You said "we can only guess at what would happen". I don't need to guess. I know what would happen because :

1) CF's rules used to be looser than they are now, as was the playerbases's attitude.

2) There are a million other games where your doomsday scenarios just don't happen.

So don't deflect onto "that's not the game I want it to be". Years ago when I used to talk to a lot of people over AIM, my RP was better. I was more engaged with my characters. I cared more about the outcome of my roleplay. I generally got rewarded more and recognized more as a good player.

And the reason why was because I was having fun doing it.

So the slippery slope argument just doesn't hold water.