If it's reached the point where I, as a player, am allowing another player's character to teeter their blade along my character's throat, I would assume we've already discussed, or at least brainstormed, what's happening or will happen.
To add, if this were some random player and there was little-to-no buildup prior, then no, neither I nor my character will be taking the other player or (player's) character very seriously. It's in a similar vein where if one half-asses a paper and expects their professor to award them a stellar grade for their work.
It's one thing to get into a random barfight, which I'm all for, but it's another to expect me to let you seriously maim or even kill my characters. Similarly, I'm not into the whole "you need to be such-and-such level if you seriously think your guy can oppose mine" bandwagon I see on a lot of MMOs. Far as I'm concerned, our characters are both mortal, and both products of our own writing with presumably equal effort behind them, thus they have as much opportunity to engage with mine as any.
To add, if this were some random player and there was little-to-no buildup prior, then no, neither I nor my character will be taking the other player or (player's) character very seriously. It's in a similar vein where if one half-asses a paper and expects their professor to award them a stellar grade for their work.
It's one thing to get into a random barfight, which I'm all for, but it's another to expect me to let you seriously maim or even kill my characters. Similarly, I'm not into the whole "you need to be such-and-such level if you seriously think your guy can oppose mine" bandwagon I see on a lot of MMOs. Far as I'm concerned, our characters are both mortal, and both products of our own writing with presumably equal effort behind them, thus they have as much opportunity to engage with mine as any.