MWIN Wrote:Just comparison, how is gifting cities different from playing the game and do everything you can to help your friend to win?
I've thought about this, and it's a good question. As RBP1 lurkers and players know I have a very close relationship with regoarrarr in that game. Fortunately we had the luxury for forming an in-game relationship -> teaming up in a future game, rather than teaming up first in one game and then working together in the next (that created some bad feelings across games when others did it).
Anyways, regoarrarr and I have a NAP, and since I ceded my right to pursue most victory conditions by treaty to other players I'm essentially playing to help regoarrarr win. Now things haven't necessarily been formalized that way, and I certainly reserve the right to pursue my own interests that I haven't contracted away (and I did that during the nuke phase of the game, and would likewise not agree to be eliminated from the game if it meant regoarrarr would win...I'm still RP'ing to a degree), but overall I think I'm vulnerable to some of the same criticisms directed at Jowy->Athlete. In fact, even players in the other bloc in RBP1 have done something of the same thing: Broker gifted space techs to Munro even though he knew Munro would therefore probably beat him to victory. But fortunately, at least in threads I'm allowed to read, I've not been criticized the way some RBP2 players have been. I'm not sure if that's because I've been less underhanded or exploitative in the way I've helped my ally, or because I've been more public in my relationship, but I do take MWIN's point.
I think the central difference is I've not exploited the game system to help my ally. Things like gifting units while protected by a NAP, gifting cities, and teleporting units all seem to abuse the game system a bit more than we're doing in RBP1.