Tame Animals - Wrong Color When Owner Offline

[Nightswatch3 13]

Two nights ago, while on my way back from Strongbox, I engaged a dog at distance with a longbow. Lawful behavior was enabled so The dog was blue and I had left the settlement perimeter and was "in the lands of Wurm." Upon the dog's death, I was attacked by the Kingdom Guards. When I checked my reputation, it was -110. Since the dog was blue, I was not inside a settlement, and previously that day my reputation was 100 and I had committed no illegal acts (ie breaking down settlement walls [also impossible as I am the mayor of a settlement], attempted to steal anything, or lockpick any doors or locks]) this was an obvious program glitch. I passed the information on to CA Help, Ianrose and then later spoke with /Support. Ironically, the Wurm technical staff's first response was, that is not possible! Your reputation had to be lower, and no reputation hit could be worth -210 points. After further research and discussion, I was informed that if an animal is a pet and the owner logs off, the pet's "aura" changes from "Green" to "Blue". Therefore, ANY reputation hit would be unwarranted. Naturally, based on a single report tech support could not make a correction to the reputation, even though the activities log recorded each and every action.

Another issue related indirectly to the one created by the glitch, is that a group of players at SB that rob players after visiting the Strongbox Merchants. One attacks a pet or a horse and when a player attacks the offender, he or she becomes an outlaw. When a player defends his property they become an outlaw. Because they are the outlaw, their goods are free for looting. The offending attacker takes a -20 reputation hit.

While my problem originates with a glitch, it also shed's light on a more serious problem. The reputation system MUST be reviewed and revised. When a player cannot defend his property and is penalized for the most basic of principles, those utilizing this tactic are in fact cheaters and using a game exploit against honest players. Wurm is too good of a game, not to get this fixed.

For those reading the forum that might say, "Nightswatch is crying, Wurm is PVP." I would welcome pure PVP where there is no law and order and justice is passed out with an eye for an eye, rather than be held hostage by a system that allows a small few, take advantage and use the game rules against other players.