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RULES CLARIFICATION
A recent ruling by googlie suprised me. We had pre-accepted a tech to the cycon with a note in the commlinks to look for a message from me. I sent a PM to the person the cycon had listed as their ambassador, 2 to 3 days before the cycon got the turn setting out turns and stating explicitly that the tech should not be accepted unless a deal was reached.
The cycon decided to accept the tech as a gift ( and break pact with us on the same turn but thats another story and pretty much irrelevant except for some roleplaying to come). They checked with googlie beforehand and googlie ruled that it violated no rule to accept a tech in the diplobox regardless of any conditions attached. He considered it unsavory and backstabbing behavior but not a cheat.
I agree there is no specific rule on this but had always considered this to be an exploitation of a game mechanic. Many trades are made when discovery is imminent and pre-acceptance was just a way that permitted the game mechanics in a turn-based game to not obstruct desired trades. The bottom line is that with this ruling, any preaccepting of a tech risks a backstab losing that tech for nothing. It makes certain tech trades ( pretty much any leapfrog research) impossible to complete without risking a backstab.
I expect backstabs and traitorous actions as part of the game but in the interest of allowing diplomacy to flow better, I thought that permitting stealing from the commlinks should be prohibited and franky I still do. This is just one more rule I have to add to my PBEMS.
I have played a lot of PBEMS and never ever thought it would be acceptable to take a tech from the commlinks and ignore any conditions contained in the offer. Perhaps I was naive.
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THE GOOGLIE PART
Googlie was the first person in our private forum that suggested we trade the tech in question to the cyborgs by pointing out if we did so they could switch to other techs we desired without losing research . He did this even though he had actual knowledge of the cyborgs intentions ( if I am reading his posts correctly he has not denied this). He did not advocate the trade but merely pointed it out as a way the cyborgs would not lose their research and could move on to other techs. Personally, while I think it would have been more prudent for him to say nothing, we have enough experienced PBEMers on our team that we would most likely have come up with the trade option ourselves.
This action combined with his ruling, so flabbergasted one of our players, that certain things were said questioning googlie's role in all this. As far as I know it was one individual only and I don't see a retraction yet although the person's comments have moderated a bit.
Personally I don't agree with the ruling and think it is the wrong way to run a PBEM. I also think that Googlie made an error in mentioning a trade when he knew the other side had plans to renege. Despite my opinion on these two points I still respect him as a CMN and fervently hope he continues in his role
A recent ruling by googlie suprised me. We had pre-accepted a tech to the cycon with a note in the commlinks to look for a message from me. I sent a PM to the person the cycon had listed as their ambassador, 2 to 3 days before the cycon got the turn setting out turns and stating explicitly that the tech should not be accepted unless a deal was reached.
The cycon decided to accept the tech as a gift ( and break pact with us on the same turn but thats another story and pretty much irrelevant except for some roleplaying to come). They checked with googlie beforehand and googlie ruled that it violated no rule to accept a tech in the diplobox regardless of any conditions attached. He considered it unsavory and backstabbing behavior but not a cheat.
I agree there is no specific rule on this but had always considered this to be an exploitation of a game mechanic. Many trades are made when discovery is imminent and pre-acceptance was just a way that permitted the game mechanics in a turn-based game to not obstruct desired trades. The bottom line is that with this ruling, any preaccepting of a tech risks a backstab losing that tech for nothing. It makes certain tech trades ( pretty much any leapfrog research) impossible to complete without risking a backstab.
I expect backstabs and traitorous actions as part of the game but in the interest of allowing diplomacy to flow better, I thought that permitting stealing from the commlinks should be prohibited and franky I still do. This is just one more rule I have to add to my PBEMS.
I have played a lot of PBEMS and never ever thought it would be acceptable to take a tech from the commlinks and ignore any conditions contained in the offer. Perhaps I was naive.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE GOOGLIE PART
Googlie was the first person in our private forum that suggested we trade the tech in question to the cyborgs by pointing out if we did so they could switch to other techs we desired without losing research . He did this even though he had actual knowledge of the cyborgs intentions ( if I am reading his posts correctly he has not denied this). He did not advocate the trade but merely pointed it out as a way the cyborgs would not lose their research and could move on to other techs. Personally, while I think it would have been more prudent for him to say nothing, we have enough experienced PBEMers on our team that we would most likely have come up with the trade option ourselves.
This action combined with his ruling, so flabbergasted one of our players, that certain things were said questioning googlie's role in all this. As far as I know it was one individual only and I don't see a retraction yet although the person's comments have moderated a bit.
Personally I don't agree with the ruling and think it is the wrong way to run a PBEM. I also think that Googlie made an error in mentioning a trade when he knew the other side had plans to renege. Despite my opinion on these two points I still respect him as a CMN and fervently hope he continues in his role
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