mr_inverto wrote:Hi,
Yes, all those people are my friends - I don't hide it, they're listed as friends in the system... Me and Ed probably joined up at the same time to play in the same game, and now none of the others are members so I start most of the games we play and invite them. Sometimes just with friends, sometimes with some additional random people to make it more interesting. I don't really care about ranking points, so depite playing a lot of games I don't have the best rank. And I think its the same for most of them, probably most of the games they play we're playing together. None of us are in it for the ranking points, just for fun. I play more games than them because I'm a member so can have more running at once.
Is that a problem? We haven't spoken about this game at all, I don't know why Ed left some troops there but I'm 100% certain its not to protect me. And yes, I know these people from school but I moved to Australia 10 years ago, so they'll be very different IPs and times that we're playing.
Can you clarify the statement "they're listed as friends in the system"?
Generally speaking its not a problem unless its abused, but inviting nearly everyone and having random unsuspecting people stumble into your private games and giving preferential treatment to them would be considered an issue.
rob1080 wrote:I actually am a really bad player... but I still enjoy it... and I'm not a fan of diplomacy, secret or otherwise
I think the problem here is more:
- bad tactics that have evolved through our friends-only games
- on-going grudges between us that span multiple games
- probably a bit of natural affinity bias too
but we play for the joy of beating each other... rather than for mutual benefits and points
The bias towards your friends is the issue. If you want to play games with your friends that fine, but if you're going to act like a team you should create team games and play vs other teams. Otherwise, creating standard games and having one or two unsuspecting people where they dont know you're all friends can create the impression you're ganging up (whether its true or not)
I'll have to look at the SD angle a little closer, but for now they're cleared as multi's and will wait additional response.