The Elder Scrolls Online: Crossing Borders, and Consequences

This topic has been on my mind for a while, and I have a couple ideas for how it might work.

My original idea, the first thing I'll talk about below, has received quite a few negative responses, which has made me doubt it as a viable option.

Prisons: When a player is caught in enemy territory, by guards, that player would fight until very near death, and then be thrown into a local prison. From there, my original idea was that he or she could 'serve the time', which would take away a chunk of experience and put them back across the border, onto their own land, with all their items. Or they could use their one lockpick to try to sneak or fight their way out (fighting that many guards would be your more suicidal option).

Their items would be in a box next to the warden's desk, similar to what we've seen in TES series, and they would have to make it to the box to retrieve them, and then escape from there. That, or they would receive their items upon death.

There was also a bit about the possibility of being captured by a mercenary or bandit faction, which would enslave you and make you work for your freedom. I don't remember this last part being commented on, but the "prison" idea was popularly thought to be too "punishing" to the player.
My argument was that, the player chose to cross into enemy land, and as such a criminal, he or she should be punished. As it stands, we don't even have the option of visiting our unfriendly neighbors.

The alternative, since that all seems so unlikely to ever be accepted, is far more exciting.

Arena: When the trespasser is captured, instead of being locked up in a prison, he or she is forced to combat in the arena, where that player would get the privilege of testing the mettle of the local bloodthirsty gladiators(real players, who signed up to fight), in a fight to the death.

I did come to a speedbump when considering, "what if that player wins all matches?", but I've come to the best answer being: limited or no potions would be available, and that player would not get the convenience of healing past half of their total health, between matches. Unless someone has a better idea of how it might be handled, I think that works pretty well, and it gives some truly great entertainment to the crowd.

I did consider saying they would have health regeneration cut off, and they wouldn't be able to gain health in any way, but I think it would a little unfair if that player's last fight is started with 10HP and lost after a single hit. Unfair to player delivering that final hit, that is. There's no fun in a fight so easy, in my opinion. Also a waste of a crowd's time.

Now, before I forget to mention it, Players who choose to cross into enemy territory would not be able to attack the local players, and I think it would be best to make guards much stronger than any player could become, that way if those trespassers decide they want to "grief" players by killing quest NPCs, or just annoy people by killing guards and causing a scene, the guards would quickly handle the issue. We don't want guards one-shotting people, but putting them 5 or 10 levels above the level cap would be ideal.

If you want to read more detail on the arena I mentioned above, follow this link: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1444104-arena-a-place-to-test-your-mettle/

Thank you for your time and opinions.

There was a single player game called Oubliette (French for a dungeon with only an exit at the top through a trapdoor or the like.) Could be used as the entrance to a labyrinth prison and you would be cast cast into the oubliette. Your mission then would be to escape. Perhaps this labyrinth winds through the entire underworld have a number of exits, not all of which are safe to exit from.

A big stretch considering this labyrinth would have to encompass all three factions, but it is a thought.