If a fake protective kitteh came out, then real protective kitteh would know, but couldn't prove it, as it's one player's word against another.
If a real protective kitteh came out and announced themselves, the bad guys would target them and there may be a way to override protection, like with the soft hit/hard hit thing at RatSkep. We just don't know the powers of the bad guys. PLus a fake protective kitteh may try to muddy the waters.
If real protective kitty came out and announced their powers but announced that they were protecting themselves, they may be able put off the bad guys long enough to form a group of trusted players if the genuine cop kitteh contacts them. If more than one cop kitteh makes contact, then someone's a bad guy. (But without PM's how can quiet contact be made ?) In previous games, the bodyguard left themselves unprotected at times but bluffed that they were protected. A wasted hit is too much to risk for the bad guys, so they usually leave them alone. But this may not be the case this time. I'd suggest that if the protective kitteh comes out, that they play the shell game with protection so the bad guys don't know when to strike and end up leaving them alone. But again, a "hard hit" option may bring that all undone and a critical player lost.
Fuck it.
A question - What's to stop people PM'ing and how can the mods enforce it anyhow ?
Are the bad guys PM'ing to coordinate their strategies ? If there is literally no PMing going on, there can't be a team of bad guys but a few individuals. But the opening post of the game refers to basement cat and his minions, inferring there is a team and for a team to work, they have to be communicating. 
Nearly lunchtime here. I'll go away and think about it. There's got to be a way around this while keeping within the rules.
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