....and luckily there's always a bored and useless guild to be right there to punish them and hide away when a bad guy comes around because "its useless to die" pathetic and you should be ashamed if you ever wonder why this mud has low numbers....
As someone who roleplays a character who people might think comes close to a 'meek little peasant' and tries quite vehemently to avoid death, I must say it's not unenjoyable, though I admit it's not for everyone, but I would hardly think it's forced upon the players.
I play my character rather cautiously, and these rules has served him rather well. But it's part of his personality. I don't think he should expect the gods to ressurect him, and rather might have reasons to think the contrary.
Sure you can play a hot-head and thrive in conflict but geas has wonderful ways to remind you of your place in the world - in most of the cases I think it's rather how the world works and not unsportsmanly and clique-ish behaviour from the players, though I've heard it to be the case at times.
Ceirtain groups in the game are very powerful and it would be lunacy in game to oppose them head on unless you have a plan, are a remarkable individual and are ok with any backlash that you might reasonably expect in game.
In the case of things like new players not knowing certain things like the fact that practicing cannibalism, like any depraved action, most likely puts an almost permanent black spot on your record and that certain people ought to be feared and that you should not stick around to let them capture your character and have it go through horrible traumatic hellish experiences - (which some players like Delmon might enjoy (?)- I think I would have been ok if the roleplay was good), I try to do my part and instill the players I interact with a healthy sense of fear and what should be the normal reaction of anyone who's not a formindable hero in game. Someone has to tell the youths in game to stay in the city and to run like hell if they ever see a dark elf or a hooded individual, spread the news of attacks around medieval style and put up notes in the board warning against cannibals, and so on.
(In passing, I thought Lumi's note on the topic in the arborean to be somewhat borderline OOC, but maybe that's just me. But from what I understand it if it was causing OOC problems.)
I had some fun playing an ignorant youth during my first days of geas and picked things up as I went along - indeed, it's much harder to play someone who's supposed to be knowledgeable - but I can understand how someone who wants to get into the action pretty quickly could be bogged down by geas' IC do's and don'ts and to unwittingly roleplay his or her character into a very uncomfortable position.
Though, returning to the quote up there I'm not sure if it refers to characters like mine who are not in an OCC guild or to guild members.
I'm not sure if the roleplay police out there has as heavy hand as it had at some points, though actually I seem to think things are more lax. There's certainly
much more OOC chat these days. Some guilds require certain behavior or at least some characters expect it and it can be quite frustrating to want to roleplay a character a certain way and to find that his or her doors have been closed down and that it does not seem to be very viable. Indeed, this is not Equal Opportunity Mud, though I do try my best to be fair with the very little power I have and not ruin character concepts for others for the sake of consitent roleplay on my part. So I do tone it down a little when I think what my character would impact the fun of other players and frustrate them.
Balancing roleplay and its demand and keeping the game fun for others can require some effort. Of course, some things simply don't fly in geas and indeed to get it like this there has been code put in place to enforce it when in theory the players ought to have done it themselves. (E.g., the goodies and baddies happily sitting with each other at the marketplace syndrome.)
All in all I hope It was not twinkish actions that ruined your enjoyment, but if "chatters" like me and IC roleplay fallout drove this char away, I think it would be useful to isolate the elements that are felt to be problematic. Though, all in all, I'm of the mentality that better roleplay equates to a better game. The thicker the in game roleplay atmosphere, the more newbies get to breathe it in, the less (unwelcome) problems I would hope would arise.
I mean, if there's no talk or acknowledgement that something is bad and then someone hacks off your head for it or another char blocks your guild advancement "because it's common knowledge" then we have a problem, even if it would seem to be common sense in the game world. People with other mud backgrounds will have a problem as there is such a thing as un-written game etiquette that can vary greatly. In general I feel like the atmosphere in geas is for the most part good, others may feel differently.
As for roleplay; sure it is a pain to go out of the guild halls onto the street to empty a waterskin, but what if someone's watching? How will you explain it? You might run into someone in the street too. : }
P.S. I thank all satho players for excerting discretion and staying out of cities and letting them be somewhat of a safe haven for poor defenseless characters like mine most of the time. If it's code that's keeping them away, then thank you wizzies for coding functional guards. ; )