Courier

This is still being actively discussed here: EQNL Forum Thread

Talk:Courier '''< --- Contributors! Please discuss topics here!'''

Principle

 * The main idea is to provide a structured and safe way for players to transport Goods for each other. The system, by its very nature, encourages players to travel broadly to locations they may have never traveled to otherwise, all while earning a tidy sum of gold.

Summary

 * A player that wishes to have Goods transported from one location to another can request that a Courier pick up the Goods from a point of Origin and carry them to a specific Destination.  The Origin and Destination are represented by a player-crafted Prop called a Mailbox. The Goods are represented by an item called a Sealed Package .  The task of posting a request for a Courier can be done using player-crafted Props placed on claims or through trading.

What does the Courier DO?

 * In order for a Courier to begin a delivery task they must acquire a Courier Contract. The Courier Contract lists the details of the delivery task that the Courier  must follow to achieve a Successful Delivery.


 * 1) Customer: The player that created the Courier Contract.
 * 2) Origin: The location of the Mailbox the Courier travels to in order to pick up the Sealed Package to be delivered.
 * 3) Destination: The location of the Mailbox where the Courier deposits the Sealed Package.
 * 4) Goods: The contents of the Sealed Package.
 * 5) Expiration: The date/time the Sealed Package must be delivered by in order for the Courier to achieve a Successful Delivery.
 * 6) Reward: The amount of money paid to the Courier upon achieving a Successful Delivery.
 * 7) Collateral:  (Hardcore PvP ONLY) The amount of money that the Courier must pay in order to accept the Courier Contract. All of the Collateral is returned to the Courier upon a Successful Delivery. If the Courier Fails Delivery they forfeit the Collateral to Customer.


 * After accepting a Courier Contract from a Courier Board, the Courier travels to the Origin claim and recives the Sealed Package upon crossing the threshold.  Then travels to the Destination, the Sealed Package is automatically delivered to the mailbox at the destination adress upon crossing the threshold. This is to allow the creativity for the claim owner with out needing to place the required devices in an easy to locate positon. Also to allow for safer delivery upon entering a PvP claim on a PvE server. If the Courier crosses the Destination threshold before the Courier Contract expires the Sealed Package is automatically placed in the Mailbox, the Courier achieves a Successful Delivery. A UI element pops up displaying a summary of the Successful Delivery including the amount of time it took to deliver the Sealed Package and how this impacts the Courier 's Courier Rep (rating). The UI element also allows the Courier  to give the Customer a discount of any amount before the Reward is paid to the Courier.

Successful Delivery

 * Successful Delivery is achieved when a Courier with a Courier Contract deposits the listed Sealed Package into a Destination Mailbox. The Courier can deposit the Sealed Package simply by entering into the destination claim and are not required to locate the physical Mailbox within the game. This will add to their Courier Rep(rating), which helps Customers distinguish fast & reliable Couriers from others. High Courier Rep will essentially be a badge of honor for those that do the job well.


 * Upon Successful Delivery, the Courier has the option to give the Customer a discount of any amount from the Reward that is paid to the Courier. This is useful for guilds or for players that wish to differentiate themselves by allowing Customers to retain more of their money as a sign of good faith.

Failed Delivery

 * Failed Delivery happens when a Courier remains disconnected from the game for more than 10 minutes or passes the Expiration time on a Courier Contract. This will subtract from their Courier Rep.


 * Upon Failed Delivery, the Courier Contract returns to the Courier Board for other Couriers to access. The Expiration is reset to 30 minutes from the time of the Failed Delivery.


 * (Casual PvP ONLY) : The Courier fails the Courier Contract upon death and the Courier Contract is reset to its original location. They may try again given sufficent time but must be sure they have enough time or the Courier Contract will fail again if it expires.


 * (Hardcore PvP ONLY) : The Courier forfeits all Collateral that they paid when they accepted the Courier Contract and all of the collateral is paied to the customer. When the Courier Contract expires the Sealed Package is immediately unpackaged into the Goods it contains.
 * If a Courier is killed by another player the killer can then steal the Courier Contract. The killer then may choose to deliver the package or keep it until the Courier Contract expires. If the Courier Contract is delivered 40% of the collateral goes to the theif and 60% returns to the origianl courier. If the Courier Contract is not delivered then the customer recives the entirety of the Collateral.
 * (See hPvP description for more details)

Player vs. Player / Player vs. Environment

 * The demands placed on a Courier in a Hardcore PvP server will be fundamentally different from those placed on a Courier in a PvE or Casual PvP server.

PvE & Casual PvP

 * On a server where the core ruleset is PvE or Casual PvP, death will not cause a Failed Delivery. The Courier can continue to attempt to deliver the Sealed Package as long as the Courier Contract has not Expired. The Courier  may forfeit a Courier Contract at any time, though in doing so they lose Courier Rep for the delivery.

Hardcore PvP

 * On a server where the core ruleset is Hardcore PvP the Courier will be a prime target for unscrupulous players as well as enemy NPCs . If the Courier is killed the Collateral that they paid to accept the Courier Contract will be held in escrow until the Expiration of the Courier Contract. If the Courier recovers the Sealed Package from the NPC or player that killed them and they deliver the Sealed Package before the Courier Contract Expires their Collateral is refunded and they achieve a Successful Delivery. If the Courier Contract Expires and the Sealed Package has not been delivered their Collateral is paid to the Customer and the Courier achieves a Failed Delivery.


