is feeding acceptable or not

[Xietor]

Building goodwill may certainly help you in a future game, but I agree it should not be quid pro quo. You can never promise to give stuff in return in a future game because you may be in contention yourself.

But human nature is what it is. If a player helps you win a game by giving you items/gems when he is defeated, most players will remember that kindness. And if I am faced with defeat in a future game, and all other things are equal, I am likely to return the favor then give my stuff to someone who has never helped me.

Of course if I have a close ally in the present game, the help in the present game may outweigh the gift of stuff in a past game, but I still think going down in defeat and taking your gold/gems with you is a mistake.

A quote from the Alpaca Game Thread, my 1st large mp game on this forum:

"Out of curiosity, if I were looking for someone to whom I would give all my gems and items - who feels they are in a good position to fight a successful war with Marignon and Pangaea? Right now I'm inclined to give all my treasures to Man, but whoever is on Marignon's southern border (or across the southern sea) is also a prospect."

This from the wily veteran Dr. P.

[Tyrant]

I think it depends on circumstances. If i have been in a long war with a loyal ally he will absolutely get my stash when i go down, but if i just get punked by a straight rush in the early game i'm taking it with me to the afterlife. If someone double crosses me or if i get dog piled i usually will try to find my enemy's most powerful enemy and help him out.

My notions of honor and sometimes a bit of roleplaying figure into it- i've been known to give small gift to my conquerer in acknowledgment of a well played game, and in one case i even flushed the gems i was given by a player who threw a hissy fit and left the game. But really, for me it's about deterrence. I have tried to build a reputation as a tough opponent so people will sign NAPs and look elsewhere for easy pickin's, and sending off the treasure fleet to an appropriate person is often the last step in this procedure.In my case this is more often lab gear than gems 'cause i try to use those fighting.

One of the many cool things about Dominions is that the community is really shockingly honorable and well behaved. I think the fact that it takes months to play a game and (unless you are Micah) you are pretty much certain to lose drives the lower orders of net gaming scum back to easier games. So this is really pretty much a non-issue as far as i'm concerned.

[Loren]

Thematically I have no problem with it--you're not going to make it but you would prefer to live under an ally than under an enemy.