First inkling that you’ve won/lost an MP Game?

[Agema]

According to the game, whoever doesn't win, loses.

But some people may prefer to go away with the thought "I was second" because they were they were the last player to be defeated, or may even think "I allied with X for him to win therefore I was part of a team victory".

Not stopping large and dangerous opponents is also actually realistic: the rise of Nazi Germany; the Celts not uniting to resist Caesar until he'd already pacified most of Gaul; the crusaders sacking Constantinople with the Turks approaching the gates of Europe.

I think it's true that there's a sense people want to take down a bitter opponent. There's a sense of victory in overcoming a local opponent, even if you can't overwhelm the big guy who comes after.

[Gregstrom]

Or, in a nutshell, players are free to set their own limited victory conditions :-)

[Aezeal]

hmm once I know I'm not competing anymore I'm setting a new goal (which will always be: eliminating the one who made me not reach nr 1... to bad that USUALLY is the one who will be winning so that makes me just die faster (which is nice then I can start a new game without really abandoning the other.))