Alas, it is encouraged the design of the server and the system that we play in where the hiding of someone's ashes is perfectly legitimate.
I actually have to say this is not the case. We
say it is legitimate, but I haven't seen that pan out. As someone who PvP's from time to time in support of ongoing storylines, I am certain I am viewed negatively by some in the community. I've gotten hate mail about it, and I'm not the servers most frequent PvPer by a long shot. Maybe it's because I do it with meaning.
I reported that corpses don't stay in their stored locations and it was never acknowledged. I stopped hiding bodies.
I took screenshots of one corpse in particular, in the coordinates where I left it. And when I didn't find the body,
with the cooperation of the dead PC I asked a DM to release the players body to me, which was ignored and they then revived the PC through some other means, drumming up a way to do it ICly. The player and I were surprised that the screenshot had no apparent validity nor was my prior roleplay of hiding the corpse of any apparent value.
So I guess I'm confused how I had the cooperation of the PC and how the encouraged design of the server was deliberately deviated from, and an in-character story more or less derailed because it sounds like the DM in question was protecting someone from me, who I was communicating well with OOCly already.
Moral of the story? I am so confused in what situations DMs decide to intervene upon. Players are expected to cooperate to tell their own stories, and conflicts, then we ask for DM assistance for a corpse-location bug and a different STORY is told instead. Is it hands on, or hands off?
More important than my little scenario here, is your point about the attitude Shady. Was a DM refusing me the right to dig up a PC I had offed because it looked like one of these hollow NCW insta-kills? Are players co-operating so poorly that DMs have to protect us from eachother?
I'll tell you what is worse than someone who kills you for no reason. A PC that trivializes your characters roleplay with contemporary/anachronistic humor, PCs that make antagonistic roleplay and think themselves free from consequences, who seem quite willing to go great lengths to make you feel like your character does not belong well into OOCness. Someone who drives you to eventually kill them, being true to your own character, who then says you've killed them for no reason.
I think this NCW PvP isn't for the sake of PvP. It's people belittling, harassing other characters ICly, and paying the price for it. Petty crap, as Shady said. If your concept is one that trolls others relentlessly, please be prepared for eventual closure. Perhaps these PCs were never intended to last longer than the week.