Ending cosmetic item extortion

[Blacktooth]

Hats are a token of support. That is their primary role.

Targeting players wearing hats would definitely discourage a lot of players from wearing them.

Anyone who has supported the game, and gotten a nifty hat, should be encouraged to show off that support without penalty.

This 'Hat or Die' nonsense needs to go either voluntarily or not.

[telum12]

Oh no people are making choices and I think they’re bad choices let’s change the system to prevent them from doing so.

Hey while we’re at it lets have trades be reviewed by a panel to avoid the spruces being pressured into unfair trade agreements

[Sevenless]

Oh no people are making choices and I think they’re bad choices let’s change the system to prevent them from doing so.

Hey while we’re at it lets have trades be reviewed by a panel to avoid the spruces being pressured into unfair trade agreements

You're probably one of those people who thinks pyramid schemes should be legal in real life aren't you?

After all, it's only stupid people getting hurt.

[Glorthan]

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

[telum12]

You're probably one of those people who thinks pyramid schemes should be legal in real life aren't you?

After all, it's only stupid people getting hurt.

No, I believe that governments should stringently regulate things that are bad for us. However, I disagree with the notion that you or the devs should regulate what items players can give to other players, or in what situation it’s appropriate. There is fundamentally no difference between paying with a hat, token or in-game item for your life, since each are effectively interchangeable through trade.

[Zampfeo]

I don't really care about hat or die, but I think it would be beneficial for the long-term financial health of the game for there to be a secondary hat market outside of the game that would allow Seatribe to tax hat transactions. Similar to what Valve ended up doing for TF2 hats with the Steam Market.

[VDZ]

There is fundamentally no difference between paying with a hat, token or in-game item for your life, since each are effectively interchangeable through trade.

There is a fundamental difference: To pay with a token, you need to go to your base to retrieve it first. The same is true for the vast majority of your in-game items. 'Give-or-die' works only for items you have immediate access to at the time you're being threatened, and the player's hat is the only of those items that cannot be taken by force according to the game rules. Given that the devs have explicitly decided that taking hats by force is not allowed (a change from how they originally worked!), hat-or-die is a loophole that allows you to still use force to effectively steal hats.

• Support Items (hats) are no longer lootable. If you buy an item in the store, or receive one with a subscription, it becomes rather a one-time permanent upgrade to your account. You can at any time withdraw or re-withdraw that item/hat from your Hearth Fire, and any other copies of it in the game world (on a wall, or whatever) should then disappear. Other characters cannot have your item/hat in their inventory, and should they try to take it, it will vanish in smoke.
  
  The reasoning behind this change is as follows: Hats/items were not intended as anything other than cosmetics. They have no other utility than their show-off value, and the problem with having them lootable is that they completely lose said show-off value, as wearing them paints a huge target on the wearer, making them essentially useless.
  
  Now you can wear your support hat/item openly, without risking losing it. If you get eaten by ants, if we reset the server, if you drown, if you get eaten by nasty bagousers, whatever happens, your hat/item should still be there in your Hearth Fire, ready to be worn.

(Game Development: A Sound Badgering, September 1st, 2015)

Given that this was seven years ago, the devs could have changed their minds on this matter since then. The only ones who can truly answer this are the devs themselves. But what was initially told us way back when was that the intention was that hats could never be taken from you by force.

[telum12]

There is fundamentally no difference between paying with a hat, token or in-game item for your life, since each are effectively interchangeable through trade.

There is a fundamental difference: To pay with a token, you need to go to your base to retrieve it first. The same is true for the vast majority of your in-game items. 'Give-or-die' works only for items you have immediate access to at the time you're being threatened, and the player's hat is the only of those items that cannot be taken by force according to the game rules. Given that the devs have explicitly decided that taking hats by force is not allowed (a change from how they originally worked!), hat-or-die is a loophole that allows you to still use force to effectively steal hats.

What the fuck am I reading. There is a difference between full-looting hats after KO and people voluntarily trading their hats in order to avoid being KO'd. It's absurd that you are able to confound these two very different things.

[mulamishne]

Genuinely don't understand how this is an issue, because it's just an option? Like, are we trying to kill more hermits?

This is why hermit killers like Sevenless and VDZ make me sick...

[Massa]

Oh no people are making choices and I think they’re bad choices let’s change the system to prevent them from doing so.

Hey while we’re at it lets have trades be reviewed by a panel to avoid the spruces being pressured into unfair trade agreements

You're probably one of those people who thinks pyramid schemes should be legal in real life aren't you?

After all, it's only stupid people getting hurt.

preying on the vulnerable in real life is much different than the conscious choices that happen in a closed, sandbox pvp environment that warns you at multiple steps that you will be killed, robbed, and your shit destroyed if you don't prevent it, where everyone starts on equal footing

don't be so sensational

hat or die-hat=die, and it was that way before