The standards were actually quite different.

I remember going to the Inferno and it was an OOC fest.

Here was the group I was with.

FIRST PARTY TO SLAY THE ARCH-DEVIL DISPATER

Graatch Mahaira Kantherion
Amlaruil Syrinaa Challen
Angelica Tsemakh

My character was Kantherion.

The rules, as we understood it back then were:

1. Don't talk out loud. (If we "say" it, the "devils" will surely kill us.)
2. Talking in the gtell mode was safe. ("Thinking" something in that fashion is no different than doing it as someone not in hell.)

We found safe places to drop link. We set up our times to return. We did everything we could going over our notes.

We did say something out loud once and sure enough, we had to go through an epic rping experience which we all enjoyed thoroughly. So we knew we were being watched.

This all happened over a decade ago. I wouldn't even think of doing a hell trip the same way now.

During the '90s (I started playing in '94) I was part of one of those infamous crews. Mind you, I was taught by one of those ring leaders on how to play. We eventually went our own ways in regards to playing. He hasn't played since the late 90s and I eventually immed.

Part of the reason I immed was because part of me still thought that something wanky must be going on in certain situations. And I wanted to know. I cleaned up my playing act and applied to imm with Kantherion. Obviously, I was turned down. I then went through many more characters over the course of a few years and applied with Blachmianan. I got to see behind the green curtain and this is what I learned:

Not all of the imms agree on everything all of the time. There is no kool-aid. They discuss things as a group when there is a difference of opinion until a resolution is made. What I thought was wanky in why things are the way they are, was completely explained in threads on the immortal forums (mind you, the higher the level you are, the more there is to read). Unfortunately, after that meltdown earlier this year, most of those threads are gone. I have posted many of the humorous ones for you all to read in the past.

Now, here's the dilemma which I hinted at in an earlier post in this thread "It really is a Catch-22":

A player with ties to an ooc ring becomes an imm.
He eventually gets to a high enough level to read the threads about balance and game play.
He tells the player base that all is cool, but he really can't go into detail.
Some of the elite know-it-all players say something must be wrong and call BS.
They are wrong.
Some other players believe elite know-it-all.
No matter how much is said, they don't believe the imm.
The imm is right, but couldn't prove it to them anyway, so what's the point of trying?
Imm still tries, and is still told something must be wanky.
BLEH.

And even though these elite know-it-all players KNOW that we MUST be cheating somehow, they continue to play the game. Why? Because we enforce the rules to keep CF the way it is.