Why multirealming is bad

[Kitsuni]

Pardon the thread title.

Over time I've spoke to many multirealmers, and the large majority that I have known do not realize that they are doing anything wrong by multirealming. They have absolutely no concept of how it harms the game, and believe that they are only having fun by playing the most active realm at any given time. So I've made a little list of reasons why it is harmful, to help educate those who do not quite understand the issues that it presents.

1) Multirealmers tend to join the winning side, not the losing side.
They just want to have fun, afterall, its a game. But this tilts an already unwinnable batle further in the favor of the enemy. In many cases, this can make a critical difference, now that the game has moved from holding multiple forts for a set period of time, to holding only one fort at a time. This makes it easy for just a few more players to heavily influence the outcome.

2) Multirealmers tend to switch sides to kill the noble during invasion.
Who can honestly resist all those warmaster coins? Its not uncommon for people to switch to the winning realm to get noble kills. The problem here is that the invading realm almost always tends to have the advantage, due to how the game is designed, in a way that gives all advantages to the realm that is already advantaged (positive feedback loops). Again, this puts the losing realm at a further disadvantage, not having that player to help defend.

3) Multirealmers cannot be realistically trusted.
Someone who plays multiple realms is a logical intelligence risk and cannot be trusted not to share information. Many people see this as minor; what harm could something like telilng the other realm what fort is going to be attacked? Until a force of only five people get there to find it camped by ten enemies. Those who I have known over the years see this as "creating action", but in reality, its an action-killer, because it tilts balance to the defensive side.

4) It is hard to consider a multirealmer to be an ally.
Many chose not to support multis because they have a tendancy to switch whenever it is convenient for them, not when it is convenient for the realm. This can lead to things like getting killed by a friend and then switching to kill them in return. It creates mistrust between players.

In short... multirealming does have a significant effect on the game. In the old days, it wasn't as common as it was now, as there were no boosts and grinding a char in another realm was very difficult. Now with the introduction of boosts, more premium items, merged accounts, etc. it has become much more common, with many players thinking its just way to enjoy the game better, without realizing that they are making the game worse for everyone else, including their own friends.

I realize that realm pride doesn't mean anything to some people, but it is a very nice concept that can help your realm overcome the odds.