It wouldn’t be in any way against the rules, but depending on how it is executed, it may be looked down on.
“Last game Sherincall stabbed everyone every chance he had. I’m not trusting him.” would be pretty valid, the person obviously isn’t trustworthy.
“Last game I trusted Sherincall and left all my centers open, and he stabbed me and soloed” would mean that you didn’t properly understand the game—We are all playing to win, and everyone should choose to win if the option is available.
“Last game Sherincall stabbed me, so now I’m just going to make life miserable for him this game” would mean that you’re not a particularly rational agent (a grudger bot?). That is looked down on because you will be a poor player if you stick to those principles. If you wont ally with me, I’ll ally with person X and attack you. And then people will probably not want to play with you again.
Whether that is game theoretically sound highly depends on the other player’s behavior. If it makes other players afraid to stab you for fear of retribution in the next game, then yes, it works. But I think that among experienced diplomacy players, it is more likely to get you excluded from the game entirely. Also people will be less likely to ally with you in the first place if you have a reputation if responding badly to stabs.
This kind of behavior is explicitly against the rules in most online diplomacy communities. Because it ruins the fun of the game. Diplomacy as a game works best when everybody is really playing to win with a cut-throat, no holds barred, sell your own mother if needed, kind of style. A player who is meta-gaming is not playing to win for that individual game, so it lowers the experience for that individual game.
(Of course tarnishing someone’s reputation, deserved or undeserved, based on actual or made up previous games, is an entirely valid strategy. So long as you play each individual game with the goal of maximizing your performance in that individual game, keeping previous games in mind is perfectly fine.)
I’m in.
I thought this was ‘metagaming’ and generally looked down on?
It wouldn’t be in any way against the rules, but depending on how it is executed, it may be looked down on.
“Last game Sherincall stabbed everyone every chance he had. I’m not trusting him.” would be pretty valid, the person obviously isn’t trustworthy.
“Last game I trusted Sherincall and left all my centers open, and he stabbed me and soloed” would mean that you didn’t properly understand the game—We are all playing to win, and everyone should choose to win if the option is available.
“Last game Sherincall stabbed me, so now I’m just going to make life miserable for him this game” would mean that you’re not a particularly rational agent (a grudger bot?). That is looked down on because you will be a poor player if you stick to those principles. If you wont ally with me, I’ll ally with person X and attack you. And then people will probably not want to play with you again.
This would be game theoretically sound behavior if you planned to play many games in succession.
Slow reply, but two things:
Whether that is game theoretically sound highly depends on the other player’s behavior. If it makes other players afraid to stab you for fear of retribution in the next game, then yes, it works. But I think that among experienced diplomacy players, it is more likely to get you excluded from the game entirely. Also people will be less likely to ally with you in the first place if you have a reputation if responding badly to stabs.
This kind of behavior is explicitly against the rules in most online diplomacy communities. Because it ruins the fun of the game. Diplomacy as a game works best when everybody is really playing to win with a cut-throat, no holds barred, sell your own mother if needed, kind of style. A player who is meta-gaming is not playing to win for that individual game, so it lowers the experience for that individual game.
(Of course tarnishing someone’s reputation, deserved or undeserved, based on actual or made up previous games, is an entirely valid strategy. So long as you play each individual game with the goal of maximizing your performance in that individual game, keeping previous games in mind is perfectly fine.)