Let's assume someone invests points heavily into skills like "pickpocket" and "sneak" around the concept of a rogue character. Items are stolen, but even if you "get away" with the crime the items still have a "Stolen" tag stamped on them.
I understand the real-world logic here, but I'm struggling to understand how (from the perspective of game design) this is practical. For example, you steal a nice piece of armor and.. then what? You can't walk around using it without risk of being busted by a guard later on. Perhaps the original owner will eventually die and the "stolen" tag will be removed (a feature which does not work reliably, by the way) - but by then you've likely obtained better gear and no longer need that item.
Again - I understand the real-life logic there, but for gameplay purposes it's like.. what was the point of even stealing anything? What was the point of providing a pickpocket skill in the first place? And what's the point in players investing in it?
I feel like the only purpose behind theft is to turn around and sell the stolen items to a merchant - which (if we're focusing on logic) doesn't make much sense either. I would rather encourage targeted, meaningful theft, rather than encouraging players to vacuum up everything that isn't nailed down because then you can sell it for money and buy what you actually want legitimately.
I just feel like the whole stealing mechanic is poorly thought out. Either that, or I'm seriously missing the intended purpose of it.
