muidoido wrote:And how can the game managers protect the fair players from the cheaters?
I'm unclear about what your trying to ask here. My central point is that OOC cooperation, as the currently draconian CR defines it, is something the game managers can't stop. Given increased technological capabilities, limited staff time and a greater spread of IC knowledge across the player base there is no way the current CR can be rigorously enforced to ensure a fair game. Many of the things which the CR bans are thought crimes, unless staff gains the ability to read minds the CR is essentially swiss cheese.
Furthermore the rigorous nature of the ban on OOC cooperation has stifled the OOC community. If the characters aren't dead for years it doesn't seem advisable to talk about them on the forums, this makes it difficult for new players to get involved as they have little or nothing "legal" to contribute. An example of the OOC community being stifled by the CR would be the locking of the dead characters thread. A thread which has been around for years and is a prime example of good community building gets locked because people may be talking to each other while having characters which interact.
To be clear I have no issue with characters being seperate, that's actually my favorite feature of the game. My problem is with the draconian limits placed on OOC interaction between players.