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If the spying was all roleplay based then nothing is wrong with it. I remember years ago someone tried to get in the rangers guild while secretly had made deals with the morgul mages. Now that is roleplay! Because it was the same character this player used.

The difference is when a player uses different chars and doesnt really care that much for the guilds he or her is in , and just leaks information.

Must say i dont really care that much about this one. Maybe in wartime i would...

Amberlee, while within the context of the topic, I believe the issue being discussed here isn't someone roleplaying a spy, but rather a person having two characters, one of which is a spy for the other's interests. There being no possible roleplay relationship between two characters owned by the same person, it can quite possibly be seen as immoral to transfer information between the two, which is just as valuable if not more than equipment.

If we had a game court of law, we'd be compelled to prove how the information came from character A to character B in-game when there is no possible connection between the two other than they're being played by the same person behind the keyboard.

This hypothetical scenario, if it could also be proven that there is no other possible way the information could've flowed between them, would lead to the conclusion that these are indeed alts of the same person and one character is being used to aid the other's interests. Now, since it is outruled to take such a thing into account and we have to close our eyes to the obviousness of it, we ask ourselves, should this scenario play - how should it be addressed? How would a player place an accusation against this kind of behaviour without the means to investigate further into the matter and get any conclusions other than possible explanations which are contrary to evidence?

The thing in question here, as I see it, is intellectual honesty. We're being hypothetically confronted with situations where we have to shut our eyes and wish the blatant lie away, somehow coming up with roleplaying excuses for the one being intellectually dishonest. If questioned in any way, the questioner could be seen as the one committing meta-gaming, not because they did it first, but because they're supposed to not take such information into account and be the better person while the other's behaviour is swept under the rug and shrugged off with a sly smile even when what's happening is painfully clear.

While it may or may not be relevant to the topic, depending on your interpretation of it, I felt the point needed some clarification, seeing as to how you were mistakenly taking it for the mere roleplay of a spy via a third person, which is, as you correctly state, fine and quite conforming to the game's rules.

During the 26 years I've roamed this game, this has never been a major issue. Why start making it into one now?

Has a sudden rise in such occurences taken place, or....?

Edit:

To clarify, I am commenting on players using multiple toons to spy on other guilds etc.

Information trading between alts is nothing we will ever be able to police or enforce. Character separation when it comes to sound roleplay is a matter of honour, mostly. So, the issue of spying, while quite possibly disgusting and annoying in some cases, is nothing we wizards involve ourselves with. When it deals with tangible benifits such as voting for yourself with an alt in a guild election, giving yourself a billion platinum with an alt, or helping your alt sneak into Minas Morgul via Cirath Ungol - well, then we push the "Smite" button (or at least have a conversation with the guilty party to investigate/confirm/melt-brain.)

G.

gorboth wrote:Information trading between alts is nothing we will ever be able to police or enforce. Character separation when it comes to sound roleplay is a matter of honour, mostly. So, the issue of spying, while quite possibly disgusting and annoying in some cases, is nothing we wizards involve ourselves with. When it deals with tangible benifits such as voting for yourself with an alt in a guild election, giving yourself a billion platinum with an alt, or helping your alt sneak into Minas Morgul via Cirath Ungol - well, then we push the "Smite" button (or at least have a conversation with the guilty party to investigate/confirm/melt-brain.)

G.

/signed