New Player Guide - Reputation
Unlike the real world, in Ultima Online you can tell a lot by looking at someone's name. The first thing stands out is the color, and that's what we'll discuss here: reputation.
Blue
When you start out in this world your name is colored in blue; this marks you as an innocent. If you are within the limits of a guarded city and someone attacks you (or any other blue), say "guards" and the town guards will punish your attacker. If you're not in a guarded area, anyone who attacks you becomes criminal, and anyone who kills you is on the road to having a reputation as a murderer.
Red
Reds are murderers. These are players who have killed at least five innocents. Reds are freely attackable anywhere, including in town - the guards do not protect murderers. You may see reds in town, but you're in no danger from them. They are allowed inside towns and are bound by the same rules as others; they can't attack innocents. However if you decide to start a fight with a red in town, they have the right to defend themselves and fight back. At that point you will be freely attackable by them for a few minutes.
Grey
Greys are people who are freely attackable. They may be attacked by anyone with no consequence. If you kill a grey it does not count as murder. Some things are always grey; for example wild animals and monsters. When a player turns grey it is often because they've performced a criminal action such as attacking or stealing from a blue. If you turn grey, lay low and wait for a few minutes. You'll return to blue in a few minutes.
Note that while greys and reds are permitted to do business in town, not only do the guards not protect them, but the guards also punish those who help them in certain ways - by healing them, curing their poisons, resurrecting them, etc.
Yellow
People who are colored in yellow are invulnerable. These are almost always either NPC vendors/questers, or ABCUO staff members. You can't attack them, and they can't attack you.
Green
If you are in a guild, your color will change to green. All of your guildmates as well as pets under their control will also be green; this is to signify that you are allies. While you should normally be safe around allies, note that you are always allowed to attack or steal from guildmates. This allows you to practice fighting with no consequence. However be careful, as a rogue member killing guildmates can cause a lot of trouble. Have them removed from the guild as soon as possible, or if necessary, leave the guild yourself.
Orange
Players who are orange are enemies. If you are in factions or in a guild war, you will see your enemies in orange and they are freely attackable at any time. Note that if you use the chivalry spell, enemy of one, this will also turn some creatures orange.
Thieves: the role of thieves is a bit different. A person is marked as a thief when they have joined the thieves guild. You can use the forensics skill on players to see if they are thieves. While thieves are normally blue, it is not considered murder to kill one regardless of whether they are blue or grey. Also, all players can steal from reds even if they're not members of the thieves guild. However if you are caught stealing from reds in town, the guards will still punish you.
Don't judge a person too quickly based on their color. There are reds who are known to be very friendly and helpful to new players, while there are blues who use their color as a mask to hide their despicable character. The colors define the rules regarding your interaction, but say nothing about what a person is really like.
Looting Rights
Another topic related to reputation is looting rights. When you kill a monster, you have looting rights to its corpse; if two people kill a monster and do equal damage, they both have rights to the corpse. When you have rights, you are allowed to loot it (take things from it) and cut it to harvest materials. Players who do not have rights to a corpse can still loot or cut the corpse (unless you are in a Trammel location such as the new player dungeon). However, looting a corpse you do not have rights to is a criminal act; you will turn grey for a couple minutes, and if you are in town the guards will punish you for your actions. On the other hand, the corpses of criminals are fair game for anyone.
When fighting monsters, there is a minimum amount of damage you need to do to acquire looting rights. If one player does most of the damage and another player does a little damage, it's likely that only the top damaging player will have the right to loot the corpse. When fighting special monsters such as champions or doom bosses, looking at looting rights gives you useful information; if you didn't do enough damage to get looting rights, you also didn't do enough damage to earn an artifact or a power scroll.
When you are in a party, you can decide whether or not to let other players in your party loot your corpse by using the party menu from the paperdoll. Guildmates are always allowed to loot your corpse.
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