I'm not really interested in starting a PvE vs PvP debate (plenty of discussions about that already). But I think the release of 4.1 and now 4.2 clearly illustrates that Star Citizen's PvP as it is now, is prone to chaos, toxicity, and overall not a good experience (Not just for PvE players, but I think many PvP players don't like PvP as it currently is). So I'll go straight to the point and give what I feel... is the main problem with PvP in the verse and one of the ways to fix it. Feel free to disagree with me. I think we need to have a constructive discussion about this. And hopefully steer CIG in the right direction. Personally, I believe the most urgent problem CIG needs to tackle is the paranoia and fog of war, that incentivize hostility and actively discourages cooperation with random players. The fact of the matter is, whether you are on Pyro or Stanton. Any player you come in contact with is a potential threat. Because you have NO MEANS to assess whether or not they are likely to be hostile or friendly. Which leaves you with two choices: A) Give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they are there to help with the event/mission, or they are doing their own thing. B) Assume that they can turn their guns on you at any time and ruin whatever you are currently doing. More often than not, the right choice in most players' minds will be Option B). Sure, you could be killing someone who's just here to help. But why take the risk? This creates paranoia and chaos. Who can you trust in this situation? No one! In many MMOs you have factions. Which allows you to easily distinguish friend from foe. And while SC lacks factions, it still needs something to bring that sort of "structure" to its PvP. I strongly believe that categorizing players in a way that is easily identifiable in certain conditions (or taking the necessary steps) would greatly improve things. Not just for PvE players, but for PvP players as well. What I suggest is to give players the ability to easily identify whether a player is a friend, potentially dangerous, or clearly hostile. This would be easy in a UEE System thanks to commarrays and might require an extra step (Scanning) in a lawless system. The images below are just my proposition and are just made to give a clear visual of what a more nuanced identification system would look like. These should speak for themselves, but I'll add some additional notes: - As long as a CoomArray is active, you shouldn't have to scan a player to see these color codes. As the coomarray does that for you. That way, you can immediately identify friend from foe in a UEE system. (If the CoomArray is down, the targets will be grayed unless scanned, so you'll know that you need to be prepared for potential hostilities.) - In a lawless system, no commarrays. So everyone will be grey by default unless you scan them (exceptions are members of your group, friends, Org/alliance members. Obviously). - "Bad Rep" implies some form of a reputation system that tracks when players perform hostile actions against other players. The more severe and frequent these actions are, the more that rep goes into the red. (Yes, we do need this!) - "Hostile actions" do not include: killing a player with a bounty (Not a crime), killing a player of an org you are at war with (UEE would not involve itself in this), etc... Only when a player kills or steals from a player with no Crimestat and a good reputation. - In short, you don't get a bad rep by accident. That's a choice. If you want to be a mass murderer, you can. But accept the consequences. - In a Lawless system like Pyro, the rules are softer. (As shown in the second image). But you can still identify who is prone to being hostile against you. If you're someone who just likes to kill anything on sight, that should leave a stain on you. Even in a lawless system. - A negative criminal reputation should change how certain NPC factions act towards that player (stations and cities in a UEE system should be hostile towards high-criminal players. Make a UEE system a hostile environment for them. They still can go there, but it will be hard to stay there. Which is why lawless systems like Pyro exist to begin with). - A player with a negative rep, can go back to neutral or positive reputation. But that will be a GRIND. (EvE online has such a system.) That's it. Feel free to leave your opinion, whether you disagree or agree with me. But if possible, don't try to make this a PvP vs PvE thing. (I know it's hard, each side will have their own view on this). PvP is not going anywhere, but it cannot continue to exist as it currently is. As it will only make the verse a toxic environment. We need to find ways to make it better. And I do believe it is possible. I'm not trying to impose this. I am merely making a suggestion that I believe will bring structure to PvP in Star Citizen (which it desperately needs).