Knighthood and the Ethics of Spam Attacks
Posted by Breeze on Monday, February 11, 2008 at 6:58 pmCategory: Breeze
Apparently there’s a debate in the Knighthood world about whether or not it is ethical to attack an opponent repeatedly to lower defenses before taking vassals. I must admit that I have a very definite opinion about this. While I’m sure I would be frustrated and likely even upset by an ill-timed spam attack to my kingdom, I think it is an integral and appropriate part of the game. I won’t say I never feel guilty for spam attacks, but my guilt is because I suspect the other person will be upset at losing their gold and vassal, not because I think I’ve done something wrong.
I won’t use the “it’s just a game” excuse. Poker is just a game, but if I hid aces up my sleeve while I played, I would know that I was doing wrong. Spam attacking isn’t the same thing at all; it is a game strategy that is completely within the rules of the game, a strategy that was intended by the developers of the game. It sucks to be on the losing end of the attack, just as it sucks to lose a hand of poker to someone with better cards, but that doesn’t make it unfair. It just means that the other player is luckier and/or made better choices.
I consider spam attacks nothing more or less than a siege. If it was an accepted part of medieval warfare, and it was, how can it be inappropriate for a game based on that era?
I’m going to go start a siege against someone who will no-doubt become the next aren’t-spam-attackers-such-big-meanies-whiner now. Wish me luck… or not.
Tags: knighthood
March 24th, 2008 15:35
I wholeheartedly agree. I could go on, but you said it all.
March 26th, 2008 22:54
I absolutely agree… one subtle difference, though. There is a point where enough is enough. I mean, if a spam attacker can’t get through defenses without 100 attacks, perhaps they really didn’t have any business attacking me in the first place.
In medieval times, a seige could get costly if it went on for a long time. Supporting lots of troops in the field for an extended period of time could be a problem. I read a suggestion somewhere for an increasing “time to next attack” to be built into KH so that spam attacks do get limited somewhat. I’d be for this change if the 1st 20 attacks or so were still “free” and the next ones required either increasing amounts of time or increasing gold to support.