I actually agree with both points and they do not clash with my own as I see them.
Taking your own examples, Vix and Perdan managed to stage a fairly fulfilling and fairly lengthy conflict without even trading regions mostly because the two rulers had not just IG agreements but mutual trust and probably OOC coordination as players too.
Perdan/Vix vs. Eponllyn ended in disaster for the latter because contact was very sketchy, there was no trust between players and there was lots of miscommunication. Not mentioning the declaration of hatred which is usually a one-way ticket anyway.
To take risks for your opponent's benefit you need to at least trust him and know he'll do the same if tables are turned. Do you see what I'm talking about now?
I wonder how much that had to do with just trust thouh. Eponllyn as far as I know wasn't even so keen on the war as they had nothing to gain and it was supposed to be a war to gain passage rights into Sirion and Nivemus for Perdan and Vix respectively. This later turned into a slaugther of Eponllyn even after they had agreed upon the passage rights. This all happened way before Eponllyn ever declared hatred. That pretty much only happened when Eponllyn was back to only Westmoor area and about to be destroyed in their eyes.
I do see what you mean however concerning the matter of trust and agree with you for the most part. But at the same time, I play a very arrogant char in EC for instance and he may well decide to punish someone severely anyway. Like you can't promise never to destroy them on an OOC level, that threat should somehow be there, but it should not be the only option people consider, not by far.
On Dwilight I hope to soon introduce a nice surprise and with Oligarch I also intend to start minor conflicts in the future, should we ever get the opportunity that is. I think however that where some OOC debate is definately healthy, it should not spring into an OOC group deciding and controlling things beforehand. That is the distinction I would like to make here with my rambling.
