So if all food brought to game MUST be paid for at logistics and become IG stealable, that will discourage some people from doing it. Others may suddenly NOT be able to even bring food to events. If I bring 40 sodas to an event but have to pay a 4 gold "game tax" (1 silver per) to logistics each time I do, I will do it far less often, if ever again. And "new" or "poor" characters won't even be able to do that, as they can't scrape the luxury coin together.
If I need to pay 1 copper for every tea bag I bring to game, I will likely stop bringing it. Largely because I don't feel like performing "tea inventory" before and after events when restocking my supplies.
I think this thread unfairly attacks food items. I know of leather workers who sell their wares, some for IG coin, should all leather goods be subject to the same rule? Ditto for most pieces of costuming I can imagine.
Fact is, some people will be ok with this. However, other people, such as myself who just wants to bring food to share with my friends, don't want people pilfering through it simply BECAUSE it's food.
Here's the biggest rub for me. If all other forms of PC to PC treasure, coin, and favor transfer are unregulated, why are we suddenly concerned about stealing non game property items. Frankly I am allowed to STEAL treasure from a player, and give it to a completely unrelated character for no reason other than to offload the hot item, and people find that perfectly fine with the game. Why can people not also just trade game items for non game items. Hi I'm Johnny new player, thank you for giving me extra gear Ms. Helga High-Level, I don't have any coin to compensate you but you can have this string of beads as a token of my friendship. These transactions are suddenly ILLEGAL... or Johnny must declare every piece of costuming he would ever think of giving away, when he arrives at game, to make sure it's tagged and legally paid for.
If any form of IG sales restriction were to pass I would IMMEDIATELY create a side "NPR donation" economy. Donate to my cause and you will receive a donation reward of <x>. You're not actually buying that Morning Edition Tote Bag, you're receiving it as a thank you gift in return for your minimum donation. The tote bag is not an IG item, not stealable and is NOT being directly bought from me. As long as people are legally allowd to tip people for singing / helping and/or give money to other players in an unregulated fashion for no real IG value transfer reason there is nothing barring the "NPR donation" economy to keep things OOG.
And before people cry fowl having all these non-game things around (like they currently are now), there is a large precedent about non game items being IG and targetable by effects. I can disarm your treasure chest, your cup, even your plate with a spell. I can poison your drink with a tag. However that does not make your personal property and/or food MY OOG property. That just means I've added an additional effect to it.
If you want to force every item around the game to be tagged, stealable, and IG property, awesome, That's a great RUST style game. Nothing is off limits except undergarmets, sox, and shoes.... go nuts you Lord of the Flies fans. Sadly, I won't want to play it, as it's not the LARP experience I am currently looking for.
As long as theft and "giving because I want to and for no other reason" are legal, sale for OOG items will be legal. You can't crack down on one without effecting the other, or removing OOG items from the game altogether. Frankly, I feel the system we have now IS the happy middle ground.
Some of us like the system the way it is.