BigT2themax
Insider
Permadeath for NPCs would be pretty neat, as long as there is a replacement NPC as some people have suggested. As for a griefer going in and killing all of the villagers, remember battles are supposed to be pretty hard, so it'll likely be impossible to kill every NPC without dying several, SEVERAL times and incurring the consequences of doing so, especially if you're going up against all the guards in the world (also, the server admin would likely just reset the game instance and ban that player). Plus, NPCs will eventually hear about you misdeeds and you'll essentially be banished from every town (guards will attack you on sight, villagers will run away or fight you off) if you decide to just wipe out one of the towns for some reason.
Whilst it should be possible to be a god-like mass murderer and pillager if you get strong enough, the player shouldn't be getting any kindness from all but the most unusual NPCs if they do so. If you decide you want to just kill everyone ever, and start doing so, then most of society should try and stop you, mostly for realism's sake, but also to give the player a reason to not just start murdering everyone. News of a crazy guy killing everyone would spread, descriptions of you would be told to people, and you'll eventually either just succeed in killing everyone, or you'll be killed by guards or whatever. It shouldn't be possible for everyone to just forget about what you've done and then you go back to what things were like before.
Actions should have consequences. It'd be stupid if they didn't.
Whilst it should be possible to be a god-like mass murderer and pillager if you get strong enough, the player shouldn't be getting any kindness from all but the most unusual NPCs if they do so. If you decide you want to just kill everyone ever, and start doing so, then most of society should try and stop you, mostly for realism's sake, but also to give the player a reason to not just start murdering everyone. News of a crazy guy killing everyone would spread, descriptions of you would be told to people, and you'll eventually either just succeed in killing everyone, or you'll be killed by guards or whatever. It shouldn't be possible for everyone to just forget about what you've done and then you go back to what things were like before.
Actions should have consequences. It'd be stupid if they didn't.