 * If another player kills the Courier and they loot the Sealed Package from the Courier's corpse they can decide to either deliver the Sealed Package or wait for the Courier Contract to expire.


 * If the Interceptor delivers the package their "Interceptor" statistic increases by 1 and they receive 40% of the Collateral, 60% of the Collateral is refunded to the Courier. The Courier does not receive Courier Rep if the Interceptor delivered the Sealed Package.


 * If the Interceptor waits until the Courier Contract expires the Sealed Package is unpacked and the Interceptor receives the contents. The Courier has a Failed Delivery, the Collateral is paid to the Customer.

Points of Dispute
Guaranteed Delivery:

It has been suggested that players who purchase items from the Market Board should be able to select an option for  "guaranteed delivery".

This option would only be available from the market board when purchasing a product remotely from a player stall. The buyer would only have one price for such a guaranteed delivery. This price would be based on the straightline distance (point of origin to seller to mailbox, in meters) multiplied by the current average rate of deliveries as defined by the contract broker (across all similar server rulesets). The buyer would be informed that this guaranteed delivery will ensure that the product will arrive in 6 hours or less, and that the delivery can not be canceled once purchased.

If the buyer agrees, it wil lock the buyer into the purchase, preventing them from cancelling the courier contract. This guarantees that the courier will get the delivery fee if they complete the delivery.

If a courier picks up the contract and delivers it, they would recieve the full contract price.

If no courier delivered the contract within 6 hours, an NPC would spawn which would run from the point of origin, pick up the package from the seller, and deliver it to the the package to the mailbox. The delivery fee paid by the buyer would be removed from the game, and will be awarded to no player.

Guaranteed deliveries are not available outside of Market Board purchases.

Comments

 * The downsides for something like this are dramatically more severe than the upsides, from an objective standpoint .  Your first Against is a perfect example; you literally outright say "Guarantees mean that the overall Courier system is invalidated, and Couriers are irrelevant".  Why is this even a point of dispute?  The downsides outright remove the benefit of the suggestion.  It's tempting to remove this section because it is in direct opposition of the system. - Daen


 * I fall mainly into the Against side on this. At the very least I do not want the concept to launch with Guaranteed Delivery so that those players that want to pick up the Courier mechanic and organize a player-run transportation empire with it can do so. If there is evidence to support the argument that there are packages that Couriers will simply not deliver or routinely remain undelivered I would entertain some mechanic to firstly, encourage Couriers to deliver them; secondly, have an NPC actually carry the package from the origin to the destination.  -Onshuu


 * In discussing the courier concept in General chat on Liberation, Serenity and Courage, I've been unable to sell the concept by sticking to the "approved" talking points. Within 10 minutes of forming any discussion on the topic, a discussion participant inevitably requests a guarantee for delivery, or instant delivery option. Explaining the reasons why there should be no such option has resulted in the discussion devolving and the overall idea being rejected by the participants for the security of the mailbox system. I have been unable to sell the concept on the general chat without some form of guarantee. - Arien


 * Personally I feel as though if the overall idea is being rejected by participants it's not being discussed properly.  Unless guaranteed delivery is either not a part of the game or gated by SC, Couriers as a system can not exist. - Daen


 * I feel most of the arguments in the table above have merit. I do not want to state a system cannot exist just because a minuscule group of individuals cannot find consensus on every detail. The developers may read every word of every page but in all likelyhood they will "cherry pick" the parts they actually use and push those through their internal development and QA process. - Onshuu


 * I believe that, if created and managed properly, a guarantee system can instill customer confidence in the overall courier system, ensuring that there are more deliveries for couriers to complete. I think that, considering the risk-aversion of the playerbase,  the courier system is actually improved by the existance of a guarantee. - Arien


 * There doesn't even need to be a guarantee, there isn't risk in PvE.  If you want your items, you either ask someone else to get it through the Courier system or you get it yourself.  If the Courier decides to screw with you or takes too long getting you the package, you can just go get it yourself.  Bam, zero risk to the consumer.  In a game it actually makes the most sense that DIY opportunities have the lowest cost and are guaranteed to be the way you want them but can take a bit more of your time.  The way I see Couriers and this entire discussion is that this should merely provide tools and a framework that players can use to create interaction.  The absolute simplest/most boiled down way to achieve this is to have an Origin, a Destination, and a safe way to allow players to handle your items (Couriers).  That is all that is needed.  No progression, no profession, no guarantees.  Adding things onto this is great, but the basic system is what's important. - Daen


 * We started with the basic concept. Unfortunately, in the real world, there are more than a few players that want to put other players through perilous grief just for the fun of it, or because they've decided they just don't like them. What kind of repercussions would this have on the system as a whole? It's not to hard to realize that the simplistic concept is not all you need, you must attempt to mitigate such abuse of the system. The root of the issue is related to why some people don't want to play PvP while others do. This isn't just a mechanical system, it has to account for social... nuances. - Onshuu 00:30, March 11, 2014 (UTC)

Credits

 * This Courier concept originated on the Liberation server general chat channel. It is the culmination of many hours of discussion between the following individuals including others whose names I'm sorry I don't recall... Arien, PopeUrban, Renalynn, Onshuu, Starminx, Andrii, Seanait, Sykara, Hammerli, Saeel, Dasilva, Devlan, Trok'blud,


 * Onshuu created this page to facilitate the refinement of this Player Idea into a form that can be easily consumed by the developer team of EQNL.

I am steadily working on this, please help me flesh this out- I'm trying to keep it as accessible as I can. -Onshuu (talk) 21:23, March 8, 2014 (UTC)