In most kinds of strategy games, there is a war going on. Eventually, one player or team dominates the map, banishing the other players to oblivion. This works great when that is the object of the game. It does not work so well, however, when the game is a peristant world based on world lore where the war lasts for years and years. One faction dominating the world ruins the persistant world for all the other players not in that faction, because they have no hope of beating the dominating empire. This has happened in both Ultima Online (on the standard shards in felucia not the siege ruleset shards) and also in Shadowbane.
Many times, this happens because game designers trying to design a pvp world think that it is better to be able to completey destroy towns and housing, allowing one faction to win destroying the map and the reason for playing to begin with.
Let us look at warfare and faction in the real world. Why does one empire not dominate our entire globe? There are several reasons for this. The first of these is that for thousands of years we did not have a fast system of communication with the other people around the world. It was hard for news to travel very far very fast. But this is far from the only reason that we do not have a gobal empire. There are several different cultures and terrain types thoughout the world. Certain cultures seem to thrive in certain terrain types, and wither away on others. For instance, Muslims thrive in the desert, and do poorly in temperate or humid climates. Furthmore, if one faction gets ahead technologically, others soon follow. Even if the faction that got ahead technologically tries to keep the technology to itself, somehow, it always gets out to the other enemy side of the fence. Finally, war is a costly thing for all sides, the wars are usually over resources, as soon as there are less people less resources are needed, so the fighting stops. For the most part, no one is trying to completely eliminate the other side. First of all, it is futile to try to eliminate a people that is as strong as your people are, secondly it just seems that people would rather trade for what they need rather than dominate the whole world.
Some pvp based mmorpgs try to have things in game like siege warfare and house destruction. The trouble is, once the winning guild takes the losing guilds houses, what are they going to do with it? In Ultima Online, you were limited to one house per account, a guideline that makes sense. There are only so many houses a person can occupy in real life as well. It makes little sense to have a lot of houses everywhere, and not even remember how many you have (like a certain presidential candidate who did not win the US election) Players characters can really only be in one location at a time, so the same guild does not really need ten different towns. One town is adaquite for the needs of most guilds (although perhaps they might have outposts for specifice purposes) really, there is only one place where a given group of people tend to hang out and meet up. It is easier to find your friends and guild mates where you already know they will be, rather than trying to be everywhere at once when you don't know where to go. Furthermore, consider travel times. That is why it makes sense to have a home base rather than scattering the empire all over the world.
Realistcally, a human does not want the orc stick huts built on the undesirable savannah or the orc forts built into the sides of the moutains. The orcs have no desire for the thick forests found in human and elven lands. While undead seem to be more comfortable in any terrain, they tend to perfer places that are more remote and out of the way, as well as places that have an erie or gloomy feel, such as swamps.
Logically, it makes no sense to raid and destroy towns filled with a bunch of monsters living a low level of of sophistication. Where are you going to put the hundreds of rusty swords that you loot from the losing guilds treasury? Thats right, you don't need that stuff. No one in your guild can use it, and they sure are not buying it at the shops. If they actually had something worth taking, however, it would make more sense. If they are guarding a mine with valuable minerals, or protecting an area with dragons that have solid scales for armor, well, then it makes sense to kill them and take the resources.
You could cite vengance as a reason for doing this, after all orcs killed your family, or whatever, but the fact of the matter is, as soon as you wipe them out in one area, they keep coming back, and if they don't then the world gets peaceful and boring. You spend the rest of the time picking flowers and decorating your over-priced home. Wait a moment, this was supposed to be a pvp game, so where are the other players to fight. Thats right, they all quit because you looted their last rusty sword and had no way to get back on their feet.
Thats why you should not be able to take houses from other players and loot all their stuff. If you think that is a good idea, then I have houses in Detroit Michiagan and Baltimore Maryland to sell you. After all, land is valuable wherever it is, even if no one wants to live there.
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