I've had this idea for a while and thought it could fit Torn pretty well.
What if players could actually kidnap other players?
I'm not talking about permanently locking someone out of the game. I'm thinking of it as another PvP/crime mechanic where the person who gets kidnapped is temporarily restricted, while the victim, their friends, or their faction have ways to get them out.
A player could have a new action called "Kidnap." Obviously, there would need to be requirements for it, such as a certain level, crime stat, or perhaps a special item. The attempt shouldn't always succeed either. A failed attempt could have consequences for the person trying it, similar to other risky actions in Torn.
If the kidnapping succeeds, the victim would enter a temporary captured state.
While captured, they could be restricted from things like travelling, attacking other players, committing crimes, trading normally, and possibly some other activities. They could still log in and interact with the game, though. I wouldn't want the victim to simply be locked out of Torn and forced to wait.
There could also be restrictions on communication. The victim might not be able to freely contact everyone, but special one-use items could give them a way around that.
For example, a burner phone could allow them to send one message to someone outside. An emergency beacon could notify their faction that they've been kidnapped. A hidden GPS could give them information that might help someone locate the kidnapper.
These items could be rare or expensive so that using one actually becomes a decision.
The kidnapper could also demand a ransom.
Something like:
Ransom demand
Player123 has been captured.
Ransom: $3,000,000
Pay or remain captured.
The victim could pay the ransom themselves, or their faction or friends could pay it for them. There would probably need to be limits on the ransom so someone can't demand ridiculous amounts from weaker players.
The kidnapper wouldn't necessarily have to demand money either. Maybe they're doing it because of a rivalry or some other reason.
The part I think could make this really interesting is the rescue system.
Imagine someone gets kidnapped and manages to use an emergency beacon. Their faction receives a notification that one of their members has been captured.
The faction could then try to locate the kidnapper and rescue their member.
A rescue attempt could lead to a normal PvP fight between the rescuer and the kidnapper. If the rescuer wins, the hostage is released. If the kidnapper wins, they keep the hostage. The kidnapper could also try to escape before the rescuers reach them.
That could lead to some pretty interesting situations between factions.
The victim should also have ways to escape on their own. There could be things like lockpicks, escape kits, bribes, or other items that give them a chance to escape.
Some of these could be one-use items. That way, even if nobody from their faction is online, the victim isn't completely helpless.
There would obviously need to be quite a few restrictions to stop this from being abused.
There should be a maximum amount of time someone can be held captive. Maybe something around 6 to 12 hours, depending on how it is balanced.
There could also be a cooldown after someone has been released so they can't immediately be kidnapped again. New players could have protection from the system, and there should probably be restrictions on repeatedly targeting the same person.
There could also be a limit on how often someone can attempt a kidnapping.
The kidnapper should have risks as well. A failed attempt could result in jail, hospital, or some other penalty. Kidnapping someone from a powerful faction could also put a target on the kidnapper's back because their faction now has a reason to come looking for them.
For example, imagine Player A kidnaps Player B.
Player B can't travel or attack anyone.
Player A demands $5 million.
Player B refuses and uses their one emergency beacon.
Their faction gets notified.
Two faction members start looking for Player A and eventually find them.
One of them attacks Player A while the other tries to free the hostage.
At that point, the whole thing has turned from a simple kidnapping into a small player-created rescue operation.
Maybe the rescuer wins. Maybe the kidnapper wins. Maybe the kidnapper manages to escape. Maybe the faction decides the ransom isn't worth paying.
That's the kind of thing I think could make the mechanic interesting.
Torn already has most of the systems something like this would need: PvP, crimes, factions, money, items, travel, hospital, jail and player rivalries.
Kidnapping could connect some of those systems together and create a different kind of player conflict.
Instead of just attack, hospital, recover and attack again, you could have kidnapping, ransom, escape, rescue and eventually retaliation.
I think the main thing would be making sure the victim isn't completely unable to play and putting enough restrictions in place to prevent people from abusing it.
But as a general idea, I think temporary player kidnapping with ransom, escape options and faction rescue could make for some pretty interesting player-created situations in Torn.