Rules of War?

[Aegis Tyra]

I'm lucky enough to go to a college with an excellent nerd/emo/chav ratio (about 1:1:1, as opposed to most London colleges, which have 1:1:5), and I have about 10 friends who also own Multiwinia, and we play it pretty much every lunchtime in Starbucks over the WiFi. But I digress slightly.
Over the course of about 50 games played between our little grouping, we've almost built up rules of engagement, especially with crates - if you get a Dark Forest in CTS, you don't use it on their spawn point; if you get stuck with retribution, you don't deliberately unbalance things or fuck over your team-mate "for the lol". And for the main, we usually carry this stuff over into games against other people - and most of the people react positively. This being the internet, some people are jack-asses about it (You know who you are, Mr. "Lucky crate LOL now yu lose dark foresstin ur ass I rul at CTS"), but in the main, if I say I'm not going to do such-and-such, they agree as well.
Has anyone else found themselves following unwritten rules to make the game enjoyable, or are my friends and I just too nice for the internet?

[Xocrates]

Mostly, I think you're too nice for the internet. Especially since among all the stuff you mentioned the more questionable is "fuck over your team-mate "for the lol". "

If I'm worried with crate inbalance I use Basic crates. If I'm using the default ones I don't see why I should get rules against using them in the expected ways.

[bert_the_turtle]

Rules of engagement in games are for those who don't know how to win without

Of course, all the rules you mention can be handled by game options or by making your own maps: RestrictionZone around spawnpoints prevents powerups getting used there, crate types can be disabled one by one.

[ynbniar]

Reminds me of Defcon and folk who get upset at backstabing and naval nuking.

OK to have rules but when you're playing strangers anything goes I'm afraid.

[RabidZombie]

Dark Forests aren't even that bad. Just make sure your Multiwinians don't hang around.

[Feud]

The only unwritten "rule" I have is that when I get retribution,use it on whoever is winning.

This rule isn't set in stone, but I find it more fun than the alternative.

[TheRileyDuo]

There are no rules in war. If something's unbalanced, but not broken, use it to win until the developers fix it.

[Nimbus]

RoE are great on occasion. Usually I play without and try to roll with the punches so to speak. Overall they should be treated as sportsman-like Quasi-guidelines. Otherwise we get RoE-Nazis.

[Mas Tnega]

My rule is "Once Team Me is out, I'm on Team Evil"

[Donat]

Rules of War are classically broken to win in nearly every major war. Thats what we have War Crime trials for, when its peaceful and no one is going to smack you in the face with a but of a rifle.


The first time i got BSed in defcon i really disliked it, then quickly learned that is a tactic to win the game.

Honestly, unwritten rules are 'unwritten' for a reason, that they do not officially exist. A game isn't a game unless you can have fun.

Non-internet: Its a game, get over it man. People will mess you up real bad, and if it works and its NOT an exploit, its ok.

Internet: QQ mar plz. Roflma.

[Feud]

My rule is "Once Team Me is out, I'm on Team Evil"

I like this rule!

[MarvintheParanoidAndroid]

Dark forests on spawns: hell yes (preferably followed up by setting the whole thing on fire), using retribution to annoy people as much as possible: definitely. Who needs rules?

[xander]

http://www.sirlin.net/archive/playing-to-win-part-1/

xander

[Mas Tnega]

Dark forests on spawns: hell yes (preferably followed up by setting the whole thing on fire), using retribution to annoy people as much as possible: definitely. Who needs rules?

Dark Forest on two spawns, delaying the airstrike for a couple more Dark Forests to get an interconnecting series of trees from one spawn to another? Hell yes.

[Kuth]

I feel backstabbing in Defcon was really unsportsmanlike... I think I was only backstabbed once, and didn't like the game much after that. I suppose I like Multiwinia because there is no opportunity for backstabbing, as team playing isn't really a mechanic of the game.

That said, I don't feel any 'rules of engagement' should be needed for Multiwinia. Dark forests at spawn points happen, and aren't as game-breaking as, say, ants (Which is being rectified by IV, since they see this too). Besides, retribution people on Team evil is pretty much the way it should happen. Now that you're out of the game, you have godlike powers to use however you see fit.