Scamming is advertised as 'legal' to give fair warning to use common sense.
There was once a time on PC Era when scamming was deemed "illegal". I happened to be a GP(Graal Police) at the time. It was difficult to give justice to people claiming they were scammed because of these scenarios:
- PlayerA let PlayerB borrow a weapon, and PlayerB decided to keep it.
- PlayerA was friends with PlayerB, and they put their money together to purchase a BAR. Now they're not friends anymore, and they both want to keep it.
- PlayerA wants to buy a Metalstorm, PlayerB says he has one, puts a Metal Handle in the trade window, PlayerA believes it's a Metalstorm and adds money, accepts the trade, and buys a Metal Handle for 150k.
- PlayerA claims PlayerB scammed him when he accidentally dropped his P90 on the floor and PlayerB picked it up.
- PlayerA and PlayerB made a trade through three trade mediums(drop, /trade and /itemtrade), and somebody got screwed over.
- PlayerA got on Graal drunk and dropped his items on the floor at unstick me. He blamed PlayerB when he sobered up.
These are actual scenarios I encountered on a regular basis.
Yes- People even claimed they got scammed when there were several trade systems in effect.
We used to spend hours going through trade logs, item trade logs, and drop logs because people didn't use common sense. I've gone through item logs lapsing over a course of two months to find out where an item derived, who initially purchased it, and how it got to where it is now. Over time, it was decided that it was wasting our time. Also, just because a log file says an item was dropped by PlayerA and picked up by PlayerB doesn't mean that it was a scam. There's simply too many variables to give correct justice. Sometimes, innocent players were jailed, and lost an item that was rightfully theirs.
This is why it's advertised as "legal".
I don't believe it should be advertised, because it puts the idea of scamming in plain sight.
I've played for 10 years and never once been scammed. I've always said that scammers are smart people taking advantage of naive people. The Scammer is a breed of person that exists in the real world- if you get scammed, take it as a life lesson. I'd rather you learn the lesson in a game than in real life.
Edit:
I'm explaining why scamming is legal for those of you who weren't around in 2006.
This is nothing against slasher.