My Honest Opinion

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

No. It doesn't. If Honesty was intended to do that it wouldn't give a +1 reaction bonus. That bonus is based on you being a trustworthy person, someone who can relied upon to fulfill their promises but that doesn't work if you're the untrustworthy bane of everyone's existence. Calling cops on people isn't doing your best to get them to obey the law. It's just trying to get them punished for not obeying the law after the fact which is something different.

The police enforce laws. If someone is breaking the law, informing the police is a pretty easy step toward stopping that. Stopping people from breaking the law is part of doing your best to ensure that others obey the law.

If a character is expected to 'do their best', it means more than just stating their preference without being willing to actually do anything to stop others from breaking the law. A non-violent or physically weak character might not be expected to attack those who break the law, but someone who has a reasonable expectation of winning would. And as long as the character is physically capable of notifying the authorities, it would require some weird interpretation of 'doing their best' if obtaining aid from the authorities were excluded from the things the character is expected to do.

The reaction bonus is for sharing the values and prejudices of the society. In a society where the laws are respected, the majority may respect the GURPS Honest character. In a society where the law is feared, people may be terrified of the GURPS Honest character. Game effect is the same, they are more likely to give him what he wants, because he is on the side of the entrenched authorities and the powerful elites.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Honest characters may lie. They can say "I am definitely Clark Kent and not Superman. Superman doesn't need glasses!". They may not break promises. Anything they contract to do, verbally or in writing is something they must do.

Sure. But they only have to deliver what they literally promised, not what the other person believes that they promised. They can have deceived the other party about the value of what the promised, as long as such deception is not against the law.