I fill like the escrow and the automatic payments upon breach go against the spirit of the contracts in PrUn. In PrUn the constracts are about trust and risk. If one of the contractors wants to scam the other one, nothing should prevent him from this. The only thing the scammer loses is his reputation. By reputation I mean not only the in-game reliability rating, but also his standing among the other players. A scammer could break several contracts, but the player community will end up by knowing about him. With an escrow system and automatic payments upon breach the game itself would somehow represent a neutral third party that would ensure the safety of the contracts. Do we want third parties in PrUn contracts? Actually there could be triggered clauses “upon breach” and penalties for the one who breaks. But these should not be automatic payments. If one breaks a clause then one would have to pay additional penalties if one still wants the contract to be considered as fullfilled on his side. But if one doesn’t want to pay the penalties, the game should not force him.
Perhaps if a contract involves a third party ensuring the safety of the contract, then there should be additional fees paid by the two contractors. These contract safety fees could be substantial, and would be an additional currency sink.