The tournament and a question of ethics - newbie question

[geoschmo]

Oh, but Gryphin, what is more fun than winning?

Yes, Tbon, your analysis is probably correct for the most part. Of course there are always the loners who will want to go it alone, and will gain pride form being able to, or at least attempting to. But likely they will not survive.

Something else to remember is it is possible you could "hide", stay isolated to a couple systems in an out of the way corner and hope no one notices you. If someone finds you, bluffing is often useful. "Why yes, I have an alliance, he's right over there. No I'm afraid I can't let you go that way, that system is restricted by order of the emporer." It might not work, but it would be fun to try. And it only has to work long enough for one of the alliances to pick off some other loner, or a weak member of another alliance. Or for that matter to get an alliance to turn on one of it's own. That's always fun.

Geoschmo

[tbontob]

Hmmmmm bluffing

Have no experience in that...just played the computer.

Shouldn't have said that...maybe the "alliance" will not want me!

[Gryphin]

Geo,
Funny you should ask. I was preparing my Philosophy thread as you were asking.

[Grandpa Kim]

I am inclined to allow email communication even prior to in game contact for these games.

I strenuously object.

Kim

[Grandpa Kim]

So I guess I will go ahead and say there is no problem with doing these sorts of things in this game.

Object again.

Kim

[Grandpa Kim]

But I have already joined and will play it through to the end no matter what the house rules-- and Geo, do not let my position influence your decision.
Unlike too many others, I have made a commitment and will never quit because things are not going my way.

Sincerely
Kim

[geoschmo]

Grandpakim,

I can totally understand your position. I just feel that this tournament is different enough that the rules should be slightly different.

I don't know how many of you are fans of the "Survivor" Television series. I am slightly ashamed to asy I am thouroughly addicted to it. And that dynamic of constantly shifting alegiances is what I was trying to capture with teh first Survivor tourney. I didn't feel like I captured it quite right, but I think this one comes a bit closer.

Personally I won't bother trying to make any pre arranged alliances. But mostly because I just don't thenk they are practical. It makes more sense to find a few players close to you in the quadrant and band together in my opinion.

But the fact is with 35+ players in the tournament it would be nearly impossible to get a set of rules that everybody likes 100%. So then my objective becomes what is practical, and what can be enforced. I don't want to have to mediate a bunch of disputes, or try to decide whether or not someone was emailing before they met in the game. So I take the easy way out and allow it.

There are already a couple good players I know of that I wish would join but aren't because they don't like the format. That's ok. I will miss having them, but that's their decision.

I would not hold it against you if you chose not to play. But if you choose to play I think you will find that those pre-arranged alliances aren't as good as the people think they are going to be. One thing that was proven time and time again in Survivor 1 was that your alliance is only as good as the weakest player in it.

Geoschmo