Adding [SECURE] tag to rooms/doors
Removing ambiguity...

He have 'help crime'. An important aspect of 'help crime' is the concept of a 'secure area'. I think that what qualifies, while often obvious to many, is at least a bit murky. I would love to see the ambiguity removed as I personally feel there is real ambiguity. I also simply prefer things to be as explicit as possible.

So, maybe we just add a tag to the name of the room like we already do for population density. If it's a room considered to be a 'secure area' thus probably needing an xhelp before you fuck about there, just append [SECURE] to the room name. Done.

I'm not sure if there's as slick of a way to do this for doors but I think doing the same for them would be useful. Maybe the street outside the building is not a secure area but the building itself is. I don't know this though because I'm not inside. So if there is a way for a player to be told that the door is to a secure area when looking at it, I think that would be useful in making it clear that xhelps may be needed before you start messing with the door.

I am not saying that this is a perfectly formed idea ready for shipment. I do think it's worth discussion though!

I think adding a room tag would be cluttery.

But I'm not sure if it'd be extreme effort, though it would be some, to add an @crime command to distinguish whether sometihng might need xhelped about in certain areas. But it probably isn't a priority.

I can't imagine any universal criteria of what could be considered a secure space that could be applied programmatically to the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of rooms

This could be an issue but I am honestly not sure how much of an issue. MOOs use an inheritance system so a lot will depend on that family tree. It could work beautifully or not. Also, every room will have props and verbs on them. It may be possible to use the presence of these to classify rooms. Some might need to be manually classified. I honestly can't say how intensive this might or might not be. I figure that if staff likes any of what comes out of the discussion they'll know if it's practical to apply or not.

subjective opportunities to players

I'm not sure if I understand this. My understanding is that this is not subjective. My understanding is that you are either dealing with a place where you have to xhelp and get approval for crime or you aren't. If staff has decided that a given location is considered secure and needs xhelp approval for certain actions, I feel that this should be communicated as clearly as possible to players with as little room for interpretation as possible.

@crime command to distinguish whether sometihng might need xhelped about in certain areas

I kind of love this idea. It allows for more information to be passed along as well. If it's a secure area on gold the output can specify what actions need xhelp approval for example. Plus you can target a command like '@crime here' or '@crime door'.

High security cameras and sensors scan your every move in here

Personally not a fan of this kind of thing. If there are ameras or sensors then I feel there needs to be actual cameras or sensors there. If there are guards there then I feel there needs to be NPCs present. Just my preference.

Thanks for clarifying! I think we might have different preferences is all. I want less room for interpretation and debate when it comes to 'rules'. I prefer to avoid being told by one staff member that something is okay then get told I'm messing up by the next. I don't want to go do what I think is fun and cool and within the rules just to be told that I should have known better and that it's 'common sense' (a term I find nebulous, slightly insulting and very unuseful). Those are just my preferences at the moment.

In terms of RP within the rules, I am very much a fan of having as much room as possible to be creative and do things many have assumed is impossible. I'm not great at pulling such things off myself but I want there to be room for it so those who are better at such things can as I find these events a positive for most players.

I am also a fan of challenging rules, policies and mechanics and possibly changing them. I think it's healthy for the game. But if staff decides something is a rule or policy, then I think it's important to make a solid effort to be on the same page staff side and to make it as easy as possible for players to abide by those rules and policies. That is where I was coming from with this one.