Are there any MMORPGs with consequences?

[sethmachine]

I'm looking for an MMORPG that has actual consequences.

In typical MMORPGs like Runescape, WoW, etc., the character is generally free to level up, explore, do quests, etc. without requiring the interaction of other players.

In general, other players cannot antagonize or impede each other except in special circumstances (e.g. Runescape's wilderness).

I'm looking for an MMORPG where being able to harass, kill, impede, or otherwise perform other negative actions on other human (and NPC) players is unrestricted. It does not matter if the player is level 1 and just starting and another is level 100. The level 100 can go and kill them if they wish too.

This MMORPG would also have significant consequences if a player was killed. In the extreme case, they would lose their character and have to start over.

However, the MMORPG would also provide incentive for not being a murderous psychopath. Perhaps there is a environmental threat that requires players to cooperate, e.g. think Game of Thrones White Walkers.

Damage from fighting, either from human players or the environment might also be permanent. So, like in real life, there is a lot more incentive to use diplomacy over force. Yes, you can murder the helpless peasant players, but it's going to cost you an arm and a leg, and you'll need your full strength for the real baddies.

If there's in game magic / religion, a player could invoke a curse on themselves if they murder/steal too much, especially low level players.

Leveling would also scale in diminishing returns fashion, so that while higher levels help in battles, it's generally not possible to 1 shot a player. Lower level characters could also retreat or defend themselves even in these cases. Thus, the entrenched expert players need to be proactive to maintain their hold on the game/world, especially as new players trickle in and work together, as everyone is human and killable.

The game would be set in a giant overworld and be able to feature thousands of players at once. I imagine a Medival/Fantasy setting.

What kind of games exist like this?

 

[Naze]

Wow you went far into this description. I know that:

Darkfall (at least what they promised before launching, I don't know how's the game now) was something like this. Players would chose characters from races that had control over regions in a continent and the whole universe was open PvP. The difference between cities and the open wilderness would be the town guards, which aren't invincible - so if you are in a very strong clan and organize a raid to an enemy town, you would be able to overcome the guards and kill the players inside. Also destroy the buildings.

A very old (veeery old) an cool game about that is Ultima Online. Everywhere except in towns was open PvP. If you die, your body will lie on the floor with all your items, just like when you kill any monster in the game. However it wasn't total anarchy, there was a cool "karma" system that kept people from destroying each other's game: if you were a regular citizen, you'll have a blue name. If you commit a crime (e.g. opening someone's backpack and taking items from it (yeah you could do that), or killing blue named citizens), your name will be grey for a while. If you kill 5 blue named citizens, your name will be permanently red and you'll be a PK. If you see a grey-named or red-named player you're free to attack, rob or kill him if you wish, and it won't give you bad karma. Killing a red-named player will give you good karma, actually.

As a consequence, Ultima Online created a very cool community where blue-named players got together to hunt outside town and level up (so we could protect eachother from PKs); PKs formed guilds and raided dungeons, forests and other popular areas to hunt down blue-named players, we would do justice with our hands with small thieves (grey-named players) and so on. All this while looting each other's corpses.

Others I know that have gameplay along those lines (but I haven't played):

*Life is Feudal
*Gloria Victis
*others, but now I forgot, lol