high moon
This could also work for DSRPG3 but since that game is seemingly much further along than Chainbound, I'm making this suggestion for that game. Also this may be a tad confusing, but bare with me.
Pvp is engaged by both sides. You deal very little damage to players you randomly attack, and only deal "real" damage once they fight back. This prevents players from randomly killing so easily. On top of that, if you engage combat and lose, there is a bigger penalty than if you were the one to be attacked and killed. Negative karma and positive karma system that will allow you to explore differently from other players depending on the amount of karma.
A "rescue" feature that allows you to start combat with somebody(A) who has already started combat with a lower level player(B). Once you get into combat with (A), if you win, you will be rewarded positive karma. If you lose, (A) will be rewarded negative karma based on your level. This allows the highest level players to choose whether they want to be helpful or toxic. They will be rewarded by skill regardless of their choice. The new player(B), will likely die to (A), resulting in more negative karma for (A). Meanwhile, (B) will not be punished as they were the lowest level in the confrontation. On top of this, (A) will not be rewarded from killing (B) if (B) never tried to defend themselves.
This system allows players to be rewarded AND punished equally, regardless of how they choose to treat encounters with others.
Skill based rewards are the most satisfying kind imo, so this system could GREATLY encourage players to invest more time to learning the game and overall playing it more often. which could also lead to more engagement in general.
This is my first entirely serious suggestion, so go wild, or leave comments on how it could be improved. Or ignore this entirely 🤷♂️
violet kraken
opaque storm