Shattered Kingdoms

Question sums it up. I am not trying to be snide, but am honestly trying to avoid future punishment. There are some items that could cross from one character to the other, I usually hand my kit off to someone else when I switch mains, but how do I know how long or what I have to do to avoid being hit with an Item Transfer penalty? If I junk my suit and in two weeks roll out and grab one of the elite items, is that a transfer?

I seem to remember someone saying recently that as long as you junk it, it stops being tracked by the code, and that you're allowed to hoard on 1 character, junk, and recollect on a 2nd. So to me it sounds like you need to just do a really good job on instant messenger of keeping track of where your gear goes in order to avoid getting slapped down. I can't really come up with an IC solution.

I think patri pretty much has the right of it. I feel like someone else suggested in another thread waiting for a reboot or two before reclaiming the item (versus the obvious intent of junking it on one, relogging, and reclaiming it on the next tic) allows enough time to pass for other characters to potentially be able to locate it as well, which would make it fair game.

In regards to code, I think code to flag items you've touched (visible to player only) before would be helpful on many levels. While you have hoarders out there who will do their best to hoard and you could argue it helps them hoard more carefully, I think it would minimize some amount of hoarding. It would also minimize the time I have to spend as a RM handling potential MP in regards to item transfer, and also allow honest players to be able to play as they would without worry.

I know I've seen players panic at the thought of touching the same item twice (junk items, log it, pray immediately, etc). I myself as a player have worried about even picking up innocuous items that I may have touched on another character. Could a player who accidentally handled a common herb or potion get forgiveness for an honest mistake? I don't see why not, but this would eliminate any time involved to handle it and also eliminate gray areas regarding what I have to rule as willful item transfers and accidents.

And no, this isn't my original idea, but I do think it worth debating. Feel free to chime in with thoughts.

It seems disingenuous to have a rule that prohibits transfer of items between characters played by the same person, but then have absolutely no method for a player to determine if an item or piece of equipment they are given, find, buy, or take after PK has been in the possession of one of their other characters.

If you can tag items with "in the safe" so they cannot be stolen from shopkeepers then it seems reasonable that you could tag an item to show as (tainted), if multiple characters that share an e-mail address come into possession of that item.

I feel like it's worth pointing out that most players seem capable of navigating this issue safely from my experience by being cautious.

Multiplay is outlined as one of our most serious offenses (with item transfer being one form of MP). It's meant to be taken very seriously and the choice to play multiple characters should be made carefully. If someone is really worried about their ability to keep items straight between characters, with the current code/rules in place, they should just stick to one character.

I think it's safe to say the biggest concern is on limited items. With the current code in place, you're perfectly welcome to shoot up a prayer if you acquire an item you're not sure you've touched or not on another character. It takes a few seconds to send up a prayer. Prayers are logged. I WILL see them within 24 hours if someone doesn't answer you first. I'd much rather you do this than either A) worry unnecessarily, or B) make me spend my time trying to interpret the situation.

I do acknowledge this precaution wouldn't be necessary with the suggested code, but we all have to work with existing code as it exists. Personally, I love the idea of this code change from the standpoint of making my job easier and allowing me to spend my time in other productive ways. I wouldn't expect immediate results even if D likes the idea, as it does require him to put extra time in and possibly take away from another code update in the works. It just has my vote for what that's worth.

Unfortunately, such a code change is not currently feasible. Verifying whether a previous character owned an item is a deep search which requires a lot of processor cycles. It can be done when needed to verify a question, but not in real time and not for every item that anyone would look at or touch. If you think the occasional bout of lag is bad now? It would be 100x worse. The game would become unplayable.

Nobody cares if you were to accidentally end up with an herb or some common store bought gear. This rule only applies to high end limited-gear. People with multiple characters who end up playing in that range will know.

For a hypothetical example: Let's say that between you, your alt and a character that knows both, you hoard every instance of one of the resist elements staves in the game for months at a time without using them up. And this hoarding is to your tactical advantage because you play a warlock and they cannot therefore be used against you. Then I believe this would be a clear case of knowing exactly what you were doing when the staves originally acquired by you were eventually passed to your alt, even if a few months had passed. That would be a hypothetical case that I do not see grounds of arguing for clemency due to not knowing.

If you do end up with a piece of great previously-owned by an alt gear by total accident, such as some circuitous route that included multiple PKs with the item changing sides between lighties and darkies more than once, then you don't even need to worry about being asked, because those circumstances are easy to see. But if you do happen to know that's true, then I recommend passing it off to a friend instead of keeping it.

I think the only way to guarantee you will not be accused of multiplay is to only play one character and not let anyone else in your household play.

This isn't true at all, I've never been accused of multiplay and I often play with others in my House, I also play on a multitude of different devices as do those that play with me. It's usually pretty easy to tell if someone is actually multiplaying or playing with others just by snooping them.