I apologize to those of you in the heavens who made this game and play it the way it should be, with no #### OOC. I apologize to the players I cheated with, I did you a disservice, every one of you has skill that should never require OOC #### like we did. Cabal leaders, Cabal elders, you are the cream of the crop, what example do WE set when we bend or break the rules of war? This place is bad ass, a mudders heaven, and to even get to the really good stuff you have to endure an ungodly amount of ####. And its not even about balance, or cabals, or deathblow or any of that ####, its about people. People are ####ty, me included, because we want every advantage, the world we have grown up in has dicated that life is only good and "successful" if you are above the competition. It doesnt matter if it's CF or Wall Street. People are just inherently bad, me included, and I can't be a ####bag anymore, so it's time to own up to being a cheater and apologize. Maybe someone else out there will realize that if we keep going on this competitive "####-the-next-man" self-indulging ####, that the world isn't going to be any better for our kids or their kids and so on. Imms here despite all the #### I had heard showed me what's up, you had class and you were proffessional to the end, it's us, the players that #### this MUD and the world up everyday. It's time to sack up and be grown men and women and do #### right, by the rules. If you want to compete at anything be it the Olympics or a late night CF pk spree, keep it fair and real and it will be better in the long haul for all of us and so on down the road. I'm finally sorry to you whose trust I betrayed, I feel like a narc and I'm sure you are pissed but look at yourselves in the mirror like I have and you might realize it's time for a change if you are really looking and not just going through the motions. ::Stream of conscious flame at will but I hope you reap what you sow::

I'm a firm believer that the vast majority of players on CF, like the vast majority of people in the world, are good people at heart. They may not all have Knight-like ideals, or be able to live up to the standards they set for themselves when it comes to integrity and honor, but they are at least aware of their shortcomings and work to correct them. People try to become better people; its part of what makes us more than just a collection of conscious cells.

I'm not so much of an optomist, however, that I think that all people are like this; the world will always have its 'Wolf Larsons'* who do what they do to satisfy their baser needs, who look upon those people who follow a moral compass with disdain and contempt. By realizing that what you did was wrong, you've managed to pull yourself a bit more out of the yeasty struggle for dominance that occupies the lower organisms.

So for that understanding and your admittance that what you did was wrong, and that you are not going to do it any more, I accept your apology and I thank you. But you should also thank yourself, because you're about to realize just how much more fun CF is when you don't cheat, when you have just yourself to rely upon, when you can only blame yourself for your mistakes...and only congratulate yourself for your successes. I think every person who has passed this 'stage' in their CF life will back me up when I say this: without cheating, the highs of CF are a lot higher, and the lows are not nearly as low. See you in the Fields!

* Obscure Jack London reference from 'The Sea Wolf'.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

I have to say that going up against a char who's player I don't know is much more exciting than fighting an ooc connection. Simply put, and i'm sure many people will agree, when your fighting someone's char who you know, you dont really go all out to try and kill them, and you would probably return gear when you normally wouldn't have. I'm a sinner when it comes to the later.

However, I don't think anyon can dispute the fact that knowning(*) who your allies are played by takes a lot of stress off your mind. Simply put, if i'm ranking I want to know that my tank has done his defs/weapons and can tank. If i'm hunting, I want to know that my groupmate knows what to do given a situation without me telling him what to do. But, theres something to be said for grouping with someone you don't know ooc, and having them be completely competent and do exactly what they should when they need to, ultimately winning a pk etc. In my opinion, cf is a much more 'majestic' or mystical experience when you actually don't know who the players behind the characters are.

Romanul.

(*) Knowing != ooc talking, simply knowning which forum identity plays what char.

You can move to Step 9 now.

Perhaps I am missing something, I just wanted to reclaim my personal integrity.

gf

Welcome to the club. My cheating was of the variety of gearpassing to my lowbies. If that's what you're guilty of, I strongly recommend only playing one character at a time for quite a while. I last cheated a couple of years ago, but whenever I had two active characters the temptation was always there.

My cheating was passing OOC information, grouping and ranking or hunting with others through OOC means. Trading prep locations, passing info about explore areas, that sort of thing. I apologize to those of you who don't cheat and play here, and to you imms who do the same and make the world what it is. Sorry again. I was never caught, I never multi'd or broke character, however what I did was still cheating. It may go on throughout the mud, but I can't be part of it anymore if I want to have some manner of integrity and self-respect. I felt obligated as a person to stand up and admit to what I did in the hopes others will too. I deleted my character and everything. Thank you CF for the fun you did show me.

I just hope you are being serious

Thornheart

I can post the log if you like, though I fail to see what it would bring, I just think it's time we as a playerbase started being true to all the things good people stand for, not just good players. We have to start somewhere, why not here on CF?