>How much cheating can
>possibly go on!? Tons and
>it's mainly on the players
>behalf.

This is so abundantly true. In the past two days I've had different people ask me:

1) If I wanted gear from a char they no longer wanted,
2) If I wanted to take over a char they no longer wanted,
3) If I am currently playing "anyone who can induct",
4) If I have a high ranking character who equip them.


>I am sure Zorszaul could
>have been a lot worse
>if he wished.

Definitely.


>It's to the
>point were a new player
>to the MUD is royally
>fucked. There is no way
>he is gonna be able
>to cope with the #####
>that is going on. I
>can hardly do it and
>I've been here from the
>beginning.

Yes and no. Newbies are obviously at a distinct disadvantage. What I'm not convinced of, however, is that it's any worse now than it was "back in the day".


> I've been an independent
>character for 6 years staying
>away from the OOC cheating
>that goes on in cabals
>but that no longer works
>I'm afraid, indpendents just cannot
>cope anymore).

This is mostly why I responded. At least at the sub-35 ranks it is more than possible to do well for yourself as a loner. This is certainly nothing to brag about, but my last few characters (evil human assassin, good human assassin, drow thief and elf thief) have all done quite well for themselves gear-wise while working almost *completely* alone and not exploiting any ooc connections. Now you could argue that I'd have gotten trashed if I'd ranked all the way to hero, but I'm not entirely conviced that's the case.

Of course, it does help to be able to hide...