, but modified by your Charisma. That way, madmen and mass murder murderers can charm their way past society''s defenses ("he always seemed like a nice guy...")

Also, you could break it up between "self" and "other," btw. That way, you could love your God, family and clansmen while hacking to death your enemy''s babies (like so-called civilized folks have done the world over).

For medieval times, you could also break the conscience stat along class / race / gender lines. That way, it would grieve you to kill a brother noble, but mistreating serfs, slaves, and women would be fine. It all depends on how you want to emulate the congnitive disconnect humans seem to be so good at sustaining.

--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...