@VillageIdiot, please do me the favor of watching your language. If you feel you have a good point starting with "you slut" ensures that the person you're addressing, and everyone else reading it assume you are a moronic asshole. On top of that I personally assume you're a sexist jerk. Maybe those aren't fair assumptions, but that is the risk of using words like that. I'll address your actual points tomorrow, and explain why they are wrong.

@VI, is your day getting worse now? Ooooooo

This is a great thread, lots learned. I find press an amazing psychological exploration of my own self-talk. I am blown away by just how easily manipulated I have been in some games, and marvel at the weasel-talk that flows from the fingertips of masters.

A couple of fun, but nearly impossible to answer questions..

1) What are your favorite set-up lines? (The lines you use to establish tight relationship when the near-term liklihood of you stabbing this same player is high)

2) When is anger/rant strategic vs. humor/tact? In that i mean how often do you guilt/bully/coerce an opponent into action vs. entertain him into relationship? When do you find each posture most helpful?

HA! I did not see JMO's response before posting my questions. Case in point???

We used to have a saying back in vanilla WoW. If you want to know how to do something, post the wrong answer.

No one will reply to a noob question. But everyone will hound a wrong answer with the right one to show off and demean the person who dared speak the wrong answer.

"How do I get to Undercity?"
*crickets*

"Undercity is south of here"
"WTF NOOB ITS UP THE ROAD THAT WAY AND LEFT AT THE FORK"

I think there a fine line with #2. If you have leverage, coercion and bully are an easier sell, but it's a feel if you don't have that. Trial and error will net the results your looking for, but there is no right answer.

Seriously? Nobody here is familiar with that Saturday Night Live reference?

Tough room.

"Frankly I find Saturday Night Live shallow and pedantic"
-jmo1121109
-Michael Scott
-Valis2501

Exactly, pretty great right!!

I missed SNL (or at least, I missed its heyday by a generation) and now that I've looked up this reference, parts of the internet make more sense.

it was quite humorous, but you're dealing with a crowd that mostly had not been born yet

Yup, all those times you've been called an ignorant slut online has just been dudes looking to bond with you over dude pop-culture references.

That's gotta put a smile on your face, right!

..and now Ssorenn has gone and made me feel super old and out of touch so now i'm sad.

@VI, Hows your day going?

I'm pretty sure nothing is as old or in-touching as ssorenn

yeah, i'm old compared to most of you children, but i'm living the dream

Wait, who or what is he in-touching?!?

unless its some hot fucking bitch, and that aint valis, you better explain yourself Valis

STOP

YOU'RE RUINING MY THREAD___FUCKERS

VI I was on the same page with you there

stop the presses, we have a conundrum

To help get the thread on topic, I have to say I agree with (some of) what jmo is saying. Don't get me wrong, I send a lot of messages- something like 300/game once you take out my gunboats, but I think there is this sort of meta that is perpetuated by more talkative players that more talkative players are better allies. This is pretty much patently false. I want an ally that is committed to working with me and is actively working with *me* to be successful in the game. I don't want someone who is trying to cultivate relationships with all of the other 6 players so they can turn on me on a dime.

thats asking for instant trust

I don't agree. To me, (or at least at this phase of my "dip career") I'm much more interested in alliance construction/stability than I am in raw manipulation. There's no thrill in lying to someone's face. It's much more interesting to try to build a game state where you and your ally ought to work together and will be successful doing so

I don't really want a huge amount of messages in a game. I just want the messages I get to be of good quality and depth. I don't send a massively high amount on average, but I do send some very detailed messages quite often. I find if someone can't talk in depth about our plans where necessary then I don't think they're really very committed to them.

Message quality is far more important than message quantity.

I agree with HR, but often dont follow my own rule...lots of times i forget to send a piece or two that adds something and i send a couple of messages at once....but they usually all pertain to the same thing

I've done quite well in games I haven't had time for simply because of being perceived as the safe ally due to my limited press. gameID=116579 comes to mind.

How many times had you previously played with those people...my guess would be quite a few. i put you in game with high quality players that you dont know, you wont get same result

@HR- (odd that as a mod your initials are also the initials for Human Resources, is that how you sold yourself for the position?) but to be on topic, I completely agree.

I've had tons of games where an ally has mistaken my lack of communication as a lack of interest. For example me and a player will discuss in spring what we are doing in the fall and then fall comes around and I just do it. Then in builds the former ally is messaging me concerned about our alliance because I didn't talk. I think the culture of this site has far more to do with how press is judged than anything else. the site culture seems to preach the gospel that more press equals trust and less press equals stab... i think it is far more abstract than that and when teaching new players, getting across the content over the quantity I think can really improve a player and in the long run every game on the site.