Red Dead Online: How does the Parley and Feud system work?

Player vs. player combat is a big part of Red Dead Online. But what happens when a player kills you continuously? Enter the new Parley and Feud system.

The Red Dead Online beta is incrementally becoming available for players this week. And what is one of the first things players do in an online multiplayer experience? Kill each other, of course. I mean this is the Wild West, right? But what happens in Red Dead Online when you keep getting killed over and over again?

Rockstar has implemented an interesting system to help counteract player griefing in Red Dead Online. If you and another player find yourself killing each other continuously, the game offers you two different options: Parleys and Feuds. These options first appear after the same person has killed you four times.

Parleys are a one-way street: only one player has to trigger a Parley. With this option, you can still run into the opposing player out in the world except this time, you can’t actually kill each other. You can pull your guns out and aim, you can try to punch each other, but you cannot hurt each other besides through talking trash (welcome to online multiplayer games).

The idea is to talk through your problems, but I have yet to experience that working out in Red Dead Online. This lasts for a total of ten whole minutes before you can start killing each other again. Which means someone really dedicated can follow you around for ten minutes and kill you again when the time is up. The Parley option will become available much sooner, but this won’t technically stop the most persistent of griefers.

The other option is to trigger a Feud, in which both players must accept to enter a three-minute long shootout. In this mini PvP challenge, respawns are active and players are meant to kill each other as much as possible. You aren’t moved into a special instance of the game either – players not involved in the Feud can watch as you two duke it out.

The game even keeps score of your kills, similar to when you play in Red Dead Online’s PvP series. After the three minutes is up, you are back to the regular Red Dead Online kill rules. Similar to the Parley option, the Feud option will show up quicker after you have already gone through it once.

These two systems introduce interesting mechanics to help curb player griefing. It took me all of half an hour after I completed the introductory Red Dead Online missions before a player started killing me continuously. Both Parleys and Feuds seem like decent options for now, but it won’t stop the most dedicated trolls. Regardless, anything to prevent players from ruining the fun for others is a positive.

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