Heres the true meaning of pvp to those who just find it impossible to get it in their head what pvp really means.
"Player killing, or PKing, is non-consensual PvP resulting in a character's death. Some games offer open PvP (also sometimes called world PvP), where one player can attack another without warning anywhere in the game world. A pure PK game is one where PvP conflict is the only gameplay offered. Ganking (short for gang killing) is a type of PKing in which the killer has a significant advantage over his victim, such as being part of a group, being a higher level, or attacking the victim while they are at low health.
PvP can also create additional facets in the community. In Ultima Online and Asheron's Call, a rift formed between those who enjoyed PKing, those who enjoyed hunting the PKs and those who simply did not want to fight at all. The Renaissance expansion later added a Trammel facet where PvP was not allowed, giving some out to the UO crowd that did not wish to engage in PvP at all. Asheron's Call contained a server that was completely unrestricted in player interactions where massive "PK" and "Anti (PK)" dynasties formed.
Character death in an online game usually comes with a penalty (though some games remove it from PvP combat), so habitual PKers can find themselves ostracized by the local community. In some games a character will die many times and the player must often sacrifice some experience points (XP) or in-game currency to restore that character to life.Permanent death (such that the player must create a new character) is relatively uncommon in online games, especially if PKing is permitted. An example of such a mode is Hardcore mode on the game Diablo II.
A more rare form of player killing involves inciting a monster or monsters to attack another player. The reason this is rare is because the monster is more likely to attack the one who is trying to do the killing. Often a player will have to lure the monster towards the other player and run away, so that the monster (if it is aggressive) will look for a new target, which may be the other player. This behavior is often found in otherwise purely 'PVE' games such as Realm of the Mad God.
In some MMORPGs PvP comes with extra penalties such as the player killer will not be able to form/join a group (party), receive help from other players and may have an increased loss of experience on death. Usually a player's name who has initiated a PvP recently will be in a bright color. On Lineage II you would turn purple if you initiated combat and anyone who killed someone who was not purple (had fought back) would turn red. Turning red had a much higher chance of your gear dropping off for others to loot when you died. Arguably the most severe penalty came on Asheron's Call where a killed player incurred a 5% loss in all stats and abilities per death, stacking up to 40%. This, combined with probably being naked from item loss, was very difficult to come back from.
Some MMORPGs[specify] set a certain level requirement to engage in PvP combat in order for new players to enjoy, experience and explore the game before actually getting PK'ed by other players. Other MMORPGs, such as Anarchy Online and Everquest Original on the 'Zek' servers, only allow a player to PvP with another if they are within a certain level range of each other, to prevent "ganking" (see above)."
