think you both are missing his point.. People openly cheat against us...
Apparently not so openly, in this case...
...and in their defense generally like to say it is because we cheat. Those cheaters are then labeled the good guys which is ironic.
I don't think many people seriously consider, for example, Smoothrich a "good guy", and the total number of people who have conclusively cheated is extremely small.
(maybe it's easier to root for the rulebreakers when they're faceless and unnamed?)The attitude that everyone who is against you (which is admittedly a large group, especially if you go by the forum presence) is either cheating or agrees with situations where people are cheating is a grave exaggeration. To be against you, your tactics or your way of business is not to condone breaking the rules, but it seems like you're trying to make the argument more black and white than it really is.
Breaking the rules is not justifiable, and saying someone deserves something bad happening to them is not the same as advocating cheaters.
There is also the mindset that certain uses of game mechanics, which may not currently be against the rules, are just as bad for the game as some of the ways you can break the rules. As a past example of this, there was no rule against item-bombing until one time when it happened. One might say exploring the limits of the game engine to determine what works and what doesn't because the game is perpetually beta is a noble endeavor and that's all well and good, but when it is evident that the devs aren't paying as close of attention as they once were, it comes to using the limits of the game for gain and power at someone else's expense and does not end up improving the game.
Discuss
Well, yeah. Diplomacy 2.0 is go. (this board needs some of its own rules, it would seem)