Consider the situation where an NPC is mentioned in books, from the books, I (the player) knows that Bob the nice guy is really an evil backstabbing mongrel who has no fighting skill and a really good piece of magical apparatus, HOWEVER - I (the low-level character) read his description and reputation, seeing a big bear of a man, with rippling muscles, and an appearance of great skill as he practices with his axe.
If I am RPing properly (with obvious exceptions for if you a an evil murdering animal too) I would not attack him, there is no reason for it, and he appears too nasty to mess with, but since I read the book, I know he is a push over, he's going to die. This is cheating due to a lack of character separation.
Alternatively, if you have global communications within a race, but no communication between races/sides (still holds true even if you don't), and I am playing one race, but have arranged for a friend to be playing another (or my second char if the mud allows it - different matter again) who for no RP reason is passing me information about the movements and activities through, MSN/AIM/ICQ/shouts across a room, then that is also OOC cheating, AND IT REALLY ***** A GOOD GAME UP!
Simple, off the top examples, knowing what type of tree something is, doesn't really give me an advantage (OK, maybe if I know willowbark, is a pain killer, and can recognise a willow tree... but if I do not have the "hebalist" skill, it still doesn't help me, so it is MUCH less of a problem)
Please not the distictions there with IC and OOC knowledge, if I have roleplayed a spy in another clan, and I am in game & IC passing that information on, then, it is acceptable (Race RP permitting - some races WILL NOT speak to each other, even for that purpose), it has its own IC penalties if I am caught.
|