Minor theft is generally not considered self antagging, but may be depending on other actions taken during the round. Stealing an ID is more severe than minor theft. Self antagging has a stricter standard for members of security and command.
While petty theft is generally an IC issue, stealing can become an antagonist activity if done enough times or with something important enough.
It is generally reasonable to tell someone who is stealing an item to stop, and to make them stop if they don’t comply. Generally they should be given the opportunity to comply again once force is used, but this may not be necessary in all cases, especially if they’ve caused other issues during the round. Stealing or tampering with items may become an antagonist activity when a significant amount or value is stolen, or when theft is done frequently in a round without any justifying conflicts.
In a random theft, the theft itself is considered the initial escalation. Asking someone to give something they stole back, or telling them that it was yours, is generally considered an attempt to deescalate, which grants you leniency should they not comply. In a conflict resulting from theft, the thief maintaining possession of the item after attempts to get it back can be considered a continuation of the conflict by the thief. If someone takes something obviously critical for your job, like a salvage suit, you can escalate much more rapidly than if they stole dice.
Any conflict, including one cause by theft, has the potential to escalate to critting someone. The severity and threat level of the conflict, or of the theft, determines how rapidly escalation can reasonably occur. The following example demonstrates how stealing dice can result in someone being critted, even if they never attack back:
- Tom steals Cindy’s dice
- Cindy tells Tom “Those are my dice, give them back”
- Tom ignores Cindy
- Cindy punches Tom then says “Give me my dice back”
- Tom continues to ignore Cindy, and is moving so she cannot pickpocket him
- Cindy starts punching Tom once every few seconds, Tom continues to hold onto the dice
- Tom goes into crit
- Cindy takes back her dice and takes Tom to the medbay
To reiterate, the conflict can move much faster if a more important or more valuable item is stolen, like a salvage hardsuit, or if the item is dangerous.