**is it**

How does it work for you or against you in this game?

I tend to see it as an asset more than a liability. I can easily see myself in the other guy's shoes and that's helpful when writing persuasively. It certainly gets in the way at other times....

BOTH
I mean how many different personalities are there? It could help you or it could bite you in the arse. If you are talking about the difference when it comes to a win I would say a liability. Play to win over a draw. If things are messed up from the start say from excessive CDs then I think its just good form to try again on an even field. I would rather see things happen because it was a fair game personally. I cant stand all the CDs I see at the lower levels. I can't wait till I get to play some of the ranked players here and see what thats like. I have already played with some exceptional players and have learned countless lessons. I have also played with some not so exceptional players, some of whom I will never play again if I can help it.

Maybe I should clarify. Empathy as in looking at things from the other persons view is very useful. It's part of the psychology of guessing what they will do and figuring out how to get them to do what you want them to do. But major empathy, as in a conscience, can be a liability of it makes you hesitate from stabbing the person or, worse yet, following through after the stab. I have seen half hearted stabs that resulted in the stabber's elimination because they left themselves open to a different stab and didn't follow through to get as much from their stab as possible.

Empathy is the most important tool in diplomacy, but only if you can disconnect your empathy from your conscience.

Thucy +1 - Succinct and just what my rambling was trying to say.

What about long term, For instance playing the game with the same basic group of people over a long period of time? Would it become more important there? Would it be as necessary to divorce conscience from empathy.

If you play with the same people over and over again your empathetic powers of knowing what they'll do next will only grow.

And conscience must never play a role. Lol. You can pretend it plays a role... but in reality it never can.

Yet in this situation meta-gaming is an unavoidable reality. So stabbing someone repeatedly will carry over from one game to the next. We're only human.

The key, long-term, is to mix up the stabs with the supports. Change around who you stab and in what phase of the game. Maybe even play for a draw here and there. You gotta keep 'em guessing. Empathy has nothing to do with that, and a conscience only gets in the way.

Yeah the one thing you have to be consistent about is being inconsistent, without ever drawing attention to the fact that you are in fact inconsistent.