I'm gonna go ahead and weigh in here.
In game sometimes I play a thief.
Thieves in general Cheat. They Lie. They Steal.
I Cheat. I lie. I Steal.
It's goes to logic that a thief would have co-horts. People that are in the blackmarket that obtain things illegitimately.
I look at it like that. People who are scripters, cheaters, whatever that isn't legit are just role players. They are just doing the thieving thing. You don't have to have stealing to play a thief or be part of a black market network. You are a criminal.
Most of my guys are red, I'm a murderer... a scoundrel.
I cheat therefore I am.
*bleep* UO if they don't understand their own game. The games creator (Richard Garriot), whom I actually met and have interviewed for my IRL job said that his mission was to create a world that is fully functional. He did not nerf thieves... (EA did that). In fact, I remember being told by a GM to macro hiding overnight while I slept to gain intelligence. Then EA took over and they were like "You can't do this and you can't do that..."
Ah well. The bottom line is, I started this game off as a murderering scoundrel and a thief. If I choose to continue down that path that's my business. If EA can't catch me, that's theirs.