I love people who think everything is about Honor. Honor, my friends, is an opinionated word.
I am so glad you love them, for I am plagued with such a conviction.
Honor is subjective, yes, and for many relative to their minds opinion; to others it is a byproduct of conscience. The difference is whether the person is primarily dominant thinking or submissive thinking - dominance enforces its requirements while submissive tries to respond as appropriately to the circumstances.
To those of us who watch the interdependent chain of originations for each event and continuously observe the effects of disloyalty, dishonesty, and other cardinal principals which can be generally agreed as 'dishonorable' by the majority; there is no doubt whether these acts leave a wake of social destruction behind them.
It is only those of us who think far too much about these things who come to the conclusion that 'dishonor' is not simply a physical mechanism that does bad - it is a character impression, a sublime self-conditioning and programming if you will; and when it is with you it stays with you, corrupts your own intent, re-emerges in different circumstances, and essentially becomes a part of your natural character until a firm decision and conscious volition to break that pattern and character-flaw is made.
Yes, this is a game...I can log off. What I can not log out of is the continous non-deliberate impressions my own actions make on myself every moment of the day, whether in game or work or with friends. Every thing I do that is 'new' is etched as a conditioned pattern unconsciously, and the next time a similar stimulii occurs that conditioned pattern is again unconsciously retrieved and executed.
Yes, now you all know I am a nut-bar, but this has been a topic on my mind of late. Everyone will always do as they will, and I am no influence on peoples conscience or convictions - but I do say that in our real lives we are sometimes forced to act below our own ethical character as it is, in game we have the opportunity to fancy the pleasantries of idealism in social context - and maybe here we can, free of repercussion, impress upon ourselves some patterns of integrity and courage the real world has a tendency to stifle.
Besides some philosophical pious crap, it is really a greater challenge to stand up and have courage, be honest, loyal, and admit your mistakes. At the end of the day it's survival of the fittest, and if you can't be trusted your done.