Ultima Online being one of the first MMORPG's put in very basic concepts that haven't been seen since!
They put in the failed bounty system that got abused, for the profit of those who the bounty were placed on by there friend killing them and spiting the money!
Several other games since have tried the same thing and all got abused in the same way? Its like the game developers didn't do there homework...
In UO if you broke the law enough you went perma Red, so the game visably marked you, problem of course with that is law abiding citizens often got caught up in a crime while attempting to enforce the law, and enough accidental strikes put you perma red....
Of course there was stat loss if you were killed while having enough murder counts to allow for stat loss to happen. Of course this was a game system that the PK's would learn and they would know there murder counts and would know how to work them off....
But I think the best system was the Karma... You could gain positive and negative karma through your life and the highest karma levels were rarely ever criminals. I say rarely because of course there were the criminals that would work there karma up so they could more easily prey on the trusting!
Why am I taking this walk down memory lane because it shows the beginings of the systems needed in an MMORPG that contains all playstyles. killer and crafter and trader and pacifist.
No one playstyle should ever be put ahead of another! But sadly MMO's always end up heavily leaning toward the Killer / Combat playstyle because killing things is the most common way developers can come up with to create fun! This is LAZY... And the big reason that the entire Genre is so bad today!!!
No I am taking this walk down memory lane because UO started on systems that other games need to look at and refine and they need to be common place and this game needs to be one of those games! Where Law and Order and Karma and Reputation are paramount and a vital part of the game!