Well, don't carry out your OOC conversations in tells? You've messages, OOC clans (buckets and buckets of them).

And if 'I heard soandso tell BobtheMighty...' is a valid argument, it is no less valid an argument whether or not they actually heard it.

Is this really jerkish though? Taking supposed OOC to IC might be but overall it's a swell idea and excellent espionage. I don't like the whole OOC tells of a plot part though, why is someone even telling others about this in an OOC way? They should carry it out in game, there's much too little roleplay in the game as it is. There is absolutely no reason for someone to know of a plot if it doesn't involve them, in which case you're not telling them about it anyhow, or should IC instead of calming them down OOC about doing something. OOC plot talk just seems like a way to cheapen the game because it -does- impact how the others will act about things IC then.

Edit: Blast you Eventru and your ninjaness!

No problem with such reward here. Also, that cave room in Achaea was always lots of fun (chance to hear an anonymized tell from anyone in the continent)

The Membrane! Man, I remember that. I think it was any say or tell, as well. It was... Something... alright.

I don't think that one actually included tells, only says.

Still, a somewhat silly place. Good place to pick up passwords though

Should this be a case where Invoke Blue or Privacy Area have some merit as well?

From memory, the other IRE similar things only work on tells to a target in your room: you don't hear tells originating in your room, only ending in them. So most of the time you only heard half the conversation. Does this work the same way?

All the best plots are hatched via out of game communication anyhow if the people involved in said plot are smart. Have to keep the metagame train rolling.

To and from your room.

This.

All we get with this quest artifact is a new bag of lulz. Useful primarily for being a gossip over being a spy. Which is fitting, really, when you look at the place where you get it.

By far one of the more ridiculous ideas that have been implemented in any game.

Spent five years in a game that had this as basic equipment (not hearing tells someone -sends- though, just receives), guess is why it doesn't do anything for me.

All the best plots are hatched via out of game communication anyhow if the people involved in said plot are smart. Have to keep the metagame train rolling.

Somehow I think this is cheating and should be punishable by shrubbing if caught.

Perhaps it could be construed as cheating, but I very much assure you it has been a part of Lusternia since its inception (I wasn't near being around when Lusternia was first opened, but I can near guarantee this. It is a fact of all online games.). Regardless, unless we lived in a total police state with the admins of Lusternia operating as our overlords monitoring our lives 24/7, it would be impossible to prove such a thing.

I for one welcome our new Lusternian overlords. Estarra 4 God Empress of Mankind 2012.

I'm actually wondering if this could fit in with Sentinel-themed stuff... One optional task we have is to 'monitor' someone to ensure their loyalty to the Collective is unswerving...

What is unfortunate about it is, even if people will very rarely use it because there's nothing to spy on, and a ton of annoying drivel to sift through, everyone still has to treat tells as if they might be being listened in on, just in case; so it devalues one of the things that people use to communicate. Communication between players is an important part of what makes multiplayer games appealing to a very, very large percentage of us. It's a goose whose golden eggs are very easily taken for granted. But it's not the end of the world; just another minor bad idea whose impact will probably turn out minimal because it will end up not getting used much.

I feel sorry for the guys who have to listen to all those illegal wiretaps, poring over countless hours of mind-numbing drivel, and probably not finding anything that matters. But that doesn't mean I think illegal wire-tapping is therefore not a problem.

The open secret about spying in Lusternia isn't that the juicy stuff is hatched in OOC venues, but that there really isn't much juicy stuff. It's not like we need spies to find out when the enemy is going to strike, what new technology they have, what tactics they're going to use, where their supply lines are, and where their troops are being headquartered. On a typical day there's really nothing secret that we don't all already know that matters. About the only time there are secrets are during events. Lusternia already had far more spying skills than there are things to spy on with them.

Can't you guys just look at the people in the room and see if they're wearing the crown? Then you'd know if they can spy on you and you can shut up. Especially since it only works same room.

Some of you are overreacting a bit.

THE SKY IS FALLING, SHUYIN! JEEBUS!

Logical.