for live games there isnt much time for messaging unless you have long phase lengths leading to games that last hours and hours. other than that it is just two types of games. also people can cheat by accident, subconscious callusion with their friends/etc if they know who else is in the game and if you allow messaging then it really cant be anonymous. for anonymous games they have to really try to cheat. it is the same reason why sometimes face-to-face games can be crappy. you could have a few people who are friends and just help each other out in the game in spite of their best interests. and finally some people just dont feel like trying to initiate conversations with other people in games or dont like being lied to or lying.

but they are just different games. you probably admit that some people like playing the game risk without any diplomacy at all, so why would it be difficult for you to understand why people would like to play a game with diplomacy rules except without conversation? for me, the diplomacy game without conversation is more fun than the risk game without conversation, and i know people who really like the risk game without conversation, so i can understand why some like diplomacy without conversation.

cheating probably happens a lot on this website. but im playing without messages then i accept it and figure that will make the game harder but its fine. i dont mind plalying hard games even if i lose most of the time. but i would get annoyed if someone was telling me one thing, but secretly he was planning on helping his friend win the whole time. i could see if you were friends with the people you were playing, then sure messaging could be fine. but i never remember usernames or try to establish any kind of meaningful relationships with anyone, so for me its not really appealing.

In gunboat you have to pay a lot more attention than you might normally do to what your neighbour's moves are and what they might do next; but more than that, you have to study what *their* neighbour's moves are and what *they* might do next (be sure to study the big map carefully). The position-play skills you'll develop playing gunboat will make you a better player in normal games.

It's a bit like playing Elite (remember that?), to get good you fit your ship with a Mining Laser - the rate of fire is so very low that to survive you have to improve your accuracy a lot. When you go back to playing with a ship fitted with a Military Laser you find your improved accuracy is great bonus.