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Catch 22 w/ Capital Rule

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:13 pm
by El_Skwidd
Perhaps the wrong forum for this, but here it goes -

The Wiki wrote:Your characters are not automatically a family, a clan, a tribe, an army, a company, or so on - not necessarily even friends. They should have their own interests and goals. They should not know each other unless they happen to meet. If two of your characters interact, they should do so as though each were looking out for their own interests and goals - essentially, as though the other character were being played by a stranger. Describing your characters as a family, banding all of your characters together to form an army, or starting a character solely to produce goods or perform services for the benefit of another one of your characters (making a `mule` character) are all violations of this aspect of the Capital Rule.


Simple enough. But then...

Also the Wiki wrote:# You are not allowed to have more than one character in the same organization.
# You are not allowed to have more than two characters on the same location.


Now, I'm no noob, and I'm no liar, so without revealing too many details, I'll say that I'm currently in a situation of total contradiction between the bold part of the top quote and the second quote. If both of these characters legitimately act in their best interests, they will inevitably work in the same organization and will closely interact regularly.

From what I understand, this is illegal. Am I right? Should one character have a sudden (and inexplicable) change of heart in the name of game integrity? Or should I attract CR suspicion to myself in the name of character integrity?

This is probably a waste of a post, but when it involves the potential destruction of an account I've been working on for over five years of my life, I don't want to take any chances. 8)

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 2:19 pm
by chase02
This has come up before, and I'm pretty sure the answer would be the same* - that they should go ahead with that inexplicable personality change and part ways.

However, I've also been told by a current PD member that it isn't against the rules to have two characters in the same location, or even organisation - just not recommended. They shouldn't exchange goods, help drag or hit the same person, that bit was for sure.

* actual advice may vary, seek advice from a medical professional, blah blah blah

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:05 pm
by Genevieve
Just something to think about:

You create your characters, their personalities etc. Thus, you have created your own situation where they both want to be part of the organization. Honestly, it may not be completely against the rules but expect a message from PD if we see much in the way of interaction/helping between two of your own charries. It comes down to the fact that it is FAR to easy to abuse a situation like that and we can't say "Well, it is okay for you but not for anyone else" without everyone hating us. :P

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:30 pm
by El_Skwidd
Genevieve wrote:It comes down to the fact that it is FAR to easy to abuse a situation like that and we can't say "Well, it is okay for you but not for anyone else" without everyone hating us. :P


I knows it, and I'd never expect that. :wink:

I think, in the interest of fairness, I should go with the sadder-but-wiser route and turn one character away. If anyone else has any input, though, say the word(s).

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:03 pm
by SekoETC
You'll get more out of the game if your characters are in different locations and organizations. I've had characters temporarily stay in or pass through each others' locations but they've never considered staying (maybe because if my characters even notice each others' presense, they often end up hating each other or one will fear the other). If you have two characters who would serve the same organization without doubt, you might want to think about if those characters were made too similar to each other.

Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:44 pm
by Zanthos
i have experienced this, and its simple. Just dont have them interact with eachother unless you have to.

example where they have to:

two businessmen, one controls hematite and neighboring place has another steel product. only sources, or most efficient sources, in area, so it would be inexplicable for them to not interact.

example where they dont have to: you have a town citizen who really doesnt have to interact with said businessman.

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:33 am
by tiddy ogg
I believe the current thinking is that you should also avoid having 2 chars in the same location except on a temporary basis - not both to live there. And it *does* make it very confusing knowing which has experienced what. And also you get the wrong one talking aand have to make an OOC apology!

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:38 am
by Arenti
What if I have a trader and he trades with many towns but should I let that trader not go the town where another char of mine is leading that town. And that town has a resource my trader needs and it's a rare resource. Should I ignore that town or can I trade with my own char ? At the same rates ofcourse as he would use otherwise.

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:42 am
by Peanut
Arenti wrote:What if I have a trader and he trades with many towns but should I let that trader not go the town where another char of mine is leading that town. And that town has a resource my trader needs and it's a rare resource. Should I ignore that town or can I trade with my own char ? At the same rates ofcourse as he would use otherwise.


That's okay as far as I know. Though you could do what I always did when such a situation happened. Just send someone else there to trade for the resource.

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:41 pm
by Cogliostro
You might want to make an effort to avoid it, but if you can't, then I can tell from my experience (like that time I dragged a character using two of mine off a boat due to a complex roleplaying situation) that if you really aren't trying to cheat, PD looks into it in amazing amount of detail and then when they see you're legit, you're off the hook. It's worth not getting into that situation just to save them the work of finding that out.

If you do something obviously wrong like what I did, you'll unavoidably get "special" emails from them , but it isn't as though your account will be summarily deleted instantly for it. :D

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:43 pm
by Arenti
Peanut wrote:
Arenti wrote:What if I have a trader and he trades with many towns but should I let that trader not go the town where another char of mine is leading that town. And that town has a resource my trader needs and it's a rare resource. Should I ignore that town or can I trade with my own char ? At the same rates ofcourse as he would use otherwise.


That's okay as far as I know. Though you could do what I always did when such a situation happened. Just send someone else there to trade for the resource.


What if I'm a trader who works alone?

Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:57 pm
by Genevieve
You can trade for it - if you need it and your character is the only one who has it, go for it.
Rule of thumb? If you think there is a possibility that we might think we see a CRB - then let us know beforehand by emailing support!

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 5:47 am
by Zanthos
id say give the pd a heads up. i always did when two of mine were gonna interact.

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:03 am
by SekoETC
Once I checked with PD in advance and I still got contacted. But maybe it was because I talked to a PD member on YIM instead of using the contact form... I can't even remember if the contact form existed back then.

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:55 am
by grzybi
I have a bit different situation than Arenti described.

One of my char is a trader and a second is a citizen of a city. In that city live two people (my second char and a person who is a leader). Town leader is a big sleepyhead. My trader unsuccessfully tried to exchange resources with him two times.

In this situation can I trade between my chars (and inform PD)? Or should I allow him to collect resources on his own hand? Isn't the second solution a CRB also?