Thief resurgence
Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:15 pm
One of the less pleasant aspects of being an Admin on Forgotten Kingdoms is dealing with the fallout from inappropriate behaviour.
Whether it be complaints from players, concerns raised by staff or observations from deities during their working day it usually ends up with one of the Higher Immortals having to speak with a player and lay down the law.
In the last couple of weeks I've had to do this several times and it has mainly been thief characters crossing the line. Doubtless this is because of their more attractive nature now that sneak attacks, flanking and dexterity based armour bonuses have been introduced.
I am glad to see old players returning, to see players going back to older characters to have some fun and particularly glad to see newer players exploring different classes.
BUT do not forget that we have high standards for this class, perhaps more than any other, because of the OOC harm they can cause other players and the game as a whole.
Rather than continue to tackle individual actions and repeat myself at length, I am posting some tips to help you avoid some obvious pitfalls.
I'd like to note here that at least one of the characters who had his collar felt by me this last week has recently been applauded for some outstanding thief roleplaying. I'd like to add my thanks for the way in which they responded to the advice given and turned themselves around.
Finally, just a note to those returning players in particular. With all that has happened lately I have spent time going back through all of the complaints and concerns relating to thieves for the last four years.
Be very careful not to repeat the problems of your past, because I am unlikely to succumb to the season of goodwill.
Whether it be complaints from players, concerns raised by staff or observations from deities during their working day it usually ends up with one of the Higher Immortals having to speak with a player and lay down the law.
In the last couple of weeks I've had to do this several times and it has mainly been thief characters crossing the line. Doubtless this is because of their more attractive nature now that sneak attacks, flanking and dexterity based armour bonuses have been introduced.
I am glad to see old players returning, to see players going back to older characters to have some fun and particularly glad to see newer players exploring different classes.
BUT do not forget that we have high standards for this class, perhaps more than any other, because of the OOC harm they can cause other players and the game as a whole.
Rather than continue to tackle individual actions and repeat myself at length, I am posting some tips to help you avoid some obvious pitfalls.
I would much rather devote my time to roleplays, fixing non-complaint problems that are affecting players or to building areas. In order to keep me happy, all you need to do is ensure that I don't have to waste my time pulling you up on any of the above.Killing of player pets
Hopefully, this will become less common now that the backstab command has been removed as an initiator to combat. You can not now attack a player pet without explicitly typing MURDER and acknowledging that you are indeed attacking someone's mount or pet.
Regardless, attacking a pet should not be done on a whim. There should be roleplay to back up the action as with any pkill. Attacking pets in a stable room or in a well-travelled or highly visible place is not discrete behaviour and will be treated accordingly
Spam stealing
Targetting an NPC which sells a large number of the same item, such as food or drink, in order to steal 10 or 20 or 50 times in the space of a few minutes is abuse of code. The Steal command is logged and I plan on reviewing those logs in the New Year. A strike and the removal of your steal skill is the normal outcome.
Steal sell, steal sell
Stealing an item you have sold to a merchant in order to re-sell it is OOCly and ICly questionable. Whilst you might think it great roleplay to sell to Bradigan, steal it back and sell it to Willy what you've actually done is help towards nilling the city economy. Done with finesse and patience I might let this activity pass, it is quite a thief-like routine.
However, when I see a player stealing the most expensive NPC object they know of and selling it and stealing it back and selling it and stealing it back (perhaps without even selling it to a different NPC) then it stops being a clever IC sleight of hand and becomes a cheap trick to get coin and ruin an economy.
Steal sell part 2
Stealing as many of an expensive item type as possible in a city and then selling them all off quickly is another cheap trick. It has nothing to do with roleplaying a thief and everything to do with trying to make as much coin as possible before the area reboots and you repeat it all again. Not all thieves roleplay as subtle cutpurses or discrete burglars and I would not wish to force everyone into that cookie cutter shape, but this isn't roleplay and only ends up with items being removed, nerfed or made impossible to get hold of.
Hide is NOT invisibility
This applies equally to other classes with the Hide skill and to characters who have the skill enabled through racial or item bonuses. The code allows a character to smote whilst hidden, but any overt action or speech makes you visible.
Speaking in smotes is not appropriate, nor really is use of socials which imply a visual or tactile communication. Using these functions to avoid being detected whilst at the same time making your presence obvious is poor roleplay bordering on abuse of code.
Going where you shouldn't
This ties in with the above to some extent. Being OOCLY able to hide and sneak past IC foes or watchmen does not mean that you always should. This is particularly true when it comes to temples and other protected areas.
Something I have had to raise with many thieves lately is the new habit of training in the Tempus temple of Berdusk.
Tempus and his followers respect valor, and honor their opponents even as they strive to defeat them. Key to this is the fact that Tempus favors honorable tactics, showing favor to those who defeat their opponent on the field of battle without resorting to destruction of the enemy's homes, family, or to attacks from the rear.
Some may beg to differ, but I do not think that Tempus would welcome thieves to his training ground.
I have seen similarly questionable visitors to other temples which would and should have IC consequences which the character ignores because the NPCs can not detect them.
I'd like to note here that at least one of the characters who had his collar felt by me this last week has recently been applauded for some outstanding thief roleplaying. I'd like to add my thanks for the way in which they responded to the advice given and turned themselves around.
Finally, just a note to those returning players in particular. With all that has happened lately I have spent time going back through all of the complaints and concerns relating to thieves for the last four years.
Be very careful not to repeat the problems of your past, because I am unlikely to succumb to the season of goodwill.