If trust is implicit in social interactions, then it is unrealistic and frankly quite immersion breaking. isn't that supposed to be you know, the dark future? A near warzone? Hardcoding harsh penalties for breaking contracts is the worse possible outcome. [...] The truth is trust IS a scarce commodity. Aren't you guys roleplayers? If it is purely cooperative, there is little incentive for the mainstream player to roleplay.
That's the point I was trying to make. Truth is a scarce commodity and it's really easy to default yourself into a defense mode where you treat everyone as hostile, but such approach doesn't help multiplayer in terms of cooperating or interacting. EVE has very unique system, because players often can interact without even needing to meet one another while performing their roles in the in-game world, and still retaining the possibility to take chances and join with someone else for various reasons. The safest way is to incorporate this aspect of doing one's job without taking risks, but then again one would find it unrealistic and immersion breaking for various reasons.
You mention roleplaying, so I will share a bit of my SWTOR experiences in this regard. In the very first dungeon I met with people who were role-playing their characters. It was an amazing experience, especially when you know how well done the very first dungeon is. My last month was purely this: roleplaying my character, the self-proclaimed Crimson Knight of the Order, with other like-minded individuals. I had the armor too match this nickname too. It was pretty original, given that all people were walking around with ther currently-top-level gear (making many of them look like clones). The most interesting people actually took effort to look differently, like obtaining uniform of an officer of the Siths' forces. It was the best RPG experience I had in this game and in many - if not most - cRPGs. I even have a story in my head, based on all this. If I had more drawing skills than I have (I am a hobbyist), I'd be doing a fan-made comic in Star Wars universe. And I don't find Star Wars universe in itself all that good, nor am I a fan of it.
In L4D you don't even have to role-play. You are a character as you scream in terror to your teammates for help or communicate with them as you move through the devastated world. Some people even asked me if I am changing my voice to sound like Bill (I didn't). In "Red Orchestra 2", on the other hand, on the Soviet side people said that they like when I speak, because I immerse them more with my russian accent, others said it sounds really old and like I am drinking person. Except that I am not Russian, I am not
that old (at least not that old to remember Stalingrad) and I don't drink alcohols.
Cooperative gameplay doesn't mean there will be no role-playing, but how you want to encourage players to role-play on their own with other players in terms of the in-game system that actually
awards role-playing? The real issue is that it's often so easy to purposefully betray someone you don't know for the sake of betraying him. I wouldn't mind a brilliant, really brilliant, or realistic betrayal (or "betrayal", like running in fear for your life, because dying would be really so-not-worth-it, with the spoils and not waiting for the rest of the team who's in trouble), but when it's too easy - like killing other player the moment you drop-in his game - without even making someone to trust you with exploitable secrets, it's not good thing. It's lame.
"Fail to be there at 8 o'clock, be penalized by 2000 credits"
There's a saying in the business world: nothing moves unless a sale is made.
That'd kill this aspect of gameplay. It shouldn't be worthwhile to fail, but risk and reward should be more balanced than that. I think that in many cases failing might be sufficient. Especially if you find yourself in a bad situation exactly because you are or were trying to fulfill a contract. In some cases it may even cost you your life. Furthermore, you don't sign a contract to earn money if you lose even more of it.