Battling Friends and Clan Members for Fun: Details Explained and Problems Addressed

This fairly large addition to the game would allow clash of clans players to launch attacks on and defend against attacks from their friends and clan members, strictly for fun. Here are some of my ideas for how this fun addition could be implemented into the game.

Players would be able to attack Facebook and Google plus connected friends, as well as members of their own clan. There would be no trophy gains or losses from these battles. No troops, spells, or clan reinforcements would actually be expended in attacks; in an attack against a friend or fellow clan member, one would have the troops, spells, and clan reinforcements currently in their army camps, spell factory, and clan castle available to attack with, but these troops, spells, and reinforcements would still be available to them after the attack. No loot would actually be gained or lost in the battles; the defense and attack logs would not even display loot one could have gained or lost. The logs and battle interfaces would simply have no loot information in order to avoid confusion. Similar to clan war attacks, a friend or clan member's shield would not prevent another friend or clan member from attacking his or her base, and attacking a friend or clan member would not remove one's current shield. These battles could be called something like "Arena Battles."

I'd like to mention some problems that could arise from this addition and give some ideas as to how they could be effectively addressed. In essence, these are free attacks, and the most obvious problem would be players using arena battles as an area to practice attacking for free and without actually expending troops. The next problem that arises is players coordinating with one another and using this addition to test, in actual battles, the strengths and weaknesses of different base designs and troop configurations. These are major problems and would pose a huge threat to the balance of the player versus player aspect of the game, but I believe there are very effective ways in which they can be addressed. A player could only use one of these "arena attacks" once every 24 hours. This would prevent players from using these attacks over and over again simply to practice attacking. While one would only be able to attack a friend or clan member once every 24 hours, one's base would be open to attacks from other friends and clan members at all times, with exceptions which I address later in this thread. In addition, one would have to spend a small amount of gold and elixir in order to attack a friend or clan member. This fee would be larger than the gold fee required to attack a random player for trophies, but would not cost nearly as much as actually expending troops and spells. The fee for using an arena attack would make it cost a player some resources, so that the attacks are not simply free. This fee could scale based on the amount of total gold and elixir production a player's base currently has, and could cost a player 30 min to 1 hour of their total gold and elixir production. For example, if a player had six level 11 gold mines and elixir collectors (18,000 gold and elixir per hour) it would cost the player 9,000 to 18,000 gold and elixir to attack a friend or clan member. The 24 cooldown on arena attacks in combination with the scaled fee to attack removes the imbalance created by allowing friends and clan members to attack each other without expending troops and spells or losing trophies, while also providing a fun environment in which friends and clan members can test out their troops and tactics on one another's bases.

Another problem that could arise is some players, despite no trophies being lost or loot being stolen in the attacks, resenting or becoming frustrated with their friends or clan members for attacking their bases. The attacks could also be used by some players as a form of harassment against other players (attacking a player's base and telling them that his or her base sucks, high level players wrecking low level bases for enjoyment, etc.) These problems pose a threat to the social environment of the game and especially to the social dynamics of clans. To address this problem, a system could be implemented in which a player must agree to be attacked before friends and clan members may attack him or her. The default setting when a player begins playing clash of clans or joins a new clan is "off" meaning that the player cannot be attacked by friends or clan members. In a separate log, which I explain in further detail below, a player could change a setting to allow any friends or any other clan members to attack them. In addition, players could block specific clan members and friends from attacking them, and also select another setting for which friends or clan members more than 25 levels above them cannot attack them. This system would keep the arena system balanced and remove any abuse of arena battling.

This update would require an entirely separate arena log, similar to the regular battle log but with attack and defense log pages for attacks and defenses against friends and clan members. At the top of the log, there could be an info button, similar to the clan wars info button, which describes some of the information I listed at the beginning of this thread (no trophies lost/gained, no loot gained/stolen, no troops expended, etc.). In addition to the two attack and defense pages, the log would have a separate page with settings. In the settings page, there would be three settings for clan members, and three settings for friends: off (default, no friends / clan members may attack one's base), anyone up to 25 levels above my level, and anyone. Settings could be set individually for clan members and for friends. The settings page would also have a list of blocked players and allow players to unblock them. One would be able to block players by selecting an obvious option in the arena defense log, or by selecting an option when a clan member or friend is selected in any part of the game besides global chat (similar to mute button but only in clan page and friend page).

The arena battling system would be an excellent addition to this great game and I hope the developers take it into serious consideration. Post any questions, comments, and ideas about this addition to this thread, and many thanks for taking the time to read this.