[Baalz]

Well I think its hard to argue that forming a secret alliance before the game starts is much better than cheating, which I think is what you're advocating. This is really no different than playing two nations yourself - deliberately starting with a big advantage and uneven playing field. Being a hacker and knowing you can do something doesn't make it ethical, no more than being able to hack a .2h file makes it OK to do.

I also think it's pretty smarmy to form an alliance "for the rest of the game" when the game rules everyone agreed to don't recognize team victory conditions. No reason you can't have plenty of alliance victory games (there's an allegiance game running right now I'm in), but if the game host specifies victory conditions its pretty rude to just decide you're gonna go ahead and make sure nobody wins by playing for an unrecognized victory. Host a game with whatever rules you want, but don't hijack other's games who are trying to do their own thing.

Its not about "how the game should be played" its about showing some consideration for the way others want to play their games.