This is the worse timing for me. I know that a dogpile on Tarkeel needs to happen, but I am around 10 turns from being in a position to actually contribute. I've been desperately trying to catch up in tech, building infrastructure and/or wealth, not units.
I opened the turn to see a peace offer from Tarkeel. From a purely selfish motive, I would of course accept the peace and let the rest fight it out, but the problem is that I know how people work. If I accept that peace, SD and Jowy might just give up and concede, despite the fact that I can't actually help in the war except as a distraction. From my perspective, being that "distraction" might well help in bringing Tarkeel down, but ruin my own game and what few chances I have left in the process.
In the end I went with what was, in retrospect, the worse of both options and offered a cease fire. If Tarkeel accepts Jowy and SD might just see "peace" and give up without seeing it's only a cease-fire. While Tarkeel will see it as me saying I'm not ready for war, but I still want to fight you at some point.
All of which brings me to an actual point. We need some sort of system for ending pitbosses that doesn't involve one person conceding and then lurkers or whatever going around asking the rest, which is what happens in most games here. Because as soon as people know one player has conceded, especially the player in second place, then they're likely to concede themselves, even if they hadn't been thinking of it before.
If 5 turns ago a lurker had come into my thread and asked if I wanted to concede I would have said yes, because I would have assumed that Jowy had conceded in his thread, and even if I said no and the game continues, how can I trust that Jowy will actually put the effort required to stop Tarkeel? So why should I continue?
Far too often there's a clear leader and a clear second place. And as soon as the second place player gives up, the game ends, regardless of what the rest of the players want. Of course, the other problem is no one wants to force others to play a game they don't want to play. The end result of all this is that as soon as concession is brought up, everyone just goes along with it.
I'm hoping it's starting to happen more often, but I do think the practice of lurkers asking players in their thread if they want to concede needs to stop. I think lurkers should pay attention and if a lot of players all wish to concede then that should be made public, but if just one player wants to, regardless of their position in the game, it should be kept from the other players.
Also, I think there should be some sort of discussion regarding premature concessions. Funnily enough I tend to see it the most from the more veteran players here, while newer players seem more willing to dight it out to the end. Personally I think if you sign up to a game, there should be an expectation that you finish the game (irl circumstances excluded of course). Giving up while the game is still in question just because your own chances of victory seem smaller than someone else's just seems like poor sportsmanship to me. I sometimes get the feeling that there's a few players who join a game expecting to win, and if that seems like it might not happen, they just give up.
Anyway, if Jowy and/or SD say that they've given up because I've made peace with Tarkeel, I don't think it would be too much for a lurker to suggest they check to see if it's a peace treaty or a ceasefire. Even just "innocently" asking would be enough to prompt them to check themselves.
I opened the turn to see a peace offer from Tarkeel. From a purely selfish motive, I would of course accept the peace and let the rest fight it out, but the problem is that I know how people work. If I accept that peace, SD and Jowy might just give up and concede, despite the fact that I can't actually help in the war except as a distraction. From my perspective, being that "distraction" might well help in bringing Tarkeel down, but ruin my own game and what few chances I have left in the process.
In the end I went with what was, in retrospect, the worse of both options and offered a cease fire. If Tarkeel accepts Jowy and SD might just see "peace" and give up without seeing it's only a cease-fire. While Tarkeel will see it as me saying I'm not ready for war, but I still want to fight you at some point.
All of which brings me to an actual point. We need some sort of system for ending pitbosses that doesn't involve one person conceding and then lurkers or whatever going around asking the rest, which is what happens in most games here. Because as soon as people know one player has conceded, especially the player in second place, then they're likely to concede themselves, even if they hadn't been thinking of it before.
If 5 turns ago a lurker had come into my thread and asked if I wanted to concede I would have said yes, because I would have assumed that Jowy had conceded in his thread, and even if I said no and the game continues, how can I trust that Jowy will actually put the effort required to stop Tarkeel? So why should I continue?
Far too often there's a clear leader and a clear second place. And as soon as the second place player gives up, the game ends, regardless of what the rest of the players want. Of course, the other problem is no one wants to force others to play a game they don't want to play. The end result of all this is that as soon as concession is brought up, everyone just goes along with it.
I'm hoping it's starting to happen more often, but I do think the practice of lurkers asking players in their thread if they want to concede needs to stop. I think lurkers should pay attention and if a lot of players all wish to concede then that should be made public, but if just one player wants to, regardless of their position in the game, it should be kept from the other players.
Also, I think there should be some sort of discussion regarding premature concessions. Funnily enough I tend to see it the most from the more veteran players here, while newer players seem more willing to dight it out to the end. Personally I think if you sign up to a game, there should be an expectation that you finish the game (irl circumstances excluded of course). Giving up while the game is still in question just because your own chances of victory seem smaller than someone else's just seems like poor sportsmanship to me. I sometimes get the feeling that there's a few players who join a game expecting to win, and if that seems like it might not happen, they just give up.
Anyway, if Jowy and/or SD say that they've given up because I've made peace with Tarkeel, I don't think it would be too much for a lurker to suggest they check to see if it's a peace treaty or a ceasefire. Even just "innocently" asking would be enough to prompt them to check themselves.
