Kris Hall: Whack the Leader Etiquette

Last night the Appalachian Gamers played one of my favorite longer games: Martin Wallace’s Struggle of Empires. As the game progressed, the intrigue and diplomacy increased as it became clear that Dave was scoring more points than the rest of us. Right before the alliance auction that begins the third and last round, all the non-Dave players discussed the various ways we could whack the leader. Eventually, Dave tired of all the chatter and efforts of the kill-Dave committee and he let his temper get the best of him. He later apologized—after winning the game in spite of the best efforts of the Gang of Four.

The events of last night made me ponder a question of gaming etiquette: How much kill-the-leader discussion is truly polite? In a military-diplomatic game like Struggle of Empires players are certainly free to bargain, wheedle, and make any kind of deal that seems appropriate. But when does prolonged discussion of the disembowelment of another player cross the line into bad taste?

Dave understands that there was nothing personal in our plotting. We would have conspired just as relentlessly against any player who was in the lead. In that sense, Dave was overreacting.

But I can also understand how he feels. He must have felt like Scrooge in the scene from A Christmas Carol when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come takes Scrooge to see the joyous petty thieves who robbed bed curtains and other items from the room where Scrooge’s corpse rested. It’s hard not to feel picked on when everyone is picking on you.

We could have asked Dave to step out of the room for a moment, but I suppose that could have been as bad or worse as what actually happened. Dave would have rightly felt that we were plotting against him, and in his imagination our plotting might have seemed more competent than it really was. No, it was probably better that Dave hear all our counter-productive bickering, and some tangential discussions about how to attack the player in second place (me).

I have no hard-and-fast answers to the politeness-of-plotting question, but I suppose it is best to remember that when you play a game of war and diplomacy, don’t be surprised when people conspire and war against you.

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