In post 64, MichelSableheart wrote: In post 59, Ranmaru wrote:
I still disagree that it is a private exchange. The exchange of private information has already happened, in a private thread. The other players weren't present, and therefore would not know of what has been discussed, and won't understand the meaning behind the scums/masons posts, which makes sense. Example, if I naked voted a player, no player would understand the meaning of it. They can't deduce much from it unless I explain it later. Let's apply your example to mine. If I had a PR result, I'd use a naked vote. If I had vanilla result, I'd use a reason. I don't think that is against any rules.
The difference between your naked vote and the example I give, is that your naked vote is clearly visible to everyone. The other players may not be aware WHY you're making that vote, but they do know THAT you're making that vote. By contrast, in the case of breadcrumbing, it's not just that they don't know the meaning, but also that they don't know the information is there in the first place.
I wonder, how do you apply this as a rule? When and where do you enforce it? Is it possible to go around your ruling?
The ruleset I used in previous games included the following rule:
It is also not allowed to use coding, small or invisible text to hide information in your messages inside the thread. (note that coding includes simple codes such as hiding a word in the first letters of each paragraph of a post)
My basic assumption regarding enforcement is that players will follow the rules I set out, and not cheat. In the below, I assume that the rulebreaking was unintentional. If I feel it was intentional despite knowing it was against the rules, that player will be dealt with by force replace/modkill (depending on the impact on the integrity of the game), be blacklisted, and reported to the listmod for further review.
If a player makes a breadcrumb but nobody ever references it, I won't notice, and therefore won't enforce. That's fine, as that breadcrumb did not affect the game in any way.
If a scum, mason or neighbour team discusses breadcrumbing in their private topic, I will point out the existence of the rule, and my interpretation of it. This should again prevent the breadcrumb from affecting the game, and therefore needs no stronger reinforcement then that.
If a player makes a breadcrumb, and that breadcrumb becomes public info and gets discussed, there is a potential problem regarding game integrity. In that situation, it's possible that players have received information they should not have received. In that case, I will estimate the impact this particular crumb has had on the game. Depending on my estimation, I may give a (public or private) warning not to do that again if I feel it didn't have much impact, or I may modkill the player who broke the rules if his actions gave his team a significant advantage.