For areas where PvP is going to cause an uproar (such as the plaza), just make it impossible for people to attack each other. (You could do it on challenges but it won't stop a guild war.. so just disable attacks completely.)
This would stop people fighting there... which in turn would stop the petty overreactions.. which would stop people berating each other and having petty arguments about IC/OOC.
It would also mean GMs wouldn't need to kill players who are warring there as that wouldn't even be possible.
So there it is... Make PvP literally impossible on the plaza and anywhere else where it's deemed ICly inappropriate.
"Oh but Drah... people should still be able to kill, etc. for RP purposes as long as they RP the results properly.. and have to hide outside of town"
Yeah, but many will still fight and not be bothered... and if you're going to RP the results properly, you can RP the killing/murder/crime and just have the victim use /die. --- So you might as well block PvP there to save you having arguments in future when other players come along and their actions don't fit in with the settings.
