RBP2 Lurker Discussion Thread - No Players!

[athlete4life10]

The rules as written, however, appear to make same-turn city gifting legal. Therefore, the point that has to be carefully explained in order to make this work is why a large penalty is appropriate when the action against which it is being levied is not directly called out as illegal in the written rules. And in particular, why any reasonable person should have understood that it was illegal.

Why does an action not specifically covered in the ruleset automatically be deemed legal? Just because it is not written does not mean it is against the rules. When a circumstance that isn't specifically covered by the rules either allowing or disallowing it arises, players should really be a bit objective and take a moment to think things through; it really isn't hard. Ask a few questions, do I gain an unfair advantage because of this? What are the consequences of doing this? For me the only question I need to ask myself is:

Am I going to cause a pile of shit by doing this?

Or better yet:

If somebody did this to me, would I stir up a shitstorm?

If the answer is yes to either of these, it's against the spirit of the rule if not the letter and as such I would not deem it appropriate for this game, regardless of the tactical advantage it might give me.

With some people advocating the "use your better judgement" or "play fair" or "within the spirit of the game" when a gray area comes up I really see only 2 options. Involve the game admin in your decision or if you want to make the decision by yourself (or lack a game admin) then consider what out-of-game reactions, your in-game actions are going to cause before deciding on a course of action. If your fellow gamers are going to (reasonably) call you out on the matter then it's probably inappropriate.

Athlete