If you randomly start attacking another player you will do significantly less damage, which Howard described as “slapping someone in a bar” to challenge them to a fight. The damage only scales to normal levels if they then attack you back as a response. If not, you continue doing tiny damage.
You can, however, still kill someone this way, but a player who does so is marked as a “wanted murderer.” Howard says that not only do they get no reward, Caps, experience, loot, or anything else for the kill, but a bounty is also added to their head and they are marked on the map for all to see. Meanwhile, that player can no longer see any player indicators on the minimap.
Howard said they wanted to “turn the assholes into interesting content” for other players. If a player with a bounty is killed, their killer earns a Cap reward paid directly from the murderer’s pocket, so there is an incentive both to play by the rules and hunt down
There are some other systems in place to cut down on griefing as well, like PvP not kicking in until level 5. Players will also have the ability to declare themselves as a “pacifist,” meaning their attacks won’t start PvP at all -- this is to prevent players jumping in front of someone's bullet to start a fight. You can choose to “ignore” specific players too, which hides you from each other on the map.
Players will also have the ability to declare themselves as a “pacifist,” meaning their attacks won’t start PvP at all
Fallout 4 was enjoyable but not a good RPG. Just let Obsidian do the next Fallout please.
