And in practice I think getting away with griefing in this way this rarely happens anyways because:
A. People who use RP as an excuse to grief tend to not be real RPers, they even tend to look down on RP, so their knowledge of RP is like a mainstream-media-journalist's knowledge of videogames, and their ploy is thus paperthin to an actual RPer.
B. Claiming they really had the best of intentions would mean admitting they made a mistake by not anticipating how people would take it. And most people would rather admit they were griefing than admit they made a mistake. :P
So if you do end up griefing someone, then if you do apologise and admit you made a mistake, and if it's clear that you're a real RPer (ie: you don't talk trash about RP all the time except when you use it to justify your actions), then all should be fine. The people who'll still accuse you of griefing are the ones who will always assume the worst of your motivations no matter what you do, so that nothing you say or do would please them anyways,
A. People who use RP as an excuse to grief tend to not be real RPers, they even tend to look down on RP, so their knowledge of RP is like a mainstream-media-journalist's knowledge of videogames, and their ploy is thus paperthin to an actual RPer.
B. Claiming they really had the best of intentions would mean admitting they made a mistake by not anticipating how people would take it. And most people would rather admit they were griefing than admit they made a mistake. :P
So if you do end up griefing someone, then if you do apologise and admit you made a mistake, and if it's clear that you're a real RPer (ie: you don't talk trash about RP all the time except when you use it to justify your actions), then all should be fine. The people who'll still accuse you of griefing are the ones who will always assume the worst of your motivations no matter what you do, so that nothing you say or do would please them anyways,