Now that both parties are dead, I was curious what the difference between perma-grouping is and what Caldysias and Baelen did. IMO, they were pretty blatant about it. Routine exact same login/logout, an overwhelming number of PKs SOLELY together, and to cap it all off both of these players were tatted and one was leadered. I mean...

Really?

Is permaing more or less acceptable now if it is RPd out and if the characters are RPing with the rest of the mud? I think some clarity on this issue would be pretty beneficial, especially given the current clamoring on the other forums about there being another blatant perma. (I can't say whether there is one or is not one, I'd just like to know what defines one if Caldysias/Bealen weren't considered one.)

Because even if this was 100% legit, I would have thought they would have been encouraged not to spend as much time together because of the chance it might not be legit.

But in counterpoint, just because 100% of pk's landed was two people together doesn't mean they only pk'd together. It just means they didn't land kills when apart.

It's hard to differentiate between people who play together and people who just play at the same hours (this is even more obvious at odd hours). To me a perma is people who only (or mostly) log in and off together. Azhelak had almost double the hours of Brakrar, so obviously he was playing without him. Mrrowler and Moopsie is probably a more textbook case.

Just my 2 cents but I think an official, more concise policy would help but at the same time we have to recognize how hard it is to enforce and the possibility of people getting accused when it's just a coincidence.

For example, you are KOd and gagged and you use ICQ to msg other player to come save you. Or when you use ooc connections to ensure council voting for you in Empire. Or when you play sitting in the same room and communicate IRL (which is way faster). Or in general, using ooc connection to ensure you have someone you can trust in an otherwise untrustworthy environment (evil society).

Have been "busted" for spending too much time with folks I had no OOC connection to. Just very similar play times and cabal/align.