For evil to win, good men must simply do nothing...
Kainzo has talked about adding Karma to Herocraft for ages, and I believe @
Sleaker has it all mapped out already. I think Karma could solve this problem.
In real life, people don't murder each other because society would not function. As a society, we have decided to punish people who murder, in order to co-exist.
This same principle currently does not apply to Herocraft. Punishment for murder? NOPE. You could be a notorious spawn camper and still walk into the trade district without anyone even noticing.
But what if you couldn't?
What if evil players walked into the trade district, and could be attacked by any law abiding citizen? What if you had an automatic 250c bounty on your head for your notorious crimes? 500c? 5000c? Good luck selling your stolen goods.
On the flip side, good karma is binding. A good citizen can not harm another. In this case, they literally would be unable to attack anyone with > 0 karma. Good karma means you are reliable. It also means you are bound by the restrictions of the law, moreso then others. What if it meant you couldn't open any chests you didn't place without explicit permission? What if it meant you could only WALK through any towns, no running allowed. Good karma means you are an upstanding person, and means people can count on you to follow the rules (5% chest shop discount, owner still receives full price, but you pay less?).
In the middle, you have those of neutral karma. Not too evil, not too good. You probably won't kill me on the spot. But you probably won't help me either. Most people are neutral.
Just some random ideas late at night