The short answer is: no.

First, I think it's important to understand that the staff does not sit around and hungrily wait for anything that could possibly be interpreted as permagrouping so we can piss in someone's cheerios. Anyone who thinks that is poisonous to the game and should kindly #### off.

I've never punished someone solely because I believed they knew another player outside the game or because they told me that Soandso is their real life friend. It's not that black and white and never will be. It will always boil down to a judgement call made the points mentioned by HELP PERMAGROUP. It's when people exploit that connection that we take offense, and there are all manner of things that make that exploitation apparent to us over time.

The rules and HELP PERMA are there to protect everyone and give us the leeway we need to police abuse, but for at least the past few years (if not much farther back) I think we've been pretty rational when it comes to this kind of thing. Getting rid of these rules and calling open season on "permagroups" would be disastrous because not all of our players can't be trusted to approach the game with the honesty and sportsmanship that would be required without them, and if we stepped in at that point we'd be met with smug claims that we have no legitimate recourse for doing so.

Playing with your friends will always mean assuming some risk, as ultimately we're the judge as to whether you doing so fairly or if you're crossing the line. If that proposition makes one uncomfortable then the obvious safe choice is to not do so, or at least make a concerted effort not to play off one another directly (e.g. cabal allies who regularly run together, characters who explore a lot together, etc.).

I'll also add that I don't think we've ever punished anyone for a permagrouping related offense without giving the parties involved a quick verbal warning first, followed by ample time to determine whether the behavior gets adjusted.

Edit to add: We don't always give warnings to repeat offenders. We'll certainly drop the hammer on two people immediately if, for example, we'd dealt with those same players for the same problem in recent history.

The rules won't be changing and our approach to them won't be either, but hopefully people's attitudes will because regardless of the rules we have and how they're written, if everyone just acts classy and has respect for one another then it's all copacetic and nobody has to die (to us).