So I've been pretty vocal against safe zones. I do like the idea of a central hub or island. The two are somewhat in conflict. I've seen a number of threads and posts on the topic. With that said, I gave thought to a form of soft safe zone, potentially based on "standings" or some such other simple form of determination for a players credibility.
Standings:
Standings would be volatile (systems have been mentioned before). They would go up as you play without killing other players (perhaps quicker if you turn in missions or chests) and go down as you attack other ships (more if you or your crew are responsible for sinking a ship or killing a player). Going down should be relatively easy. Going up should be a little harder but doable within a play session, we don't need it to be ridiculous like EVE online or something.
The "safe" zone(s):
Essentially, you're either good, bad, or in the middle. If you're friendly/good, you can enter the island or port without problem. Same with in the middle. If you're bad, perhaps you get shot at by cannons. The cannons wouldn't be any tougher than other cannons but would certainly warn those on the island that someone sketchy is outside and would prevent you from easily parking on the island. Beyond that, perhaps NPC's on the island would act as a policing force and would attack the worst of players to make landfall. Again, no invincible NPC's. Let them be killed and have lengthy respawns. The idea is to deter and warn, not prevent and dominate.
I wouldn't be upset if this was in the game. I do like the game as it is, but I was trying to think of a compromise and this is what came to mind. I apologize if someone else stated this idea. I feel like if people cannot accept an idea like this, then there will likely be no suitable solution. I'd rather have this than strict safe zones though that's for sure.
