Ooo that would be cool.

Like High Noon? I think that would be neat. How would you have it go? Have the players walk away as the system counted down? What if someone fired early?

I dunno it's hard to think right now. :
Hrmm.. maybe if the players faced eachother and there was a 30 second countdown in which they can swap nasty words. And then they both turn around walk like 5 steps then a message pops up and tell's 'em to draw at which point the turn around as fast as they can and shoot eachother. I dunno how the system would work out though. Like what could you do to make a Draw purely based on the players skill and not a random thing or just related to their stats/gear?

It was generally called a "showdown." It's something I'd love to put in the game as an FPS-style feature, but there are many, many technical issues involved that would need to be worked out. Such as: How do we determine who shot first when taking into account network latency (which can be spoofed)? What method do we use to determine the trajectory of the bullet, where it hits, and even if it hits. The list goes on and on.

It's a low-priority (on the "would be nice if..." list), but something I have great personal interest in.

Could possibly give it more of a speed/timed thing - that'll at least get rid of discrepancies about lag and whatnot.

Only thing there is how would it be done and such - maybe have a system kinda like a golf game, pull the mouse back and back up.........that kinda spawns an idea right there - pull the mouse back, and while you're moving back up is when you aim.

Guess you're back to the lag part there

but maybe if the ones in the showdown will go into an arena type thing that'll just be them, so that could cut down on latency - although would be cool of people could watch

ok, sorry - I havn't the slightest idea :) just making stuff up

a quick edit......just realized how long ago this thread was made :)

We're still here, and monitoring the forums. :)

Dueling is something we've gotten many requests for. The issue is, as you already mentioned, is lag. The other issue is cheating. We cannot have the client tell us whether or not they hit their target, or what time it took to aim and fire. However, as long as we know the latency of a connection we can make a reasonable "guess." We'll be testing this in a later phase of the closed beta.

great to know, I'll be sure to check back often and post more crazy ideas

Bring on the crazy ideas! We're listening. :)

A possible way to incorporate dueling would be to use something similar to the traditional WoW style duel where it takes more than one action to win. For example, you'd have to "draw" then "aim" and then "fire." Based on the player's skill levels and his/her speed in issuing the commands the winner could be determined. There is still the issue of lag, but at least its no worse than any other MMORPG's issue with it. Peace, - Vinny

I'm thinking of it from more of a third-person idea, because the difficulty of implementing a duel or showdown from a FPS between two players seems quite complex, especially if tens to hundreds of them are going on simulataneous per server.

Here's a simpler way to implement it (that I thought of while not paying attention in class) in pseudo-code.

+ Player A selects Player B
+ Player A chooses option to initiate challenge for duel
   - Possible option for "friendly duel" or "to the death"
+ Challenge is accepted or declined by Player B

If (isAccepted == TRUE)
{
     // show some signal or marker or play some sound to signify duel
     // there may also be a way to set up a temporary border around the
     // duelers so that no one walks between them and ruins the illusion

     startCountdown(COUNTDOWN_TIME); 
     // start a countdown from a set period of time i.e. 10 seconds

     // Determine winner by using a formula that incorporates random aspects
     // As well as players' skill levels for "draw," "aim," and "fire."
     // Additional modifiers could be possible if different weapons have different
     // values for speed of drawing, aiming and firing

    draw = (CONST_DRAW_SPEED*weapon_draw_speed) / (skill_level)* random(0..1);
    // Where CONST_DRAW_SPEED is some pre-set basis value for the amount
    // of time it takes to draw a weapon, weapon_draw_speed is the
    // percentage of speedup granted by the specific weapon being used,
    // skill level is the player's level in a specific skill i.e. "gun-fighting" or
    // "pistols" and random is some random value between 0 and 1 to
    // incorporate a certain level of chance to the duel

    aim = (CONST_AIM_SPEED*weapon_aim_speed) / (skill_level)* random(0..1);
    // Where CONST_AIM_SPEED is some pre-set basis value for the amount
    // of time it takes to aim a weapon, weapon_aim_speed is the
    // percentage of speedup granted by the specific weapon being used,
    // skill level is the player's level in a specific skill i.e. "gun-fighting" or
    // "pistols" and random is some random value between 0 and 1

     fire = (CONST_FIRE_SPEED*weapon_FIRE_speed) / (skill_level)* random(0..1);
    // Where CONST_FIRE_SPEED is some pre-set basis value for the amount
    // of time it takes to fire a weapon, weapon_fire_speed is the
    // percentage of speedup granted by the specific weapon being used,
    // skill level is the player's level in a specific skill i.e. "gun-fighting" or
    // "pistols" and random is some random value between 0 and 1

    speed = draw + aim + fire;
    if (PlayerA.speed < PlayerB.speed)
    {
          // PlayerA wins
          // run some stored animation for PlayerA firing
          // run some stored animation for PlayerB being shot
    }
    else
    {
          // PlayerB wins
          // run some stored animation for PlayerB firing
          // run some stored animation for PlayerA being shot
    }

    if(duel.toTheDeath == TRUE)
    {
         // if duel was to the death
         PlayerA.kills(PlayerB);
         PlayerA.gunFighterSkill++; //PlayerA's gunfighting skill is incremented
         PlayerB.gunFighterSkill--; //PlayerB's gunfighting skill is decremented
         PlayerA.gunFighterRep++; //PlayerA's gunfighting reputation is incremented
         PlayerB.gunFighterRep++; //PlayerA's gunfighting reputation is decremented
         PlayerA.outlawLevel++;   //PlayerA's outlaw level is incremented
     }
}
       

That's the general idea anyway, there's obviously variables and considerations I'm forgetting, but for a very basic gun duel that's my sketch of how it could be implented from a third person perspective.

Peace,
- Vinny

Interesting. We may be overthinking the duels a bit on this end of things. In a perfect world, I would have liked to see twitched-based dueling, but that doesn't fit into the framework of the game without a lot of special provisions. So, it's highly unlikely we'll see a FPS or "twitch" duel.

Duels, which the outcome is based on stats, aren't much different from normal combat. There would need to be a reason for a duel, or at least a benefit to the winner and negative effect on the loser.

I guess if you're going to talk about dueling, what about Pvp?

I'd like to see consensual Pvp and not have to worry about someone camping by the newbie starting areas just shooting new players left and right.

I think PotBS has gotten this point right in that you can tag yourself Pvp active and be attacked / attack other Pvp active players anywhere (but leave the non-Pvp alone) or they have conflict areas (around the Ports) that are Pvp active zones and once you go in you're Pvp flagged automatically.

For Wild West it could be Pvp Flagged for those that always want to Pvp, consensual for duels and active Pvp areas for Indian up-raising, towns without Sheriffs, or bandit county. If you don't want to Pvp just stay out of those areas and you'd be fine. Some quests might force you into them (Army putting down the Indians, Sheriff having to clean up a town or go after the bandit gang causing the commotion etc...) but they could be set as higher level quests and groupable.

PvP has a part in Phoenix. The system, as it stands in design now, is to flag cities and towns with a "lawful" rating (for lack of a better word). Most cities would have a rating of 100% and should be considered a non-PvP zone - engaging in PvP in these zones will result in a penalty on the attacker, be it being killed by an NPC law enforcement official, losing reputation with the faction in the area, or other consequences. This rating would degrade the further away from the city or town you traveled. Areas with a 0% rating would be considered "full PvP zones."

If you've ever played Eve Online, the concept is very similar to theirs.

That said, there will be plenty of non-pvp areas for those who don't necessarily enjoy PvP-play. Personally, I'm not a PVP'er, but I can fully appreciate those that enjoy that aspect of RPGs.